Introducing The 54321 Health and Productivity Hack

What are the things you need to do to be healthy? Here's my list:

• Don't eat too much
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
• Eat mainly whole foods
• Go easy on processed foods
• Virtually eliminate junk food
• Drink lots of water
• Exercise
• Get enough sleep
• Do the above consistently

Frankly, I've known these things for a long time, but I haven't been able to put them into practice consistently. Enter...The 54321 Eating Plan and The 54321 Health and Productivity Hack.

The 54321 Eating Plan

My challenge was to put the points above into a clear and concise eating plan that I could actually follow. Here's what I came up with:

Every day eat:

• Five servings of fruits and vegetables (at least). Nothing controversial here, but when I don't formally make a goal in this area, I can suddenly focus on everything else "healthy", but forget this cornerstone.
• Four servings of whole foods. These are foods pretty much how nature made them. Fish, eggs, chicken breasts, nuts, etc. Unprocessed whole grains go here, too, although they are hard to come by.
• Three servings of nearly whole foods. My favorite "chunky" whole grain bread (Great Harvest Dakota) goes here. Natural peanut butter, minimally processed dairy products, 100% fruit juice, and whole wheat pasta go here, too.
• Two servings of processed foods. There are some obvious bad choices here, like white bread and sugary cereals. Other processed food examples would include store bought white pasta, crackers, sweetened beverages, fried foods, packaged lunch meat, and cheese products (American, Whiz, etc.).
• One serving of junk food. Sweets and chips, basically. You get one "treat" a day, in a reasonable serving size, and this must not be abused.

The important thing is to have reasonable serving sizes (a good guide here) and to honor the basic structure of 80% whole foods vs. 20% processed. If you're not positive what category a food fits in, make an educated guess. If you're eating a food that mixes categories, like pizza with mushrooms and green peppers, figure out how many servings you're having and divide them among the categories as best you can. 

And for health, I know that I need to do more than eat well:

• Sleep. My bedtime is hugely important, as I'm a natural lark with a job designed for early birds. If I don't have "lights out" at a reasonable time, I don't get enough sleep, leaving me vulnerable to stress and overeating. I used to say I could function on six hours, but I've matured to realize I function best on at least seven. Be honest with yourself - how much do you need to function well?
• Water. Many dieters swear by water as a huge part of their approach. I definitely notice that I'm more susceptible to eating junk if I'm dehydrated. I'm not here to tell you how much to drink, though the range seems to be from eight glasses a day on the low end to half your weight in ounces on the high end (assuming no health conditions). This advice follows the former guideline and this calculator follows the latter.
• Exercise. Diet and exercise, right? Eat less and move more, right? So my system needs to include exercise, even if in my opinion eating is about 80% of the weight loss equation. And like sleep and hydration, exercise seems to have a positive effect on controlling appetite. 

Again, this isn't rocket science, but it's a long way from knowing to emphasize whole foods and limit servings to actually doing it. That's where the "hack" comes in.

The 54321 Health Hack

I've been a fan of "hacks" for a long time. Hacks are clever workarounds that are efficient, effective, and inexpensive. They don't follow convention and their creators generally aren't out to make a buck. Hacks are just about sharing something that works with people trying to find their way in the modern world. Many websites are dedicated to sharing hacks, such as Lifehacker and my new favorite, IkeaHackers (great examples here (aw!), here, a bike rack here, and a gorgeous stand-up desk here). The best example of a hack may be the "Hipster PDA", where simple 3x5 cards make for a cheap, portable, effective organizer.

Now, I introduce the 54321 Health Hack. With a little experimentation, I've built a model that presents a simple way to track the key health habits listed above. To keep it manageable, I devised a dollar bill sized checklist to track my eating. The size allows it to be with me in my wallet everywhere I go. The simplicity gives me most of the benefits of recording my food and tracking calories, in about one minute per day total.

Just put a slash in the box for each portion you eat and cross out the H-E-L once you've hit your desired target for hydration (water consumption), exercise, and lights out (getting to be on time). That's all there is to it.

To print for wallet size: Click on picture to isolate, print page, and cut out

If all you're interested in is health and weight loss, feel free to stop here. But for me, there's an obvious opportunity for a productivity hack here as well...

The 54321 Health and Productivity Hack

Improving productivity helps health, and health improves productivity. Just as sleep deprivation leads to stress and stress eating, out of control in-boxes and to-do lists lead to less time for exercise and healthy eating. And productivity is rewarding in itself, of course.

I'm more productive when I attend to these three things on a daily basis:

• Process. Empty in-boxes, email and other. Unprocessed in-boxes weigh on your mind. David Allen says they consume your "psychic RAM", when a little of your subconscious attention is worried about each open loop. Processing for me means the in-box on my desk and in my email is at zero, with each item quickly dealt with, deleted, or captured for later on a to-do list.
• Review. I've become good at capturing items, but I'm not always systematic about reviewing my lists when I'm busy. And the items on my lists creep back into my psychic RAM. Ideally, you keep current lists and review them daily.
• Decide. I've found it helps my productivity when I identify three most important tasks (MITs) at the beginning of each day, whether it's a work day or a weekend. Three doesn't sound like much, but if you get your three most important things right, you're off to a great start. I also identify items for "batch" processing, basically quick and easy things I can group together as short emails to write, calls to make, etc. 

And on a monthly basis check in on:

• Goals. Check to make sure your goals are current and your actions align with your goals.
• Finances. Pay bills and review financial statements.
• Files. Review working files for currency and backup computer files, at work and at home.

To print for wallet size: Click on picture to isolate, print page, and cut out

If you find these "hacks" helpful, please share them. A link back is always appreciated!