What are you supposed to do when everything hits the fan and your wellness habits start to slide? This is why so many high performers lose momentum and fall off track. 

One minute everything is running better than a Chick-fil-A drive thru and in the next they find themselves hyper stressed, skipping workouts and and ordering Door Dash for the fourth night in a row. Surely, there has to be a middle ground, right?

There is. You don’t have to choose between pushing yourself past capacity and totally forfeiting on your health goals. We’ll cover this today so the next time you have a high-stress day or week (as all high performers do) you have a backup plan. 

Have a Base Routine that Works

First, you need to have a foundational routine that works with your schedule. A morning start of 5:00 am with a 1-hour journaling session followed by meditation, workout and cold plunge every day of the week would be exhausting even for Olympic level athletes. 

If your current routine is overly ambitious, you’re already starting with a disadvantage. 

Don’t worry about an instagram-worthy routine. Your everyday rhythm should be working for you at least 90% of the time. If it’s not and you’re finding that you can’t keep up, you’re only going to feel more frustrated during a high-stress week.  The first thing to do is adjust your current plan to one that’s more realistic.  

Do the Bare Minimum 

I’m reading a book called Time Anxiety by Chris Guillebeau. The premise of the book is to examine our relationship with time, how we perceive it and how these perceptions influence our daily life. In one section of the book Guillebeau recommends doing things poorly as a way to reclaim time and avoid stress. 

Given that I am a high achiever by nature, this did not sit well with me. I intentionally do things with excellence and the thought of doing otherwise feels slimy and offensive. But as he explained the concept, I could relate. 

I have a routine habit of organizing and de-cluttering because I can’t stand disorganization and messes. One weekend I had gathered up a substantial pile of items to get rid of. As I started sorting through it, anxious feelings began to rise because I felt the internal pressure of “not being wasteful” and upcycling every item. “Who could I donate this 5 year old microwave to?” became an annoying, circulating question in my head.

Inside, I just wanted the items gone to clear the mental clutter that was taking up precious real estate in my brain. The thought of working through the list of items to upcycle each and every one was stressful and draining. 

I would have just donated it all, but there were items in my pile that were not accepted at the donation center which left me to figure out what to do with the leftovers. In the end I threw everything away and instantly felt the tension melt away. This is what I mean when I say “do the bare minimum.” 

Will I throw away donate-able items every time? No. But if it’s a high stress time and I need to create internal peace I will do what is necessary to prioritize my mental health over going “above and beyond” with excellence. Now that you understand the concept, let’s take it and apply it to your wellness routine. 

3 Reasons to Do the Bare Minimum 

You might wonder why I would ever advocate for doing the bare minimum for your health. Here’s why: Let’s say chaos erupts in a given week. 

You’ve hired multiple new team members that need training, you’re launching a new product, you’re on back to back calls, kids just started a new sports league, your spouse is out of town and your cat got sick and needs meds and monitoring. Here’s how doing the bare minimum will help you:

• Saves You from Falling Off Completely: When you are forced with the decision to play full out vs. falling off the wagon, doing the bare minimum is the middle ground. When engaging in your full routine feels impossible, this is where you do less instead of doing nothing.
  
  High performers are known for an all-or-nothing mentality or the belief that if you can’t engage at 100% then you may as well do nothing at all. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ll explain why below.

• It Keeps the Chain of Consistency: When you do the bare minimum instead of doing nothing, you’re able to maintain your consistency. This is a big part of the battle for your mindset which influences your habits and ultimately your health. If you can be consistent, even if it’s at a lesser level, it’s easier to keep going.

• Preserves Your Momentum: By slowing down instead of stopping completely, you’re able to preserve the momentum you’ve built up. Anyone can tell you that getting started is often the most difficult part. This is why you don’t want to stop completely, because it will require greater energy to get back in the game. 

Bottom Line: Do the bare minimum when you’re faced with the choice of playing full out vs. doing nothing at all. 

How to Do the Bare Minimum

So what does this actually look like in real life? I’ll give some examples and some guidelines so that you can make sure this becomes a temporary strategy and not a new way of life. When you’re thinking about doing less, just take what you normally do and lower the effort. Some examples are below:

• Do a 10 minute workout instead of no workout
• Order dinner but choose healthy options instead of junk food
• Extend your work day by one hour instead of working late into the night
• Drink a protein smoothie instead of skipping a meal

Watch These 3 Areas

There are three areas where I’d be careful with compromises – especially if it’s a high stress time and you’re pushing your brain and body more than you normally would:

• Wind Down Routine: Even if it’s substantially shortened, a wind down is key for priming your body for sleep, which needs to be prioritized if you’re going hard.

• Sleep: A high stress week can make it difficult to sleep as is, but if you start cutting into your sleep routine, you’re going to feel 10x worse. This can be tough to correct later on and has a spillover effect on other critical areas of your health.

• Nutrition: Lots of people use food to medicate when pressure is turned  up. Whether it’s overindulgence in sweets or comfort food, don’t go this route. This is another area that can be difficult to course correct later on. 

A Temporary Strategy, Not a Lifestyle

Doing the bare minimum can be extremely effective for retaining momentum and consistency during a high stress time. But to make sure this doesn’t become a new way of life, it’s best to have a definite end period. Choose a date where you’re going to get back into your regular routine. I don’t recommend doing this for more than a few days or it can be very difficult to get back on track.

When You Fall Off Completely

It happens. Sometimes life takes a turn and everything you once prioritized goes out the window. Maybe it’s a devastating breakup or you lost a loved one. You’re allowed to be a human and take time to process and regroup. If this happens, spend zero time feeling guilt and shame or beating yourself up. This does not serve you and wastes precious energy that you could be using to jump back in. Feel free to give yourself the space to go slow. I even recommend starting with the bare minimum and over time build your way up from there. 

Final Thoughts

In the wellness world it seems like the mantra is more is more. I’m promoting the idea that less is often so much more – especially when you’re feeling overwhelmed with life.  By doing the bare minimum for a short period of time, you can stay in the game, maintain consistency and preserve your momentum. Hopefully, this helps you when “life happens” and your wellness routine feels impossible to maintain. 

Now, I want to hear from you in the comments. Do you have strategies for sticking to your health routine during high stress times? What do you find to be the easiest habits to stick with? What are the most difficult? Do you think a “bare minimum” approach would help you or not?