“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a quote which formed the basis of the Eisenhower matrix (more on that below).
Wellness Tip:
Avoid EDCs
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are substances that interfere with the functioning of your endocrine system. Spoiler alert – they’re bad.
EDCs are found in a bunch of everyday places including food (from pesticides), plastic packaging, skincare products, textiles, electronics, even some children’s toys.
Here are some tips on how to avoid them:
- Buy organic produce wherever possible (prioritize the ‘dirty dozen’)
- Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly
- Never microwave food in plastic containers
- Go for glass packaging over plastic or cans (which can contain BPA)
- Say no to receipts when shopping (more BPA!)
- Use a water filter
- Check the safety of personal care products in the EWG Skin Deep Database
EWG also has a great post covering 12 common EDCs and what to do about them, so give it a read here. Your endocrine system will thank you for it.
Productivity Tip:
Try the Eisenhower Matrix
If you have a huge list of stuff to do and don’t know where to start, start here: decide what’s urgent and what’s important.
Important tasks contribute to your long-term goals. Urgent ones keep you busy, but don’t have much real impact. Some tasks are both urgent and important; some are neither!
Enter the Eisenhower Matrix. It tells you what action to take for each type of task:
- Urgent and important (do these first)
- Important, but not urgent (schedule for later)
- Urgent, but not important (delegate!)
- Neither urgent nor important (eliminate)
Using the priorities and schedule section of Panda Planner can help you manage these actions. Read more about the matrix here and here and then let us know how it works for you!
Routine Breakdown
Trinity Mouzon Wofford, Entrepreneur
How does Trinity Mouzon Wofford, co-founder of wildly successful wellness brand Golde, start her days? She:
- Drinks lemon water
- Checks her phone but tries not to get “sucked in”, limiting screen time to about 15 minutes.
- Does yoga. “If I don’t have a lot of time, I’ll do 10 to 15 minutes of stretching, but ideally, it’s 40 minutes of Yoga With Adriene.”
- Puts on work clothes to create a work-life boundary. “It creates a great work persona, and as long as I’m in that, I’m in the zone, even though I’m at home.”
Why it works:
- The research on lemon water isn’t conclusive, but it has potential benefits – and any morning hydration is good.
- Not getting sucked into tech leaves more time for a balanced, healthy routine that includes physical exercise.
- There’s plenty of science supporting the benefits of yoga.
- What you wear really does influence your mindset.
Trinity drives home yoga as a great way to start the day. “Starting my morning by getting in touch with my breath and my body really makes me feel my best and sets a positive tone that helps me tackle whatever’s to come,” she says.
If you’ve never tried yoga or you’re missing your regular in-person practice, there are plenty of free options online. Yoga with Adriene is one very popular one (thanks for the tip, Trinity!).
