It doesn’t matter what you do in life, if you set yourself up for success you are more likely to reach your goals. This is something that I teach when working with patients to improve their health, and at times, I manage to follow my own advice.

Many of you know that I wrote a super hard exam this July. My challenge was to set myself up for success so I could perform at my very best (and of course pass…I mean who wants to write an exam twice?)

There are 5 main things I focused on to set myself up for success.

1. Give myself enough time so I wasn’t rushed.

2. Enjoy the process.

3. Eat well.

4. Sleep well.

5. Get some fresh air.

In order to give myself enough time I decided to write the exam in July instead of June. Could I have worked like a crazy woman to get everything done in time for the June exam? Maybe. Did I want to be that crazy woman and exhaust myself by pushing too hard? NO.

I also decided to take a week of holidays before the exam so I didn’t have anything else to focus on except studying. I went a step further and rented a cottage to spend this week all by myself. This served two purposes. I would get some fresh air and I would be able to sleep well.

Eating well is not usually a problem for me. It is part of who I am and what I do. But…if there ever is a time to get off the wagon it’s when you are “busy studying”. To prevent this from happening I planned my meals for the week ahead of time. I knew exactly what I was going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the whole week. This avoided decision fatigue and the excuse to “grab something quick” because I was studying. I also made some dishes up ahead of time so they were ready to just warm up and eat.

Finally - enjoy the process. How could I enjoy spending every weekend for 2 months AND my week of holidays studying? Well, time to re-frame. It turns out that almost everyone likes to learn something new because we are happier when we experience growth. It also turns out that I spent 8 years in post-secondary education because I actually really like being a student. This was an opportunity to use that to my advantage.

Now that it is all over….well, almost all over (I have to wait five weeks to see if I passed) I’ve noticed a funny thing. Some of these basic habits that I thought I was pretty good at already, have now improved in my regular life. I get up a little earlier in the morning so I'm not rushed getting ready for work. I am going to bed a little earlier so I get a little more sleep and am able to wake up early. I am going for a walk more often when I would otherwise just keep working. I’m continuing to work on enjoying the process and worry less about the end result.

Now I would like to hear from you! Are there habits that you could improve even if you think they are pretty good already? Do you have a time where you set yourself up for success? I would love to hear what you did.