I’ve made one change in recent years that’s had a dramatic effect on my productivity, sleep, mood, focus, and concentration.

For at least one hour after waking up and at least one hour before turning off the lights and going to sleep I do not look at a screen of any sort. That includes everything: television, laptop, tablet, and phone.

There is numerous research showing that staring at a screen around bedtime impacts sleep since looking at a lighted device makes your body think it’s still light out. Plus electronics keep your brain busy and distracted at a time when it should be winding down. Remove all electronic devices from your bedroom and see how your sleep (and sex life) improves.

If you use a smartphone as an alarm clock, get a traditional alarm clock. Yes, this seems against the Live Lean philosophy. After all, a smartphone allows us to eliminate a number of gadgets. But having a smartphone in the bedroom makes it more tempting to use it. Plus, no matter how diligent you are about shutting off the device’s alerts and beeps, you’ll inevitably forget and be awoken by an unimportant midnight text by a night owl friend.

For most people, the challenge here is to eliminate television, social media, texts, and email from the evening. But the best way to get adequate sleep and better sleep while clearing time for more important stuff (like sex in the evening or working out in the morning) is to undergo this digital blackout.

If you’re lacking time for sleep, sex, exercise, or reading, you can reclaim it by ignoring screens for at least an hour before bed and an hour upon waking up.

Reading is the best way to wind down before turning off the lights. It’s not a good idea to read a thriller or mystery novel that will keep the mind racing and inspire you to stay up until the exciting conclusion. But set aside a few magazine articles or, better yet, some boring stuff you need to read for work that’s not pressing. It will help you sleep better and might even put you to sleep with the lights on.

If you think you’re too busy or popular to adopt this blackout, think again. A while back I was staying with a friend and his wife. This friend is the owner of several companies, with more than 3,000 employees. He is a speaker, consultant, and expert sought after by prominent athletes and business people. And yet whenever I stayed at his home, I never saw him look at his phone, tablet, or laptop in the evening. He didn’t even keep his phone nearby, even though he deals regularly with these prominent folks.

Early in the smartphone era, my friend saw me checking my email frequently well into the evening. “You know,” he said matter of factly. “All of that will be waiting for you in the morning.”

That’s so true. I figured if he could let the digital distraction go for an hour or two at night, then so could I.

The same is true with the morning. If you look at a screen, especially a phone, within an hour of waking up, you’re immediately distracted by the needs and wants of others. If you wake up early – and you will wake up early by eliminating screens at night and getting better sleep – you’ll have plenty of time to train, stretch, meditate, and fuel your body properly for the day. That first hour should be yours alone.

The only exception I make is for a quick glance at my phone for texts that might have come from my morning training partners or folks we carpool with who might have a change of plans. But that’s all. I don’t glance at other texts – there usually aren’t any – and I certainly don’t fall down the rabbit hole of social media, news, and email.

By implementing these one-hour digital blackouts as bookends to my day, I’ve carved out that time for myself and set the tone for both the day and the following day. I’m more focused, energized, productive, and calm, and the agenda I set is thus my own.

 

 

 

To live lean means to eliminate time spent shopping for food and preparing it. It starts by basing your diet on a few regular nutritious choices and then finding one place to get it all for an affordable price.

Costco is the answer. I do all of my grocery shopping at Costco, entering a supermarket only a few times a year. (Heck, I do about 90 percent of all shopping at Costco). There’s still a stereotype about Costco selling only massive sizes, which is just not true. It’s possible to buy a single Rotisserie chicken, a dozen eggs or a bottle of wine. Sure, you can’t purchase a single apple or avocado, but don’t most of us buy them at least six at a time?

Costco is a terrific company on many levels because it stays lean. It limits its products to only high-end stuff, including many food products made under its own Kirkland Signature line. It caps its markup on products at 14 percent, miniscule for retail, and that creates customer loyalty. It provides its employees with among the highest wages and best benefits in retail, which also creates loyalty. It lets customers return merchandise with no receipts and no questions asked – with few time limits.

The company operates under two simple rules: Take care of your customer, and take care of your employees. Walk into a Costco and you’ll find people providing customer service with a smile.

Full disclosure: I’m a longtime Costco member and shareholder. I believe in everything the Kirkland, Washington, company stands for, though I’ve never had one of those cheap hot dogs they sell by the thousands. (They’re apparently pretty good, if you like hot dogs.)

I find everything I need to eat at Costco:

Rotisserie chicken: These are an excellent value at $5.99. Remove the fatty skin and you have enough for one meal plus leftovers. If you buy two, you can carve the second one up and take care of several lunches and perhaps another dinner.

Flank steak: This is the leanest cut of beef, yet it’s juicy and flavorful. Costco portions aren’t small, but if you’re cooking for only one or two, you can freeze half of it. I only eat red meat occasionally, usually when hosting guests, and this is a great option.

Wild salmon: It’s sometimes difficult to find salmon that’s not farm-raised, which contains higher levels of chlorinated compounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Costco sells wild salmon, some of which is already marinated.

Vegetables: Go for the mixed dark greens available in boxes or bags. Organic spinach comes in large bags or plastic tubs with a short-term expiration date. Spinach is versatile—you can use it to anchor salads or cook it in olive oil and serve as a side dish for dinner. Asparagus and broccoli come in larger packages and can be enjoyed several times over the course of the week. At our house asparagus is considered finger food and I’ve been known to eat it six times a week, coating it with olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt and baking for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. I also buy broccoli and cucumbers at Costco.

Fruits: The price of blueberries fluctuates wildly over the course of the year, depending on whether Costco can obtain them from local farmers or must ship them from greater distances. You usually can find blackberries and strawberries as well. Frozen berries are always a good option. I buy apples, bananas, and avocados at Costco as well.

Olive oil: This can be a bigger-ticket item, so it pays to buy in bulk. Costco’s private-label “Kirkland Signature” extra virgin olive oil is a good value and a rich source of healthy fats as a salad dressing or as a marinade for spinach and asparagus.

Tomatoes: Rich in antioxidants, tomatoes are a staple of any high-performance diet. Costco sells them in all sizes, from grape to full-size.

Eggs: We buy the two-dozen package, but they come in smaller amounts.

Peanut butter: Costco’s organic creamy peanut butter, produced under its Kirkland Signature label, is delicious and contains only dry roasted peanuts and sea salt.

Whey protein powder: Whey is a by-product of cheese manufacturing and includes many essential amino acids that boost the immune system and promote overall good health. Protein powder can be found in chocolate and vanilla powder. I mix a scoop with my morning green smoothie and also a half-scoop with watered down orange juice before working out.

Muscle Milk Light: These sell in cases of 24 for $30 but they tend to go on sale for $22-$24 every couple of months so I stock up. Each 8.25-ounce container provides 20g of protein and 140 calories. I consume one right after working out to jumpstart recovery. They’re also convenient as mid-morning or mid-afternoon nutrition or if you’re running around all day with errands and shuttling kids. I limit myself to two a day, usually just one.

Nuts: They’re not cheap, so it pays to buy in bulk. You can put them in salads, mix them into post-workout recovery shakes, and even eat them alone like I do as a mid-afternoon snack. Almonds, walnuts, and pecans are good choices. Freeze to keep fresh.

Water: Costco sells bottled water by the case. Grab some standard half-liter bottles, along with some 8-ouncers for kids or guests who might not need a full bottle. Of course, you can save money and the environment by refilling your own water bottle.

Wine: Did you know that nobody sells more wine in the United States than Costco? Because of that buying power, the savings is passed along to you. Costco wines come from all over the world, including Europe, South America and Australia. Alcohol is not a part of a Live Lean lifestyle, and I limit myself to just an occasional glass of wine. There’s perhaps no better place to pick up a quality bottle of wine for a reasonable price and Costco has everything to satisfy your wine palate.

And that’s it. By “limiting” my nutrition to just these items, I save time and money and eat healthfully. I put limit in quotes because I don’t see this as deprivation. It’s what my body has come to crave. Costco makes it one-stop shopping.

 

Participation trophies are a polarizing topic. Some believe the trend of giving kids trophies regardless of performance dampens motivation and brings about a sense of entitlement. Others believe it’s a harmless gesture that builds self-esteem.

I tend to fall into the first camp. I received just one trophy as a kid despite playing baseball and/or basketball from the age of 8 through high school. That’s because my youth sports leagues awarded trophies to only the first-place teams. The second place teams received plaques, if that, and third place and beyond got nothing. Thus, getting a trophy was a big deal and strong motivation.

But we’ll save the participation trophy debate for another day. One overlooked downside to awarding trophies, ribbons, and certificates for everything is that it produces clutter. Plus, the award becomes the focus, not the experience.

This isn’t just true of youth sports leagues. We’ve reached the point in adult endurance sports where athletes expect a medal for finishing not just an Ironman triathlon or a marathon but every run-of-the-mill 5K run, even if it’s a “themed” race where most “runners” just walk around getting doused with colored powder. So you get a finisher’s medal, along with a T-shirt, and a “swag” bag full of sponsor promotional items (pens, key chains, etc.) and plenty of paper advertisements. Often the bag is a nylon backpack with the race logo.

So we’ve transformed what should be a physical challenge focused on pushing your body to new heights into a shopping experience. Pay $50, $75, or $125 and get a bunch of stuff. Do enough of these races and soon you have a drawer full of T-shirts, a box full of medals, and promotional items cluttering your home.

This same mindset often takes root in vacations. Rather than focusing on exploring new places and trying unusual experiences, many emphasize the accumulation of souvenirs, artwork, clothes, and home decor to remind them of the “experience.” Which is appropriate since for many people vacations are about shopping and consuming.

Thankfully, digital photography has eliminated the clutter produced by vacation photos. Those of us of a certain age will remember sorting through “free double prints” from the pharmacy and being subjected to marathon slide presentations – actual film slides, not PowerPoint – from Aunt Millie’s trip to China.

Though digital cameras have eliminated this torture and kept vacationers from shooting photos of scenery and famous sights that now can be found online, technology has contributed to a self-absorbed culture where we must photograph everything rather than just take in the experience. We live in the era of “photos or it didn’t happen,” which places the focus more on photographing the experience and sharing it online immediately over living mindfully in the moment.

Before we embark on any experience, whether it’s entering an endurance race or planning a vacation, we consider the cost in terms of time and money. That’s only natural. We think of the joy the experience will bring. But whether we think of it or not, we’re also weighing the swag we’ll receive.

That’s why I’ve come to consider experiences solely for, well, the experience. Would I enter this race if it there were no T-shirt, finisher’s medal or swag? It not, then why do the race? Would I attend this professional sports event were it not for a free giveaway? If not, why pay to watch an event for two to three hours if I wouldn’t do so otherwise? Would I take this trip if I knew I would bring home nothing but memories and perhaps digital photos that I did not share online?

As for participation trophies, how many of those kids would play sports were it not for knowing they’d receive a trophy at the end of the season? Probably most, but some no doubt have become so conditioned to receiving a trophy that the plastic trinket on a small slab of marble becomes the primary motivation.

Today’s 6-year-old receiving a participation trophy becomes the adult who looks for swag and finisher’s medals at a 5K, spends vacations shopping for “memories,” and makes decisions based on “free” giveaways.

Why not live lean and design your life around actual rich experiences, not the souvenir clutter they might bring?

It’s amazing what we’ll do when something is free. We’ll stand in line for an hour for a free burrito or Italian ice. We’ll buy tickets to sports events we wouldn’t otherwise attend because there’s a free trinket involved. We’ll pay hefty fees to enter running races in large part to get an ill-fitting “free” T-shirt cluttered with sponsor logos and/or a medal that will go into a box and be forgotten the day after the race.

Sometimes the lure of a free knickknack is enough for us to subscribe to a magazine, which not only creates the clutter of a knickknack but also the ongoing clutter of magazines we don’t need or want. We go out of our way to accept “buy-one-get-one-free” (BOGO) offers when usually we don’t need more than one of the item and sometimes not even one.

As I’ve purged clutter, I’ve discovered much of the clutter I received for free but never used. There are the never-worn free T-shirts, never-displayed ballpark giveaways, and never-used free product samples or the so-called “premium items” received for subscribing to a magazine.

When it comes to “free” clutter, just say no. That free clutter is costly, taking up time, space, and focus.

Over the years, I’ve participated in a number of endurance sports races – running events, triathlons, obstacle races, stand-up paddleboard events – and I’ve often turned down the free T-shirt. Most of the time the shirt is a generic, ill-fitting, unisex shirt cluttered with sponsor logos on the back. I also decline the “goody bag” since it’s usually a sack full of advertisements and paper. Occasionally there’s something useful buried amid the clutter – like a packet of sunscreen or an energy gel – but I find it’s rarely worth the time to go through the clutter. Inevitably I feel like Charlie Brown on Halloween, hoping for candy but getting a rock.

I’ve learned that if the race itself isn’t worth the entry fee from a strictly experience standpoint, it’s not going to be worth it because of the T-shirt, goody bag of advertising, and a finisher’s medal or trinket.

The ballpark freebie is the brainchild of Bill Veeck, the Hall of Fame baseball owner who from the late ’40s to early ’80s owned the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns (now Baltimore Orioles) and the Chicago White Sox (twice). Veeck, who died in 1986, pretty much created what’s now known as sports marketing. He introduced names on the backs of uniforms (so fans could identify players), planted the iconic ivy on the walls of Chicago’s Wrigley Field (his father was once Cubs president), was the first to shoot off post-game fireworks, and believed in adding value to the ballpark experience. (His son, Mike, has introduced similar media-generating promotions as a minor league baseball team owner. Mike and I even wrote a business motivational book together years ago.)

Unfortunately, the ballpark giveaway is now a clutter giveaway. When in doubt, say no to free stuff. Most everyone knows to ignore the clipboard-wielding marketers at shopping malls and sporting events looking to “give” us something in exchange for signing up for another credit card.

But why take free paper handed to you on the street? Or commit to something because of a “free” T-shirt or knickknack?

If something isn’t worth buying for the experience or value it provides in its own right, it will not be worth it because of the “free” item thrown in as incentive.

 

In the last two years I’ve purged more than half of my belongings. Clothes, books, sports gear, tools, excess furniture, yearbooks, paper, electronics, toys, sports memorabilia, photos, and more odds and ends than I can count.

But yet there’s been something I haven’t used in 15 years that I’ve struggled to purge, even though I come across it every day and even though it’s taking up valuable floor space in the garage.

Golf clubs.

I haven’t played golf in 15 years and have hit the links just twice since I moved to Florida at the end of 1997. The clubs were not expensive; I bought them at the going-out-of-business sale of a local sporting goods store in 1998 for probably no more than $125.

It’s not like I once played a lot of golf, just an occasional round as a teenager. Though I’ve been around golf and lived near golf courses much of my life, it’s not a sport I ever embraced or found particularly enjoyable. If I have a spare three hours, I’d much rather run, swim, paddle, hike, or bike.

So why can’t I get rid of these golf clubs?

Maybe it’s because they represent a sport I’ve never been able to master. By parting with them, I’ll be admitting that I’ll never play passable golf, even though I already made that decision subconsciously by not playing since 2000.

There once was a time when I thought it was important to play passable golf. Twice in my twenties I started from scratch with lessons – first in Virginia and after I moved to Florida. I even co-authored a fitness book showing golfers how to train to play better golf and avoid injury. Even that didn’t inspire me to pick golf back up.

Golf is good for business and networking, I was told. Maybe that’s still true, though it seems like interest in golf has waned in the last two decades. Today’s hard-charging young and middle-aged professionals seem to prefer endurance sports like triathlon, mountain biking, and stand-up paddleboarding (SUP). Or CrossFit, yoga, and obstacle racing.

I can’t even say I’m keeping the clubs for my sons, who are at the age when they could take golf lessons. We have a driving range and teaching school around the corner, open year round. But the boys have expressed no interest in golf and, if they did, they’d need shorter clubs. A quick glance at Craigslist reveals comparable sets to mine – many comparable sets – in the $75 range. In the unlikely event I ever want another pair of clubs to replace these old sticks, I can find a cheap upgrade quickly.

It’s funny what we struggle to purge. For some it’s sentimental items. For others it’s books or mementos. Then there are the golf clubs and their equivalent, which represent another weird psychological hold, the middle ground between old hobbies and ones we never embrace.

True, you’re never too old to master a skill and if golf were on my bucket list, I’d keep the clubs. To live lean, we must curate all aspects of our lives, playing triage with our time by choosing only activities that bring us joy.

I can watch great golfers and appreciate their skills.

But devoting time to golf was never my thing.

And it never will be.

Today the golf clubs went to Goodwill.

I’ve spent a good chunk of my career writing fitness books, a genre released almost entirely around New Year’s Day with a “New Year, New You” marketing campaign.

The idea, of course, is to capture the New Year’s resolution crowd, a group that inevitably gives up their resolutions by Valentine’s Day. Perhaps it would be more effective to look at January 1 as “New Year, Nude You.”

This isn’t about being a nudist. It’s about taking a moment New Year’s Day or in early January to strip nude in front of the mirror and take stock not only of our bodies but everything in our lives. What is serving our goals and what is just clutter? What if we could start with a blank slate? It’s a new year, after all. Let’s take a look at five key areas of our lives where it’s possible to press the re-set button.

PHYSICAL: Body acceptance is a wonderful thing. If you’re concerned, however, that an unhealthy lifestyle is contributing to current or future health problems, get nude and take a long look in a long mirror. Everyone wants to look good in a swimsuit or birthday suit, but getting healthy for aesthetic reasons rarely is sufficient motivation. Instead, consider the consequences of your current lifestyle. Might you be contributing to an early death? At the very least, does your body provide you with enough energy to accomplish what you want? Are you able to provide for loved ones? What if you’re no longer around? That is stronger motivation.

MATERIAL: Are you dreading spending the better part of a day taking down holiday decorations? Consider purging half of them, keeping only what’s truly special. The stuff you didn’t put up this Christmas should be the first to go. Vow to spend 2016 experiencing life rather than acquiring and maintaining belongings. The more you purge, the more time, energy, and resources you’ll have. We always assume possessions make us happy when they actually rob us of our time, money, and energy. Strip down your belongings this year, clothes and everything else, and embrace the freedom.

DIGITAL: For the most part the digital revolution has helped us streamline. There’s no need for photo albums or physical collections of music, movies, or books. Even important documents can be kept in digital form. Indeed, make it a goal this year to put as much of your life in the cloud or on backup drives and free yourself from clutter.

At the same time, the digital world robs us of time and focus via email, texts, online browsing, and social media. The Internet can be a time saving tool, but it’s more often a time drain. Make it a point in 2016 to get “nude” digitally by stripping passive time online from your life. Limit television to an hour a day or less.

It’s also a good time to back up important digital files. If you’re like most people and have lots of photos, keep them on external drives rather than on laptops, tablets, and phones that can fall into the wrong hands.

CONSUMABLE: It’s not just that we eat too much food. We eat too many kinds of food. When we view food as fuel and not as a sensory experience, we’re more likely to eat healthy, fiber-rich, colorful food that fill us up and provides a big bang for the calories.

That’s easier to do by eating the same things on a daily basis. When we eat mostly the same things, shopping is faster and cheaper, and we’re less likely to overeat since we’re in touch with portion size. Swapping soda and sports drinks for water is a healthy way to save money. So too is minimizing alcohol, which fattens stomachs and cleans out wallets.

RELATIONSHIPS: Some people find it tough to cut back on alcohol. That’s because many of their relationships are built around drinking and parties. When activities are geared more toward the physical – hiking, biking, swimming, paddling, even golf, tennis and volleyball – you still might enjoy a drink afterward. But the focus is on the activity not drinking. When we surround ourselves with people who place a premium on experiences, we naturally cull unhealthy relationships and establish healthier ones.

There’s nothing wrong with the occasional celebration, of course. In fact, come December 31, 2016, you’ll no doubt raise a toast to 2016, when you discovered a Nude Year and a “Nude” You.