We all want to have successful books. As artists and storytellers, we want to write a great American novel that is a New York Times bestseller. We want to build a successful business. Or we have some other kind of dream that’s important to us.

That work is important, yes. But it’s not the most important work that you do. Not even close. The most important work you do is on yourself. The best energy you can put into your writing is not the energy that goes into your book, but the energy that goes into your mental and emotional health.

Are you taking care of yourself physically? Are you exercising and eating a decent diet? Do you have friends you can call in times of trouble? Are you involved in some kind of community where you live?

Do you read every day and take a few moments for gratitude or meditation? Are you getting enough rest and hydration? Do you have a hobby or take some time to relax so you don’t spend all your time working?

Those are pretty fundamental questions, but they are important. If you focus on your creative work all the time but neglect working on yourself, you will crash and burn.

I want you to be successful and healthy over the long-haul, not just for the immediate term when you’re working on something that you perceive to be so important.

That work is important, yes. But the most important thing you will ever work on is yourself.

Question: Are you spending time each day working on yourself? In what ways specifically?

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Now we’ve come to the final milestone in The Writer’s Path, which is simply this: Practice key habits for wellness, productivity, and success.

Why it’s important: Without key habits, you will burn out or have some sort of a train wreck. I have seen it too many times in my life. I have even seen it the last few years with some writers and entrepreneurs I know who got very successful, then they crashed and burned in their personal lives.

We all intuitively know that good habits are important—habits related to our health, sleep, productivity, mindset, and so much more. But they are also easy to ignore, aren’t they?

In a way, this is similar to Stephen Covey’s seventh habit from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People—that habit is “sharpen the saw.” It’s tempting to cut and cut and cut… and then never sharpen the saw. When we try to cut down a tree without sharpening the blade, it’s much harder.

And that’s the big challenge of maintaining good life habits. They are easy to ignore. It’s easy to focus on creating, writing, and building a business, only to find yourself alienated from the people you love or in the hospital with a heart attack.

This is not really the 7^th milestone in the sense that it’s sequential related to the other milestones. These are all just keys that need to be part of your writing business and life. Good habits are a key part of life no matter what stage of building your business you are in.

Daily Question: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself on having good habits? Be honest.

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Summertime is now fully upon us, and with that, the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Summer is also the perfect time to take a look at our habits related to health, wellness, exercise, and nutrition.

Let’s face it—it’s easy to live a sedentary life as a writer. But what good is it to build a business around our writing, or write lots of books, only to lack energy and cut our lives short because we haven’t taken care of ourselves?

My guest today is here to help us develop a better mindset around all these issues. His name is Clint Evans, and he is the founder and creator of The Behavior Chef. Clint is a recovering binge-restrict eater and yo-yo dieter. Clint has found success in weight loss and Nutritional Behavior Change for himself (losing according to personal values over 90 pounds) and continues to do so with the unique understanding of Nutritional Coaching and the Psychological Science known as Applied Behavior Analysis.

Clint has been in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis for the past 8 years. After becoming a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, he noticed the field pushing into Health, Sports, and Fitness, but not much push was seen specifically for nutrition. This is where The Behavior Chef was born. Clint is currently certified by Precision Nutrition as a Level One Nutrition Coach. Clint and his co-host Tony host the Behavior Chef Podcast as well.

In this conversation, we dive into all things nutrition and wellness for writers. Clint gives us a rundown of what applied behavior analysis is and why it’s helpful for writers, how to break out of negative health patterns with small steps, and how better eating and sleep can support your writing.

To learn more and connect with Clint, you can do so through the links below:

https://www.behaviorchef.com/

Follow Clint on Facebook

Connect with Clint on Instagram

Check out Clint on Twitter

Follow Clint on TikTok

Subscribe to The Behavior Chef Podcast

Follow The Behavior Chef Community on Facebook

The post Clint Evans, The Behavior Chef, on Building Healthy Habits appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Kristin is the founder of Pen & Peacock Writing, which specializes in writing websites and digital marketing that inspire readers to take action while creating better brand recognition and top-of-mind product awareness.

She writes, produces, and edits website content, blogs, landing pages, eNewsletters, eBooks, and much more. Kristin is also a published poet and ghostwriter.

I’ve asked Kristin to come on the show today to share some tips for becoming a healthier writer. She has had her share of health challenges over the years. As a result, she is a great resource for helping us understand the importance of good health as writers.

In this interview, Kristin shares the importance of wellness, the power of mind, body, and spirit balance, some simple actions we take toward better health, and much more. This was a powerful conversation that has given me even more motivation to make health my primary focus this year.

You can find Kristin on her website, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

The post Kristin Sadler: Tips for Becoming a Healthier Writer appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Writing, for all the beauty and goodness it brings into the world, can also be a force of destruction.

For some reason, culturally speaking, writers are usually linked with vices such as smoking, drinking, lack of self-control, addiction to caffeine, ignoring their family to pursue their “art,” or any number of other destructive actions. Why is this?

The answer probably involves a much deeper dive into psychology than we have room for here (It certainly goes beyond my own expertise!). But the core reality is that writing requires such a huge amount of emotional energy that we are prone to fill the subsequent void with things that make us feel good in the moment but leave us empty.

The author John Updike wrote, “My first thought about art, as a child, was that the artist brings something into the world that didn’t exist before, and that he does it without destroying something else. A kind of refutation of the conservation of matter. That still seems to me its central magic, its core of joy.”

Updike didn’t mention that art can destroy the artist, but that is usually the first thing to go when a creative person pursues their craft to the exclusion of everything else.

Don’t make that same mistake. Don’t let your writing be the only thing that defines you. Choose to be a healthy person who is balanced, responsible, and enjoyable to be around. After all, what good is it if your writing changes other people’s lives, but it ends up destroying yours?

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