Unmasking Greatness

Reclaiming Your Health as a Busy Parent

• Chris Kakouras • Season 3 • Episode 14

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Chris explores the critical balance of maintaining personal health while raising children by implementing effective systems and morning routines that benefit both parents and kids.

• Parents often prepare everything for their children while neglecting the same care for themselves
• Kids learn by watching and imitating their parents' behaviors and habits
• Your morning actually starts the night before with proper preparation
• Create a nighttime routine that includes preparing clothes, meals, and water bottles for yourself, not just your kids
• Microdosing exercise (10-15 minutes daily) can be more effective than trying to find time for longer gym sessions
• Replace "I didn't have time" with "I didn't plan my time" to shift your mindset
• Start with changing just one habit for a full week before adding another
• Setting the example of planning and preparation helps children develop these skills themselves
• Removing screen time often leads to children discovering other interests and activities
• Leading by example creates better outcomes than simply telling children what to do

Take the One Thing Challenge: Choose a single preparation habit to implement for one full week, then add another when you're ready. Your kids might not prep themselves, but you can build systems that make mornings smoother while reclaiming your own health.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, a lifestyle fitness coach and mentor. This podcast is about unmasking your greatest potential, finding your purpose and crafting a life worth living. Health and fitness has been the gateway drug to all of my success. My continuous drive to keep learning and surround myself with other high achievers forces me to level up, which has developed my mind to something I never thought was possible. This podcast is here to share what I've learned and continue to learn with all of you. This is your sign to take back control of your health, mindset and personal environment. Strap in as we are recharged and always find value in the show. Please subscribe and share, as we can all get better together. Let's go. What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris. I hope you guys are all having a blessed Monday and, if you are listening to this episode, I hope to provide you guys with tons of value every time that you show up and I show up and I'm going to be quite honest with you guys just out the gate before we get into the topic.

Speaker 1:

I feel like I have been slacking I don't have another term that I really want to use but I have been a little bit lagging when it comes to the podcast. I feel like there's just been a lot of hectic things going on. I still have been putting them out, but not the way that I've been wanting to, and of course, we are trying to do more interviews, which I have another guest coming on very, very soon, in the next week or so, that I'm really, really excited to bring on. You guys could potentially guess what it is if you guys follow me on my social medias, but either way, I am trying to do more for you guys and I have even which sounds crazy, right, because I feel like I've been slacking. I feel like I want to kind of turn things up and post more than just one a week, almost two to potentially three podcasts every single week, and not super long ones, you know, maybe 20, 25 minutes, because I was thinking I listen to a lot of podcasts. Actually, when I'm driving to work, that is my time to really just kind of driving the car and I'm listening to either audiobook. That is my time to really just kind of drive in the car and I'm listening to either audio books or podcasts, but there's certain podcasts that they're, you know, almost putting out regular episodes, almost to the point where it was daily and they stopped and I was a little bit upset about it. I was like, oh man, I really enjoyed listening to that almost every single day. And now he's starting to crank things back up again on his podcast and he kind of mentioned kind of the same thing that I'm talking about right now. But regardless, I hope that you guys that are listening you really enjoy this and if you want me to do more episodes, reach out to me, tell me that you really enjoy it, leave me a review and I think I'm going to lean into that a little bit.

Speaker 1:

So let's kind of talk about what I want to touch on today, which is more so. I'm going to speak a little more directly to you busy parents with kids, and younger kids specifically, that are not self-sufficient because the summer's over, self-sufficient because the summer's over, and working with many, many clients. One of the concerns is summertime, right. Things become more chaotic for the parents, right, freedom for the kids. Chaotic for the parents because there's no structure anymore. We have to find things to occupy our kids. We still work. Unless you work in a school system, you typically don't get the summer off either. So you have to continue doing your job. And again, if you work from home, that could be even more difficult because you have kids running around screaming or they're coming in, they want to play with you, and then you feel bad because you're like, hey, you know, I'm sorry, I have to work.

Speaker 1:

And that was kind of some of the stuff that I was facing, you know, with my son and these are the conversations that I have with with a lot of our clients that are actually parents of how to navigate that, how to set boundaries, how to structure things a little bit better. You know, especially during the summertime and now we are out of the summer and kids are back in school a little breath of fresh air for some of us, and it's not that we don't want our kids around it's like we we, as I feel, as humans we're creatures of habit we like structure and I think structure ultimately gives you freedom long-term. So having that sort of structure makes things really easy for us and if we can implement good systems, good structures that also are very cohesive with a healthy lifestyle, this can be very beneficial for you and your children. But but this is the conversations that come up with a lot of parents that they don't have the time. They don't have the time to eat, they don't have times to, you know, get themselves ready. They're hustling and bustling and having crazy mornings trying to get the kids out the door and take them to school. You know all the all the things right. And so I was actually speaking to one of our clients specifically, and she, you know, we're getting her back on track, we're getting her back into the gym and getting exercise and trying to eat healthier and just, you know, be a good example for her kid, because that is ultimately one of the number one reasons she ended up. You know, signing up with us is because, sure, she wants to be healthy, but she knows the importance of health and she also is really proactive and wanting to implement healthy lifestyles to her young child early on, right, so it becomes almost automatic for her normal, like a normal lifestyle, which is understandable. But how do kids learn right? How do kids learn? They watch, they imitate, right. It's like a little duckling. They see the you know, the parent duck walking and they follow right behind. This is how kids are in the beginning, and so one of the things that we're trying to implement is having some more systems and structure.

Speaker 1:

And obviously one of the things that we push and ask on a daily is like how much water do you drink? And it was very minimum. Okay, I'll leave it at that. It was very minimal water. And I was like why? And she's like because if I have a water bottle with me, if I have water with me, I'll drink it. I just don't have it. And I was like why don't you have it? And she was like I don't. I just I get caught up. I'm trying to get my kid ready to go out the door and I just forget it. And so instead of saying, well, you need to just bring water with you, I was like, well, okay, well, let's back up a minute. You're getting ready, obviously, for your kids, you're getting ready for your day at work. And so I'm assuming again because I'm a parent too we try to make our life a little bit easier in the mornings by preparing our kids.

Speaker 1:

So what that could potentially look like is you have their clothes already picked out, you have a lunchbox, their lunch is already made for them, you give them some sort of water bottle to take with them to school. Like all this stuff. That stuff is ready in a backpack, ready to just kind of like, put the clothes on, get out the door. Would that be somewhat accurate? This is what I asked her and she was like yeah, actually that's a pretty spot on, I do do that. And so now I asked her okay, so here's the question for you If you can do that for her, why can't you do that for you? Where did you lose yourself along the lines of planning and preparing? And it kind of took her back a little bit and she was like huh, I don't know. I never really thought of that and I was like that's okay, because most of us parents what do we say? We want to put the kids first, the kids first, everything for the kids.

Speaker 1:

At the end of the day, if your goal and objective is to be the best parent, be a good example, you know, really set the bar and the standard for your child. Where does that start? It starts with you, and so the reality is these kids don't prepare themselves. You're the one preparing them. You know, getting them ready for bed, brushing their teeth, laying their clothes out, getting the school papers filled out, all of that right, but you need to do that for you, because then they can start to see, well, they're not just forcing me to do something that I don't want to do. You know, my mom and dad do that too, and this becomes a rippling effect. And I'm just talking about water right now.

Speaker 1:

But let's talk about, like just in general, like your morning routines. Like how do you react in the morning? Are you waking up the last minute and it's super chaotic, or do you wake up a little bit earlier so you have some time to? You know, either do some devotional work, you want to stretch, are you going to the gym prior, are you eating breakfast? You know what are those things that you're setting the pace for the day. Those are the kind of conversations that you need to be having while you're structuring and having these systems every single day and on a weekly basis.

Speaker 1:

If you guys listen to a lot of my podcasts, I'm very adamant about scheduling and timing and giving yourself buffer time, prioritizing. So again, I just want you to know, if this sounds like you, you are not alone. Okay, every parent feels like this at some point, even myself. But if you're not taking account, if you're not looking and adjusting and auditing it, then don't plan on anything changing. Everything will stay the same until you decide to change. Right, and it's just slowly implementing. So we need to start reframing. You know what, what we're trying to get out of this? So you know again, creating structure is going to be the number one thing.

Speaker 1:

Now I will say this your morning starts the night before, always the night before, just like what I was talking about with your kids. Setting all that stuff up, having all that thing prepared, makes your life so much easier in the morning for your kid. Now what if you did that for yourself? So much more time, so much smoother. And we are building momentum in the morning. So if one thing goes wrong, we start to think our whole day is wrong.

Speaker 1:

Right, this is also another reason why I tell a lot of people don't listen to the news first thing in the morning. If it's really important, you'll find out, I promise you that. But typically the news is a little bit depressing. You know whether they're talking about the weather, the traffic, someone got murdered or a missing person. I mean, they will find everything in between. That is, you know, exciting from a drama perspective, but also it just frames the mind for just negativity.

Speaker 1:

We need to start out positive and having momentum and really like I'm going to crush today and hit my goals, and whatever that may be. It doesn't always have to be health, but we want to implement that because if we are healthier, we think better, we have more energy, we're obviously going to feel better, and then again, when we're setting that example for our children, they see that. So organization at the night equals the freedom in the morning. So it's got to start there. So I'm going to give you guys some practical things again for yourself to do and this is going to implement for you and your kids. You do the same thing for yourself.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the first thing that you want to do is create a nighttime routine. All right, I typically say no more screen time, no more phones, an hour before you actually lay down, and I would take that hour to actually start doing these things. So turn off TVs, turn off phones, computers, et cetera, whatever you got going on, and start creating a routine with your child of, like brushing your teeth, you know, putting on the PJs, you know, do those sort of things, and then you can also start to pick out the clothes for the next day. Right, if you're doing it for your kids, do it for yourself. Have your clothes picked out. If you are working out after work, if you're working out at lunch, make sure you pack those clothes up too and put them in a bag. Have it ready at the door.

Speaker 1:

When you're talking about food, you need to be. You're packing lunch for your kids. You're packing water bottles up, filling them up the night before Same thing. Why are you not packing your lunch up? Why do you not have a water bottle ready? Fill that thing up, put it in the fridge or leave it out your preference. You want room temp or not. But again, have that stuff ready.

Speaker 1:

Again, backpacks, bags, computer bags, anything that you need to leave the house with you needs to be almost sitting at the door where it's like a grab and go. Let's rock and roll, let's crush today. And it makes things so seamless Even from a breakfast perspective. Have kind of a breakfast list of things that you're going to, you know, pick and choose from. Or if there's a staple meal that you like, go with that, go with that. Something super, super easy for you and your child. Again, you're setting that standard, you're setting the pace. So, again, it's almost like having a launch pad set at your door, have it all ready to go, and I can tell you how much time and stress that you will save by doing something like this. It sounds like it's more work, but trust me, test this out. If you have not done this, test this out. I'm sure a lot of you have probably done it and it just hasn't stuck Like. You did it and it was like, oh my God, that did work. But you don't keep doing it Again planning, preparing, and I would actually put this on a schedule, write it down, write it down.

Speaker 1:

So, again, this is going to give you that extra time to be able to do whatever it is that you want to do, or just have a really chill morning. So how this helps you as a parent. Of course, this creates a bandwidth for your healthy habits. You're not going to be skipping meals anymore. That is the most common one that I hear. I'm so busy I don't have time to eat. Okay, you got time. It doesn't mean that you got time to actually cook a three course meal or you have time to sit down and eat. You may need something that's a grab and go, which is okay, but why didn't you plan that? Why didn't you make a wrap? Why didn't you make a sandwich? Maybe it's just a protein shake and some fruit, and that's okay too, but skipping it should never be an option.

Speaker 1:

Again, drinking water. The only reason you're not drinking water? Because you don't have it with you. I am a big fan right now of water bottles called the O'Walla, so I don't know if you've guys heard that. Look it up. And one of the. They make different sizes. They also keep the water cold in there, but it has a. It's a straw and I don't want to call it like a sippy at the top, but like you can either drink it by turning it up or you can drink it through the straw. It's like a combo deal and I they're great, I love them. So again, they make these. If you're one of those women that, like the big I wish I don't know what to call my wife would know those big cups with the handles you can get a handle adapter for it and you can rock it from there.

Speaker 1:

But again, find something that you want to carry Back. When I was competing in bodybuilding, carrying a gallon of water was cool. Yeah, not, no more, I don't got time. I don't want to say I don't have time, I just don't want to carry a whole gallon of water with me everywhere I go, just from an aesthetic perspective, and also just gets heavy, you know, after a while. So I just, you know, I keep one and I just refill it over time and it's a good way to know how much water you should be drinking. You know, because if it's, you know, 32 ounces, then you know drink two or three a day. You know, depending on your body and your weight. A good standard for water typically is take your body weight, cut it in half and that's how many ounces of water you should be drinking. That's just a good overall standard that you could go by. So make sure you have that water.

Speaker 1:

Prioritize time for movement, physical activity, right, physical activity? Now, physical activity and exercise are very different. Physical activity is going to be things like counting your steps, maybe doing some stretching or mobility work, you know, in between a meeting or a call, just to get some blood flow going. But also you need to do some workouts. Now I always suggest you go to the gym for a couple reasons. One, there's going to be more equipment. You're going to put yourself in a better environment. The networking aspect. I mean, there's a lot of benefits from just going to the gym.

Speaker 1:

But if you don't have time to actually have a whole hour or 45 minutes to go to the gym two, three times a week, then I would suggest doing something like microdosing exercise, and this is something I would do daily. Then I would suggest doing something like microdosing exercise and this is something I would do daily. I would wake up, you know, maybe 15 minutes to 20 minutes earlier than you normally would, and do a 10, 15 minute quick workout some pushups, some air squats, some lunges, some crunches and just again. This is a great way to start your day and get some blood flowing, get some endorphins going and you feel good, you feel accomplished, you did something and I think doing that from you know day one and try to do 30 days may inspire you like oh, you know what I need to get some equipment at my house like some light dumbbells or bands, or I'm going to go check out a gym membership. I'm going to start doing that and doing that you could do instead of doing, maybe, say, two, three days at the gym. I would do that every morning.

Speaker 1:

You're not. You're not exhausting the body and going to failure with some of those movements. Now, are you going to build muscle that way? Not, not really. Uh, you may get a little bit of strength and endurance. You'll burn some body fat just cause you're burning some extra calories. But when it comes to sculpting and building muscle, you have to put it under enough load. So you would need weights, without a doubt, but again, you got to prioritize time for that.

Speaker 1:

And again, when you start doing these kind of things, what did I say from the beginning? Your kids see what you're doing. They're going to know that you were doing something before they woke up. For sure they're going to know that you were doing something before they woke up. For sure they're going to see how you dress, how you handle yourself, how your demeanor is, because you're not so stressed and frazzled first thing in the morning. Again, they're going to implement that, because if you're kind of crazy and yelling and hectic in the morning, they're going to think that's normal and they're going to be like that too. So, set the pace, set the standard, have some structure and implement that and show them by example. So you guys got to start shifting the way that you think and you speak to yourself.

Speaker 1:

It's not, I didn't have time. You need to start saying I didn't plan my time, I didn't plan or prepare what I was supposed to do, aka, this is why I don't have time. Quote, unquote right? So you're not only helping your kids succeed now in their day to day, but they're going to be able to succeed better in school Because with that planning and that skilled preparation, they're going to start modeling it. Remember, when we're talking about prioritization your kid's going to be going to school. They're going to end up getting homework. My son is now starting to have homework and luckily they started very minimal, so he's going to have to spend about 15 minutes outside of school when he gets home to do worksheets and obviously we're going to have to help him with it.

Speaker 1:

But when you have a system and things are scheduled, they don't feel like you're just like pushing so much on them. It's like, okay, listen, there's time to go to school, there's going to be time for you to play, there's going to be time for you to maybe be on iPad for a little bit, and then there's also time that we need to work on some school activities and so over time that will be a normality for them and they're not going to fight you on it in the beginning, and I and trust me, listen, being a parent has been a learning curve for me, and there's no book for this, but it's a trial and error, but I can tell you this you know, I was that. I'm going a little tangent here. I was that parent that was like oh, I'm never going to have my kid on an iPad or on the phone when we're out in public. Uh, I'm going a little tangent here. I was that parent that was like oh, I'm never going to have my kid on an iPad or on the phone when we're, you know, out in public. Uh, I'm sorry, I am Okay, listen, when I want to eat and I just need him to chill, yeah, okay, uh, you know, we put them on it, but he's not on an all day and we make him eat before he gets on it. So there's, you know, again, I've learned that over time.

Speaker 1:

I didn't do that at first, but same thing at home, you know, you leave a kid on an iPad. They can get lost in that thing for hours and then they start acting just ass crazy. So when we started pulling it back, and you know, even now, right now, like my son, has lost all privileges to everything when it comes to iPads, and we got him a little Nintendo Switch. He doesn't have it. And he was upset for a day or two and honestly, it's been almost a week and he has not asked about it at all. Isn't that wild? Someone that's like so addicted to something and in a matter of days he's almost like he just forgot about it.

Speaker 1:

And we actually went to he's been seeing on my phone and again, you listen to my old past podcast. I used to be a skateboarder and he saw some skateboarding clips on my phone one day and we just started talking about it and he was asking about, like you know, did I skate and what could I do? And, and you know, that conversation turned into like, hey, son, you want to, you want to skateboard, you want me like, you want to go get a skateboard? And then this past weekend we went to Greenville. There was a skateboard shop called Blazers that was there for years. I mean, this place has been there back when I used to work in a skateboard shop in Spartanburg and we were about to drive by and I was like, oh, we got to stop, we have to stop, and we did, and it was a really, really cool experience to see him go in there and he's excited and gets to watch them. Actually, he picked his board, picked his wheels, you know they, they built it in front of him and you know, and I'm in there, I'm like you know what? I guess I got to get one too, because I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to help him and get comfortable and play. You know how far it will go, I don't know, but again, it gets him off the screens, it gets him to be outside. It is great exercise.

Speaker 1:

Let me tell you something, and skateboarding will build some of the highest level of patience you can imagine. You will be out there for hours trying one trick and not be able to get it, but it's for some reason. It's so addicting to want to get it done. I think a lot of that is correlated to my adult life now, but anyways, those are the kind of things that I would encourage you guys to be doing. So, anyways, that's that's my message to you guys, my action step that I would love for you guys to do, that are thinking about this and, if this is resonating with you, don't try to overall, overhaul your whole life or your whole, you know, days.

Speaker 1:

Pick one thing, just one. If that's like my client where we said, okay, now you're just going to start filling up your water bottle the night before and taking it with you, start with that. The minute we said that and implemented that, which sounds so simple, she has not missed since. She has not missed a day since and hits her water, and we can now compound to the next thing that we're going to focus on. So I ask of you to pick one thing Is it the water?

Speaker 1:

Is it the clothes? Is it the lunch? You know whatever. Pick one, stick to it for a week and then add another one and I promise, notice how much better your mornings are going to feel. Okay. So I challenge you to do one thing for a full week audit it, see how it went, and then, when you feel comfortable, let's add another one. Okay, so wrapping this bad boy up, your kids might not prep themselves, but you can build systems that make the morning so much smoother and when you do, you will even get your own health back. All right, be the person, be the example, set the standard, and you are going to make your kids life so much better. All right, I love you guys, hope you have the best monday ever and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.