Feet In A Bucket, Brain In A Book: 8 Simple Habits

We map out eight simple habits to lower stress, improve sleep, and calm the home ahead of the holidays, from magnesium soaks and reading to post-meal walks and a family meal plan. The goal is a 40-day reset that favors presence over busy and builds momentum for a bigger year.

• 40-day micro goals that feel doable
• Magnesium foot soaks to relax and sleep
• Reading 20 pages of nonfiction nightly
• Walking daily with 10-minute post-meal walks
• Strengthening feet and ankles to relieve hip pain
• Quiet time for journaling and recovery without phones
• Turning off notifications to protect attention
• Clean-kitchen and pre-dinner tidy routines
• Family meal planning to beat decision fatigue
• Gratitude first mindset and starting before January

As always, go find us on all of the socials @farmersgreatestasset • Send us a message • Let us know what you would like to hear if there's anything • farmersgreatestasset@gmail.com • And remember, it is a good day to have a great day

Transcript

Late Start, Clear Intentions

SPEAKER_00 0:14

The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast. We believe the Farm's Greatest Asset is the Farmer. Their knowledge, experience, mind, and health. Well, welcome to the podcast, Podcast World. I'm Jesse.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

And I'm Dr. Leah.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

So here we are again. A little late. Sorry. It's just kind of the way it goes around here, isn't it?

Setting 40-Day Micro Goals

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah, we are definitely. This is the latest we've put one out. It's Thursday afternoon. Better late than never. So today is November 20th. It is 222 right now. Aha. And um there are 41 days left this year. When I got up this morning, I thought to myself, all right, what can I get done? Like what can really move the needle? You know, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I was listening to several different podcasts as I'm washing dishes and getting ready for lunch. And, you know, I'm thinking, what can I really do to move the needle in in 30 or 40 days? Right. So I came up with a list shocker.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

You love your list.

Magnesium Soaks And Better Sleep

SPEAKER_01 1:57

I do. I do love lists. So I came up, I wanted it to be something that felt doable. Like I want to really focus on enjoying our time as a family over the night over the holiday season. And I want to start putting myself and my health first and making it a priority because I always say I'm going to do that, but I don't actually ever start. Oh, I'll start that tomorrow, or I'll start that on Monday, or I'll start that after the beginning of the year. Well, that usually comes and goes. So I wanted it to be some things that I can do every day that won't take up a bunch of time. So here is my list. The first thing that I'm going to commit to doing, because it sounds relaxing and soothing, is I'm going to do a magnesium foot soak each night.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Every night.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Or as many nights as I possibly can. I'm not going to like put all that pressure on myself, like, oh, I'm so exhausted. Wait a minute, I need to soak my feet for 10 minutes, but I'm falling asleep. Like, I think that a lot of times I'm magnesium deficient, and it'll be a good way for me to get some relaxation time in and also get some magnesium absorption and maybe help me sleep a little bit better.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Magnesium helps you sleep.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Okay. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

And it's important for a lot of biochemical reactions within your body as well.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Um, and because I'll I'll admit right now, my diet right now isn't the greatest. Not that I'm eating a lot of junk. I just am not eating salads and getting as many greens and and fruits and vegetables in as I did this summer. It seems so much easier in the summer than in the winter.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Well, we were doing you and Henry more so than me and the girls, but you were doing really well in keto, which is no bread. Um and we have kind of gone away from that a little bit lately.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Well, the field work really it's hard to find things that aren't sandwiches to feed you guys that you can still steer easily with. So number one is a magnesium foot soak at night before bed. And I thought I can do that when I do number two as well. That came out wrong.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

That'd be weird.

Read 20 Pages Nightly

SPEAKER_01 4:50

No, not like actually number two in the bathroom, but number two on my list, I should say. All right, number two on my list. Number two on my list is read 20 pages of a nonfictional book.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

That is good stuff. I I should do that as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Well, I have so many books that I've wanted to read, and I've listened to a lot of, I do a lot of audible. I'm a big podcast and audible book listener, but I think that there is something to actually like holding the book in my hands, reading it, and just processing it. So if I'm doing that while I'm getting doing my foot soak, I think that it's just gonna be amazing. See, those are two of the eight things that seem super easy.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Those are simple. And reading stimulates your brain, so it's better than staring at your phone. So that's gonna be one of my things I'm gonna work on doing as well. Reading.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Well, it it actually it doesn't stimulate what's going to, you know, not like blue light. Like it's not gonna wake you up more, right? So it is going to help you process better.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Right, but it's getting your brain working.

Walks And Post-Meal Movement

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Thinking. Yes. Number three is I'm going to walk for at least 45 minutes a day. And it doesn't have to be all at once. One of the things I would encourage people to do, and I have been wanting to do, but haven't been doing, is doing at least a 10-minute walk after meals. I usually only eat two meals a day. So that 10 minutes would only be, you know, if I do that twice a day, it's only 20 minutes. But really setting aside time to go and walk outside and be outside. So that is number three. Number four is strengthening my feet and ankles. So as I, you know, worked in healthcare and then left healthcare and have been more sedentary, I feel like my feet and ankles have gotten a lot weaker. And when your feet and ankles are not in proper alignment, it causes a lot of pain and dysfunction all the way up your body.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

All the way up.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

So I've been having a lot of hip pain, and I think that is tied into my weak ankles and weak feet. So, and I also have swelling. So I want to try and combat that.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

You have not become sedentary since you left medicine. I don't know why you say that.

Fix Feet, Hips, And Alignment

SPEAKER_01 7:51

You're right. I'm I'm on my feet a lot. I I I feel like I sit around, but maybe not.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

You're looking at me like You are way more active now than you were when I was pregnant. On your feet all day and going from room to room or to surgery, but Yeah, I garden a lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

I guess yeah, you're right. I I don't have a sedentary life at all. I'm busy, but I feel like my feet and ankles are are weak.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

You have always said your ankles are weak. Always.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Well, they have been. Like I had to, when I played basketball in high school, I had to have my ankles taped, and they've always been weak.

unknown 8:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

But I'm stretchy, but right. So I need to strengthen my ankles and my feet. And I'm hope, and I need to also stretch my hips, my hip flexors, especially, because I it's causing a lot of lower back discomfort. Number five. Now, not everybody's gonna be able to do this, but I'm going to commit to getting in our healing pod.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Our hyperbaric chamber.

Hyperbaric Pod, Journaling, Rest

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yes. And while I'm in there, I'm going to do journaling and just have some alone time to ponder and rest and not be on my phone or watching TV.

unknown 9:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

That is number five.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

That is a big perk that we have, that we have a hyperbaric chamber and we need to use it, myself included.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So that is not something that most people can do, but I would encourage you to find something that would be a resting activity, like something that will bring calm and peace into your life, and do that for an extended period of time. Just like gratitude journaling would be a great thing that you could do every day before you go to bed. And you can do that. You can read and then do gratitude journaling while you're doing your magnesium foot soak.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

It's a great bedtime preparation event. And you could even think it depends how long you want to soak your feet, but you could be thinking about your intentions for the next day. And just setting yourself up for success. The next thing is I want to have a clean kitchen before I go to bed. So a major stress point for me and for Lucy, my our oldest daughter, is waking up in the kitchen being a mess. Now, a lot of times we are very tired or we're just getting home and we eat and it's like, oh my gosh, I can't even do it because nobody's cleaned the kitchen for a for the day or the last two days, and it takes a long time.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

So If our kitchen doesn't get cleaned every night, because we're here all day, every day, all five of us.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

We create a lot of dishes.

Clean Kitchen, Tidy House Routine

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Well, because everything's cooked from scratch and it it's a process, it's a lot of dishes. So um that is one thing I'm going to commit to. And also it kind of coincides with the next thing. I want to get the house picked up before dinner. So that I can sit down and relax for my foot soak.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

It all comes back to this foot soaking.

Meal Planning Without Decision Fatigue

SPEAKER_01 11:35

I know. I feel like I need it right now after I've been doing dishes for the last, I don't know, five hours. That is not an exaggeration, unfortunately. I've been cleaning out the refrigerator too. It's it's quite a task right now. A deep cleaning the kitchen. My last thing on the list is meal planning. So in our house, a major stress point for myself and our eldest children are stress point is what are we gonna have for lunch or what are we gonna have for dinner? I don't know what to make. And I want us to sit down together and commit to a meal plan that different people are involved in making, which isn't usually a problem. Henry and Lucy usually don't have a problem getting the food made. They just don't want to be the one the cleanup. No, the one deciding on what to do. It's like, oh gosh, what are we gonna do now? So those are all things that we're doing. I would say that like the time in the pod is probably the one thing that is taking up more time than I can commit that I would commit now. But it's not a lot of time. But those are things that I think are really going to move the needle for me in the next 40 days to set myself up for continued self-care and health preservation. Because at this point in my life, it isn't just about you know quality, but it's about longevity. Like I want to live a long time.

unknown 13:27

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

So if I don't start now, when am I gonna start? If not now, when yeah. So you can take some of my ideas, but I would encourage you to create a list. And if you don't want it to be eight things, if that feels way like way too much.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

A couple things are good, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah. Even if it's just every night before I go to bed, I'm going to write three things I'm thankful for. Set yourself up for wins before the whole hustle and bustle of the holiday season, because it is here.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

It is here.

Longevity Mindset Over Busy

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Next week is Thanksgiving. And I think that if we set intentions for making this an amazing time that we spend with our family and we really care for ourselves and it not just be, you know, about getting to all the stuff and being as busy as you can.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

So that's the biggest thing for me. I'm trying to decrease busy. I'm really good at busy, so good at busy, but it is not filling my cup. And I don't want to get burnout again. So, what can I do to really start moving the needle to take care of myself?

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Those are good things. Really good things.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Do you have any suggestions, honey? What what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 15:03

So, myself, it'll sound a lot like yours, but I I guess I will piggyback on yours. But uh when I got hurt, the pod or the hyperbragic chamber was very good for me. Not just in healing, but it gave me a lot of time in there quiet to myself. So I'm gonna do that more.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

And not take your phone in there, not take the phone.

Put The Phone Down

SPEAKER_00 15:26

That is the biggest thing. The phone sucks you in. Sucks us all in. So I am going to while in there, I'm going to journal and or read. So journaling is it's okay. It's okay for a dude to do it right. And it was really good for me. And I'm I know we've talked about it on the podcast before, but I would literally start and end every journal, Andrew, with thank you, Lord, for the blessings that you have given me. And that just kind of sparks the conversation with me and my pen and my journal. And that was really good for me. So I'm gonna pick that back up and some reading would be good. Stimulate my brain, get my brain thinking. So those are the big things. Put the phone down, that's the really big thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Be present. Being present is a great present to your family.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

We all do it. I mean, our kids, I mean, everybody in this world, dude. We always always have our phone on us and it sucks you in. It's a dopamine hit, right? Well, we're just gonna check something and all of a sudden you're doom scrolling. And all of a sudden you have how many hours pass by? You know.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

It's a wake-up call when you start looking at your screen time every day. And I'll be like, Well, I'm you know, I'm working on business stuff, and you know, my check the checking account. How'd I get on Facebook?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

All of a sudden you're still Instagram. Um and on that I would say, everybody, turn your notifications off. Like it is the biggest interrupter. Like I have all of my notifications turned off because all the ding, ding, ding, like that, those, believe it or not, those are dopamine hits. Right. And it's also distraction.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

You're talking like for all the social media stuff, yes, emails.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

You know, obviously, if you need your phone and your text notification on, but you can still turn those off at night when you go to bed.

Gratitude Journaling For Focus

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah. So I have my ringer and my text, and my texting is really because my sister would get up really upset with me if she couldn't get a hold of me years back, but but all the social media notifications just they don't need to be there.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

So, and I don't have mine on either.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

So I would challenge you to maybe even turn your texting off. Like, how many emergent texts do you get? Like, you actually have you get a lot of phone calls. You don't you probably don't need to be interrupted with texts.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Phone calls and texture all day long.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I don't that's why I'm saying if you could cut off the texts, it would be less interruption.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

It would. But I don't know why I get so many phone calls, but holy cow.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

You do, you get a lot.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Even Caleb and Dalton, the guys that Dalton made a comment one day. He's like, Man, I feel like you. My phone's been non-stop. My phone is non-stop. I don't know why that is, but it's running a business, right? It's so during the day I I have it. I try to not answer it at night.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

All right. So you are committing to getting in the pod and journaling or reading and reading.

Start Now With Simple Goals

SPEAKER_00 19:07

And reading. Yep. So in that journaling, it kind of just it's about gratitude as well. Like I said, I start my journal entries like that. And it just it it's gratitude and looking for the blessings every day. And it just I need to start off that way. Um, because lately I've just been so busy and harvest is over now, and it's just still trying to catch up on other things, and so I need to find the joy and the the gratitude back.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

And that'd be great. Uh maybe I can get you to do a foot soak before bed too.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

I probably should.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

I might help you sleep.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

That would be awesome.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

So, like you said, we're headed into the holidays, so just find a few things and don't wait till the first year for your New Year's resolution. You can have 30-day goals every 30 days, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Right. And maybe it's just, I'm gonna drink, you know, I'm not drinking any water. I drink coffee all day. I'm gonna drink 30 ounces of water a day. That would that is a great goal. I, you know, it doesn't have to be something that seems so far to reach. Like set yourself. Yes, set yourself up to that it's something that you can accomplish easily. So you can start those those positive good habits and before the new year starts, because like life doesn't start after the beginning of the year or after the holidays. Like it's every day, it's today.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Right. So look for the gratitude every day. It's gonna be a big year coming up. You've been talking about that. It's time to get ready for a big year. Yeah.

Looking Ahead And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 21:02

So yes. In China, it's like has to do with the Chinese calendar. We're going into the year of the horse. So it's supposed to be charging forward.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Big things coming.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Amazing things coming.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

So with that, thank you for listening. Uh, as always, go find us on all of the socials.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

At farmersgreatest asset.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Send us a message. We love hearing from you. Let us know what you would like to hear if there's anything.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

At farmersgreatestasset at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

And remember, it is a good day.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

To have a great day. Bye.