Introducing the My Lifestyle Power model
The importance of lifestyle
Living a well-lived life with a long health-span (not just a long life-span) is something most of us aspire to. Truly flourishing and enjoying life’s journey throughout, not just the destination we set (and then invariable reset) for ourselves.
This is not as easy a feat! At any given time only 17% of us consider themselves to be flourishing (Keyes, C. L. M. - 2005). In today’s society we have much higher living standards than ever before and we live in abundance of opportunities to learn, grow, pursue success and reach our full potential. Most of us have better access to food and clean drinking water, health education and healthcare and raised hygiene standards. This has enabled us to get on top of diseases that claimed many lives not that long ago, such as cholera, typhus, smallpox and tuberculosis.
But other “advancements”, that have become such an integrated part of our modern way of living, threaten our health and well-being in a different way - causing “unhealth” not from external bacteria but rather from the inside-out. Our lifestyle choices, influenced by societal norms, clever marketing nudges and expectations from our environment, have a much bigger impact than you may think.
“Today, chronic and lifestyle-related conditions are responsible for around 70% of deaths worldwide, and it is estimated that 80% of modern living health issues can be prevented (or treated) by using lifestyle as medicine.”
And as Shawn Accor says in his inspiring The Happiness Advantage Tedx talk, we have “put happiness on the opposite side of success” and when we do this “our brain never gets there” as it keeps on resetting the happiness goal post. We have become so focussed on reaching our potential and being successful that we “allow” ourselves to lose our balance and vitality, experience all sorts of anxieties, function under a state of excessive chronic stress without sufficient recovery and chase happiness when the reality is that “happiness tends to softly land on your shoulder when you turn your attention to other things” (Henry David Thoreau).
Making healthy lifestyle choices (let alone really leveraging lifestyle as our superpower) is exceedingly hard as it involves “swimming upstream”. It requires a dualistic approach, both living like our ancestors and tapping into all the good things modern living has to offer. We believe lifestyle is best defined holistically, as our “habits and patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions influenced by our sense of identity, environment and society”. This definition recognises that lifestyle is about a lot more than eating healthy foods and being physically active and acknowledges that adopting a healthy lifestyle is actually not that easy to do.
The My Lifestyle Power model aims to provide a guide for living this dualistic life that sets people up for truly flourishing and a long health-span, not just a long life-span filled with stress, imbalance and many years in a state of unhealth.
Of course, everyone is unique and “All models are wrong, but some are useful” (George E.P. Box – British Statistician) and so this model claims not to encompass all there is to flourishing for every individual. It is intended as a pragmatic guideline that enables people to get actionable insights into the current degree to which they leverage the power of lifestyle and where they might like to make lifestyle adjustments.
“Lifestyle is best defined holistically, as our habits and patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions influenced by our sense of identity, environment and society.”
The seven domains
The model draws on various sciences, such as positive psychology, adult development and psychophysiology. It is made up of seven domains, individually and collectively, correlated in the research with physical health, mental well-being, performance and ageing well.
Sleep
Humans sleep for about a third of their lives which means that anyone living to the current average age of 82 will have slept for a staggering 27 years. Whilst there is no absolute agreement yet on all aspects of sleep, research to date has firmly established that sleep is one of the key determinants of health, well-being, performance and the way we age.
Sleep is by and large regulated by three natural sleep processes and interruptions in these natural processes, mostly as a result of modern living, are often the source of poor quality sleep. Adopting a good sleep hygiene that allows these processes to do the job they know so well to do, is then the pathway to restoring or enhancing sleep.
Nutrition
Nutrition is one of the main health pillars directly under our control. Healthful nutrition influences our physical health, mental well-being, sleep, exercise, performance and ageing - just to name a few!
Navigating the scientific nutrition maze bamboozles even the most literate of person and especially in the nutrition domain individuality is key. A diet and nutritional habits that works amazingly well for you (your microbiome), might send the next person on a pathway to unhealth. Following a set of core principles (research studies and nutritionist do seem to agree on) appears to be the best way to succeed in this domain.
Physical vitality
Exercise, together with nutrition, is considered to be the "penicillin" of lifestyle interventions. A "move more" prescription is often one of the first issued by holistic doctors to combat illness and it is one of the best ways to improve and sustain both good physical and mental health throughout a lifetime.
Physical vitality extends beyond being physically active and exercise though and includes maintaining bone and muscle strength as well as mobility and flexibility.
Balance
Having good balance in one’s life is fundamental to keeping our nervous system, body and brain functioning optimally. We often push ourselves to meet the demands of work and life, but the reality is that good balance is what makes us more productive and ultimately enables us to meet those demands better.
Balance spans across multiple facets of life, including stress versus recovery, work versus leisure, the ability to relax, knowing how to effectively recognise and address stress signals and preventing overload, prioritising self-care and making time for yourself.
Resilience
Resilience is not just about learning to cope better or being able to tough it out. It is much more about being adaptable and positioning yourself well for the next inevitable challenge or setback. Resilience is not a fixed attribute or personality trait but requires ongoing investment. A person’s level of resilience changes according to how well they deploy their 'toolkit' of strategies to meet the challenges they are facing.
Those strategies include all the other domains in this assessment (as a foundation for resilience) and also things like living authentically, maintaining perspective and being present to the now, cultivating self-awareness and knowing when to tap into the support of others as well as adopting a flexible and positive mindset.
Feeling connected
High quality relationships and having sufficient opportunities to positively connect with others, feeling seen, respected and valued and being supported is considered our lifeline. It goes beyond positive connections with others though and includes the relationship we have with ourselves. Feeling connected to who we truly are, our cultural identity and having the autonomy to be our authentic self and show up with and for others how we want to.
It is also about having a sense of belonging within our community and whanau and feeling an essential part of a group. Connectedness to nature is also a core element, which is about being grounded and seeing oneself as part of nature and its natural (bio) rhythm.
Meaningful living
Meaning is the experience of feeling that life fits into a larger context and has significance, and purpose gives us an overall sense of goals and direction in life. They are different but related and of course both important.
Boosting this domain often needs to include going on a "sense-making journey" and discovering one’s purpose and living it out. "Purpose is discovered, not defined" and so a bit of upfront thinking and defining is powerful but ultimately purpose ideas need to be tested. An iterative process is key, to figure out what one’s purpose looks (and feels) like. Probe - Sense - Adjust!
As with the other domains, the pursuit of perfection can be counterproductive and do more harm than good. For example, living on purpose all the time is not always realistic (nor needed to get the full benefits). A good rule of thumb is adopting the 70-30% rule - making sure that at least 70% of time goes to work that aligns with purpose. Seeking to achieve 100% (or close to it) can create what is known as "purpose anxiety".
What’s next?
A great starting point is to understand to what extent you are currently leveraging the power of lifestyle, by taking the free “My Lifestyle Power” assessment. This free, 21-question, assessment evaluates how well you are currently tapping into the power of lifestyle across seven domains. You will receive a report, which includes actionable insights and recommendations tailored to your results.
Our powerful 16-week programmes are designed to guide you step by step towards leveraging the full power of lifestyle to boost your health, wellbeing and performance.
We take things to the next level by using science-backed data to gain insights into your current lifestyle quality with a Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment.
We also go deeper into the power of lifestyle domains and help you understand and adopt the specific lifestyle habits known to help us thrive. As we know making and sustaining these new habits is tough, our programmes have a strong focus on tapping into evidence-based strategies for creating lasting change.
Check them out below - there is a programme option for everyone.
For Leadership Teams
Leverage physiological functioning, to open up the capacity for navigating complexity and leading effectively.
For Employees
Enable your staff to boost both wellness and performance through better health, balance, and resilience.
For Associations
Partner up with us to expand your member benefits to include a comprehensive wellbeing programme.
For Individuals
Discover new ways to restore health, balance and vitality. Lets us guide you and transform the way you feel and perform.