The key to success in most things, especially your personal health, is to win your day.

It's something I learned a long time ago as a strength-and-conditioning coach hanging around professional athletes.

Win every meal. Win every training session. Win with a good night’s sleep.

Win your morning by getting up before everyone else.

When you win daily, day after day, something "magical" happens: The results reflect back when you look in the mirror.

Others will notice your success.

So what does "winning your day" actually mean to you?

Conquering today means making incremental progress and doing the simple things.

Do everything you can to avoid missing workouts or skipping meal preparation.

Stick to the promises you make to yourself so you can live your best life and lead by example...

...and shush the naysayers that quietly cheer when you miss a deadline.

Use this straightforward strategy to demonstrate that you are a person who has integrity and keeps promises to yourself and the people who depend on you.

How to Win Your Day

Most over-40 men and women struggle to stay on track. It's no surprise because you're busy with many grownup responsibilities like family, work, and extracurricular activities.

When it comes to getting, leaner, stronger, and healthier... some days it feels like you're on a rollercoaster.

Maybe today feels like like you're starting all over again.

Here are some easy tips to make today great.

1. Start your day with breakfast

During the workweek, you may feel too rushed to eat a meal first thing when you wake up.

And, on the weekend, it’s even easier to sleep in and skip breakfast.

I know intermittent fasting is all the rage right now; however, some over-40 folks simply do better when you kick-start your day—and your metabolism—with a balanced breakfast.

Think diced-up sweet potatoes and caramelized onions with a fried egg... or another protein-and-carb-rich meal that gets you a step closer to your priority-one goal.

Just remember that calories matter.

My advice is to test for a few weeks to see how you feel with a consistent breakfast.

2. Get moving

Although your days can be busy, you should always carve out some time to get moving and exercise. My coaching clients do 16 minutes of resistance training followed by 16 minutes of metabolic conditioning.

Progressive resistance exercise burn extra calories during training and for hours after you've completed your session. It also builds muscle to help you combat the natural age-related loss of muscle that occurs in over-40 men and women.

Whether you train at the gym or with an online personal trainer, make sure you stay safe, have fun, and get results.

3. Don’t skip meals

It’s common to get distracted by the routine busyness that occurs later in the day. 

For the same reasons you skipped breakfast, the frantic pace of life might encourage you to forget to eat mid-day meals too.

And when this happens it could slow your progress to your priority-one goal.

You see, to achieve your body-transformation goal, it's critical to maintain healthy eating habits.

You must stick to the proven plan.

If you want to lose 10 pounds, or even 88 pounds, don’t skip meals, and don’t overdo it at meals either.

If you keep both of these in mind, stepping on the scale on "Measurement Monday" will be a joyful experience.

4. Practice moderation with alcohol

This is a sensitive topic because many people feel that there's nothing wrong with having a "few drinks" over the weekend.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week.

For men, it's no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.

My personal opinion about alcohol is that most over-40 men and women simply drink too much, even by these criteria.

So how much is too much? Well, it depends who you ask.

I have clients who are in the hospitality industry. Beer and liquor sales, at their bars and restaurants, are the keys to business success. So it's a bit of a conflict-of-interest for them to discourage drinking.

I've had my fair share of booze in my younger years; however, nowadays I don't drink at all.

I abstain from booze because it makes me feel downright sad--alcohol is classified as a sedative depressant.

It adds empty calories too. And I'd rather get my empty calories from pizza.

Booze within six hours of bedtime also reduces the chances that you'll get deep restorative sleep.

Translation: You'll miss out on the natural production and release of growth hormone.

You may want to quit cold turkey, however; if you choose to drink, practice moderation and don't drive.

5. Lead by example

If you want to achieve your priority-one goal, you must prioritize that goal.

Believe me, it's that simple. Just not easy.

Life is about creating generational health and leaving a happy legacy.

And that starts with leading by example.

You are a sum of your habits. Or, more accurately, you look like your habits.

You can still "have fun" while working towards your goals--you just need to focus on habits that will keep you moving toward your number-one goal.

I want you to picture something in your mind.

Imagine you want to achieve a goal, like losing 20 pounds of bodyfat, over the next 90 days.

Now you're probably not going to have 90 wins in 90 days... but that's the magic with this mentality.

Your job isn't to win the next 90. Instead, focus on winning one day. Today.

And if you focus on winning today, then you'll likely succeed.

That will yield momentum for tomorrow and improve your chances for another victory.

Now you're on a winning streak, which makes you tougher to beat.

Of course there will be days where it's all you can do to keep your head above water.

The less-productive times when you procrastinate, lose focus or things simply don't go your way.

That's okay. Forgive yourself and win the next day.

My guess is that if you win even 50 of the next 90-or-so days you'll do more and set a better pace for the future.

And if you win more, well, the sky's the limit.

But the "secret" is simply winning the day.

Don't worry if you feel off pace or if you struggle for a day or two.

It only takes one tiny victory to get you back on track.

Improve a little bit every 24 hours.

Re-imagine each day as a chance to win or lose and commit to nothing less than victory.

So as you begin each morning, remind yourself of this philosophy:

☀️ Win the day.

To your success,

Coach Joe

Joseph Arangio helps 40+ men and women lose weight, gain strength, and slow aging. He's delivered over 100,000 transformation programs to satisfied clients around the globe. If you want to increase longevity with the best online age-management program, or you want to visit the best age-management program in the Lehigh Valley, you can take a free 14-day trial.