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TUNE INTO SEASON 3 of the HEALTH HOME HUSTLE podcast

TUNE INTO SEASON 3 OF the HEALTH HOME HUSTLE podcast

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The Health. Home. Hustle. Approach.

January 16, 2017

Health Home Hustle | The Elgin Avenue


Health. Home. Hustle.

How I am approaching 2017


Happy New Year! It’s so lovely to see you here once more, and I am so excited to talk all things 2017 with you!

Do you, like me, feel like you’ve just about got your head round it?!

For me, it’s taken a couple of weeks to get back in to the swing of things. I’ve felt so achey waking up to the new year stretching ahead.

Let this be a lesson to me . . . by the end of 2016 I was completely fatigued, and knew I needed to take a proper break. I’m so pleased I eased in to things (even if I was battling a little devil on my shoulder screaming “get going already”) – after a couple of quiet weeks (hooray – I held out!) I feel recharged and energised for what 2017 holds ahead.

Which brings me to today, and the approach I am sharing with you for my priorities in 2017 – Health. Home. Hustle.


Health Home Hustle Approach | The Elgin Avenue Blog


“I have been conscious of trying to balance both my ambition, with my personal wellbeing.”


Much – so much – is written at this time of year about goals, intentions and resolutions. In all honesty, I couldn’t decide at the beginning of this year where I sat on the topic.

So I waited it out a bit.

For a lot of 2016 I worked on my wellbeing, and as part of that I thought a lot about my relationship with expectations. We can give ourselves a seriously hard time (about just about everything), and I have been conscious of trying to balance both my ambition, with my personal wellbeing.

Which, can be a challenge in itself. And that’s where my approach to 2017 comes in . . .

If you too have been trying to strike that balance, then I hope today’s blog post will help you to navigate your own journey.

Before I share my theory, just a quick note on goals . . .

I decided after a couple of weeks, that yes, I do like goals. In fact I L O V E them. Every year on my birthday I write down a list of things I have accomplished in the year prior, and things I would like to accomplish in the year ahead. This list, more so than any new year resolutions, serves as the framework for my next twelve months. My birthday is also handily in January – tomorrow in fact! Whilst I am conscious of not over-stretching myself, or setting unachievable expectations on my shoulders, goals definitely play a big part in helping me to shape where I want to go in the next twelve months.

This was so beautifully summed up in episode 08 of Jenna Kutcher’s Goal Digger Podcast, with Start Planner founder Kristy Dickerson, which cemented my thoughts on goals for the year ahead:

“In order to know where you are going, to have a vision, you have to set that vision. You have to lay out “What are my goals for 2017? What am I going to be doing this next year? What am I going to be doing this next month?

The goals that you set should carry over to monthly tasks, and daily tasks. These are the to-do lists, those things we should be doing. We should because a lot of the time we say things out loud . . . but unless we actually put a plan in action they’re not going to happen.” – Kristy Dickerson, Ep.08 The Goal Digger Podcast, with Jenna Kutcher. 


The Health. Home. Hustle. Approach.

Ok so what is Health. Home. Hustle?

Simply put, it is an order of my priorities.

#1 – My health.

#2 – My home, and home life.

#3 – My hustle. AKA my working life.

It’s no secret that I like working a lot. In fact, business and talking about business is going to play a bigger part in my life this year than ever before (hint hint – I have some news to share with you soon!). In order to achieve all that I would like to achieve with business, I have to look after my foundations. My health and my home life hold me up.

As I shared in this blog post at the end of 2016, being sure to ‘fill up our vitality bucket’, leads to a greater sense of balance and happiness over all. And happiness makes everything work a whole lot more smoothly.


What does the Health. Home. Hustle. approach practically look like?

Ok, so what does the Health. Home. Hustle. approach practically look like?

For me, in the morning, it means . . .

  • Meditation first thing in the morning. I use the Rituals app for 5 minutes.
  • Writing in my gratitude journal.
  • Eating a filling balanced breakfast and enjoying a delicious tea or coffee.
  • Spending some quality time with Oli. Whether that means a conversation over breakfast, a quick hug before he heads to work, or a 20 minute walk together.
  • Opening my Instagram/emails/to-do list only after all of the above has happened.

By the time I’ve meditated, written in my Thankful Journal, eaten and had some quality time with Oli, my mind and wellbeing are on a good track. Meditation is one of the elements in my routine which takes so little time, but which makes the biggest difference. I really notice that my thoughts are focused and calmer when I make the time to meditate.

Furthermore, by prioritising spending some time with Oli, and eating a good breakfast, over opening my emails or going on Instagram, I feel like I am intentionally starting work when I want to, rather than ‘slipping in to a digital mode’, purely through habit.

I wrote more about my social media sanity rules here.

For me, in the day time, it means . . .

  • Booking gym classes and work-outs in to my diary. Since I work from home I mix up when I attend these.
  • Making time to clean my home, organise my post, do my laundry, do the washing up . . . (not all of these things on the same day!)
  • Replying to friends texts and emails – ideally as soon as I get them. Otherwise . . . “SO sorry for the late reply . . . “
  • Creating over consuming.
  • Limiting my in-person commitments, so I have more time to create.
  • Not multi-tasking in general. I am using the One Touch Technique where I can.

For me, in the evening, it means . . . 

  • Logging out of work at a reasonable time. I like to try and finish work between 6 – 7p.m. – although it changes day to day.
  • Eating a freshly-prepared meal, and most likely having a glass of wine or a cold cold beer. My favourite!
  • Cleaning up the kitchen, and having a quick tidy so the flat feels organised when I wake up the next morning.
  • Having some down time, either watching TV with Oli, or seeing friends.
  • Preparing my to-do list for the next day.
  • Going to sleep at a reasonable time. (I am still working on this one!)

NB: I havn’t included all of my work/life commitments in the above, I’m sharing just a few of the priorities I have day-to-day and how I structure them.


Overall . . .

Overall the Health. Home. Hustle. approach is a pretty simple one. It’s about prioritising your own wellbeing first, your home environment and your relationships second, and your business and hustle third.

Each of these is a priority, it’s about how you allocate your time and energy to each. I want to give my business my all, and in order to do this I have learnt that I need to feel physically and mentally well, that my home needs to feel in order and that I spend quality time with my loved ones.

Whenever I am torn now as to what to prioritise, I always have those three words whirring in my mind – and I try to work in that order as often as I can.

What’s your take?

I’d love to know your thoughts! How are you approaching your priorities this year? Does the Health. Home. Hustle. approach resonate with you? Do you have anything else which you’d slot in to the mix?

If you enjoyed today’s article, please share it with a friend, and leave a comment below with any thoughts. I’d love to hear from you.

Love, Monica x

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