What it takes to improve your “body budget”: the ideal daily routine for health and fitness

The way you approach your day has a ripple effect on your life. A day is a subcomponent of life, composed of many hours, minutes, seconds, and ultimately, the most infinitesimal unit that makes up your existence: this exact moment. We may consider a day a mosaic of multiple moments, one after the other, leaving reality at every breath you take.

You may want to optimize your day and its subcomponents to gain momentum and meaning from life. Optimizing your daily routines doesn't mean constantly striving for future improvements. Rather, it's accepting reality in the present and being aware of scientific protocols you can use to improve your well-being in this moment, and the next one.

Some of those protocols for optimizing your daily routine may not feel particularly beneficial in the moment. Take cold showers, for example. Their physiological and psychological benefits are undisputed. Most people don't find taking a cold shower to be the highlight of their day. However, a Stoic-minded person might make a philosophical argument: many of us in the Western world lead overly comfortable lives with little physical activity and few short-term physical stressors.

Physical movement and short-term physical stressors can produce growth, both psychologically and physiologically, according to the Stoic philosopher. To tap into your inner potential and become more resilient, you should expose yourself to seemingly uncomfortable practices. This growth can have a positive impact on all aspects of your life.

This is akin to overcoming fears in life. Say, you fear elevators and feel completely frozen and highly nervous when approaching one. That “limitation”—so to speak—may be holding you back in life, because a completely integrated human is able to confront their own shortcomings voluntarily in order to gain self-esteem and self-awareness. So, when you fear something, you want to voluntarily expose yourself to the monster, step by step, starting at the smallest unit you can tolerate and working your way up. That leads to taming the monster if you have enough patience and humility to drop into the vulnerability of confronting your shortcomings.

Once you become more integrated, you become a person. This practice builds tolerance and courage. It has a lasting effect. Confronting one challenge gives you the self-awareness and confidence to tackle the next, and the next, and the next, with the mindfulness of a Buddhist monk in their fourth year of silent retreat.

Optimizing your daily routines is a way to voluntarily expose yourself to disciplined practices that can improve your well-being, resilience, courage, and sense of self. You have routines already, so why not make the most of them? This approach to life can be a source of purpose if you choose it, as long as you are careful not to attach your identity too closely to it or you may become trapped.