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I thought this was supposed to be healthy???
Time to be healthy, I thought. Let’s do the trial yoga class, I said. This should be a nice, calming way to get some exercise in.
Two days later I landed in the hospital.
Surprise!!! You’ve got hypertension.
The splitting headache I developed from one too many downward dogs kept me floored at home. I couldn’t get up, and all I wanted to do was sleep, because it was more effective than any painkiller.
It was mom’s idea to check my blood pressure, and — ding ding ding! — “Mik, get dressed. We’re going to the emergency room.” And then when we got to the ER and they checked my blood pressure there, too — ding ding ding! — “Mikli, we need to get you admitted.”
Imagine! I end up in the hospital from my very attempt to be healthy!!
After running all the tests they could throw at me, trying to figure out what’s making this 25-year-old have the blood pressure of a 65-year-old, the doctors eventually came to the conclusion that: 🤷🏻♀️
(As in, we’ve ruled out everything else, guess you’re genetically shit out of luck.)
They sent me home with a prescription for hypertension meds, with the instructions to just take them every day for the rest of my life.
It’s been 6 years since, and…
Spoiler alert: she had not taken them every day for the rest of her life. Because she’s what? Forgetful.
But okay, no. 200% I do not condone my own behavior. I can’t not take my meds, because I could literally explode.
At first I relied on pure memory. Making myself remember my twice-a-day schedule. Because when has that been foolproof in the history of ever…….
Then I did reminders on my phone, which worked for a while. But if I was a walk of any distance away from the pills, I’d end up turning off the reminder, and then forgetting. Eventually I just ignored the reminder altogether. “Take Amlodipine” was just… IDK decor on my home screen, lol.
I had a sprint of consistency, right around the time of, “You need your BP under control if you want the vaccine.” But then I got the vaccine… so…
So what now?
The one thing that stuck — that’s sticking! — was making the task just 15 seconds easier to do.
It wasn’t my memory, my alarms, or an ultimatum that got me to do it.
It was placing the box of pills on my desk, so I’d see it the moment I’d sit down to work.
THAT’S IT.
It sounds almost duh, but:
The moment I see the pills, I’m reminded to take them — and then I can take them.
All I had to do (it turns out!!) was remove the friction of walking to the pills.
The medicine cabinet is right there. Not even 10 steps away. But that was enough to stop me from taking them. And eliminating that step was enough to get me to take them.
All I had to do was make the task 15 seconds easier.
Sidenote: HUMAN NATURE AMIRITE.
What things in your business can be 15 seconds easier?
And what difference would those 15 seconds make?
Maybe it’s having a one-stop-shop for links and other resources (e.g. during a summit, or while you launch), so you’re not digging through a million emails to find that one thing you need.
Maybe it’s being able to quickly reference your audience’s emotions, pain points, and desires when you’re writing copy so you don’t spend half a day staring at a blank Google Doc.
Maybe it’s being able to zoom in and out of your course curriculum, so you can see the big picture of how everything is flowing, then dive right into drafting lessons, and see the big picture again.
Maybe you have content creator’s block, and want to grab some inspo about what kind of content to make today, based on what your audience is loving.
Maybe it’s no longer having to make a Google Drive folder for every new client (and then finding the template, and then file >> make a copy, and then file >> move to folder, and repeating that for every template, and then copying the link to the folder, and then writing an email to send the client a link to their folder…. okay, that’s more than 15 seconds).
Maybe it’s never having to copy-paste a weekly check-in email again.
Sometimes it takes just 15 seconds to keep yourself from exploding.
This is an email I originally sent to my list on June 24, 2022. The assumed audience is online business owners.
I’m quite happy about the storytelling here! It feels crafted. (And it was!) The subject line and hook, jumping back and forth across the timeline, each section its own mini-cliffhanger, the segue to business, and full-circle tying it all together in the end. May I always write so clearly!
