Why the right choice begins with the SHED method.

What did you eat for breakfast this morning? When was the last time you exercised? How are those New Year’s resolutions coming along? Our apologies for posing such severe questions, but this article is about decisions, namely the ones you’re making every day. Whether your morning consisted of a Soul Cycle class and a wheatgrass shot (do people still do those?) or inhaling an Egg McMuffin in the car, that decision is all on you. So how do we get better at doing the “right” thing?

Making better decisions in your life is something performance coach Ms Sara Milne Rowe addresses in her new book, The SHED Method. Despite its title, the book has nothing to do with the wooden structure where you keep the lawn mower, but instead introduces the abstract concept of the “shed” by way of a neat acronym: Sleep, Hydration, Exercise and Diet. We know, we know, you do all those things already. Still, what Ms Milne Rowe investigates and explains is how these four pillars of living can have a positive knock-on effect on the rest of our existence. How exactly does one go about making better decisions? We spoke to Ms Milne Rowe on the topic, and, thankfully, it doesn’t involve as much self-flagellation as you might expect – scroll down for her five key tips to get your “shed” (and therefore your life) in better shape.

Before you can start making the right choices, you need to decide what exactly you’re aiming for. Discover the moments in your life when you felt good about something, and apply it to your current situation: “Where people find most useful inquiry is going to places where they felt very successful, or where they’ve found something effortless or something they feel really proud of, or a moment in their life when they’ve felt their best,” says Ms Milne Rowe. “When you start with the positive stuff, you can interrogate it to find out what the ingredients of that success are, and start to work out what made these situations work.” From there, it’s a case of emulating the easier parts of your life in places you might be struggling with.

“When people pay attention to themselves and are properly selfish, it often means they’ll function better and can therefore be better for other people,” says Ms Milne Rowe. “It feels slightly counterintuitive to stop and put yourself first in order to make a positive impact on others, but by doing so you can make sure that you’re at your most effective where it matters, and therefore make better decisions. In that way, being selfish can be a good thing.” This could be anything from recharging on your lunch break, to using the time on your commute to read a novel or learn a language instead of answering emails. Or, you know, leaving those work drinks early to catch up on Netflix. It’s all in the name of being better for others, after all.

“We are living in a world where we feel that if we’re not constantly doing something, we’re not being effective,” says Ms Milne Rowe. “To practice and learn the art of sometimes doing nothing and just relaxing is becoming incredibly hard for people. Sometimes I’m running workshops and I say ‘let’s take five minutes to reflect on that and to let it cogitate and just collect your thoughts’, and immediately I see people getting up and going to the loo or looking at their phones, as opposed to just stopping and thinking or relaxing. Often you’ll find that if you go slower, you might actually achieve your goal faster.”

“I often work with people who are very committed to a physical practice or sport, but they’re doing the same thing over and over again,” says Ms Milne Rowe. “But often when you inject a slight challenge, it has a positive impact somewhere else in terms of what they want in a relationship, or in making a decision, say, a work meeting.” These changes to a physical activity can be as simple as trying a different stroke when swimming, or forcing yourself to smile when you feel down: “Even a little thing, like shifting posture in a tricky conversation can activate a different attitude to face something you had been retreating from. Paying careful attention to what you’re doing physically with your body often has a huge impact on your mind energy and often your mood energy, and that chain fundamentally impacts any choice you make.”

Are you avoiding joining a gym because you’re not “a gym person”? Decide to become one. How? Pretend. “I love the phrase ‘you can act your way into a new way of thinking, and you can think your way into a new way of acting’,” says Ms Milne Rowe. “A lot of people I work with are thinking a lot, but sometimes you can get your body in front of your mind and then it will impact your mind. It’s not about pretence; it’s about using our energy in the chain of reaction and starting in a different place. We often assume we have to start with the mind, but actually the body can be an extraordinary influencer on the mind.” Something to consider next time you find yourself eyeing the door in a yoga class, perhaps.

The SHED Method: Making Better Choices When It Matters (Penguin) by Ms Sara Milne Rowe is published 25 January