Throwback: Financial Fitness
With the help of a 25 year old JLH and the magic of the ol' Wayback Machine, for my first blog posts, I am re-posting a couple of my actual first blog posts, ever. The following post was published on December 21, 2011 on the website I made when I first started competing. Enjoy!
Those who refuse to invest into their fitness will lose money in the long run. I'm not talking about all these high-minded ideas about quality of life and longevity here. I'm talking about money. It costs money to be unhealthy. Just ask Obamacare. So, with this in mind, it makes sense that improving your fitness can improve your overall cost of living. Your healthcare costs will go down, you will see a decrease in lost productivity at work, a decrease in the pay discrimination that comes along with weight issues, and your increased productivity may even result in a promotion! But there is more to it than that. WAY more! Take a moment to consider the types of things one must learn as they embark on any new fitness journey. You may be surprised that these lessons and benefits might do just as much good for your pocket book as they do for your waist line.
You will learn to "jump" Many people never begin a healthy eating or workout regimen because the whole picture of a lifestyle change is too big for them to comprehend. In order to be successful, one is forced to take a chance and go for it despite not knowing whether or not it will work. This increases belief in oneself and confidence in the ability to make important changes. The same characteristic is seen in successful business men and women. It's important to take chances!
You will learn the concept of hard work and slow gains It's easy at first to lose weight. Most studies show a rapid loss of weight at the onset with a plateau over time. The fitter you become, the harder it is to see results. You have to keep changing your workouts, re-evaluating your tactics and pushing through plateaus to see the results of your hard work. This is similar to the kind of discipline and end-goal ideation one must adopt when starting a business or even beginning their climb up the corporate ladder.
You will have to adopt a positive mental attitude Continuing your plan every day can get daunting sometimes. Most of us have to constantly remind ourselves that "we can do it." This means creating visuals to motivate us daily and positive self-talk. Those looking to advance in their career adopt identical techniques to help them as well. You will meet people who will help you The connection of wealth to fitness is already an undeniable fact. So as you frequent the gym and become friendly with others who frequent as well, you will be surprised how many potential customers, job opportunities, clients, and partners you will find. This is not to say that you should make friends with people only based on how they can help you. But also remember that one of the oft repeated suggestions for any kind of success is to surround yourself with people you want to be like. So if you want to be fit and wealthy, what better place to feed off the energy and positive influence of others than a gym?
You will learn time management Fitting your workouts in and preparing your meals out over the week takes time management, organization and planning. Developing those skills for the purpose of getting fit will spill over into the rest of your life as well. You will become more determined and persistent In one of my first blogs I repeated the sentiment, "Keep going, keep going, keep going!" When things don't go your way or when someone tells you that you can't do something, it takes determination and persistence to prove them wrong. Just like the salesman who hears "no" on a daily basis, you have to keep going to get to the "YES!" You will increase your ability to learn Look at this list of things one must master in order to reach a certain level of fitness. Whether you realize it or not, your brain is being challenged just as your body is. Your capacity to retain information will grow out of habit along with the mental performance boost you get from a healthy and active body.
You will form a better work ethic A lifestyle of fitness forces you to change hard-set ideas about what "has to be done." You begin to understand that important tasks need to be performed regardless of what you may want to do. Once you understand that, you will ultimately change your perception about your professional to-do list as well. You will find your willpower Resisting that first cookie is an incredibly difficult step to take. Each time you do it though, it becomes easier and you are able to trust yourself to indulge without going overboard. Applying that newfound willpower to your professional life will help steer you away from bad decisions. Sometimes a get-rich-quick scheme or a dishonest business deal seems tempting, but in my experience (personal and from watching others) resisting these kinds of deals will keep you out of hot water in the future. You will learn the process and habit of goal setting Those of us who adopt a fit lifestyle understand that you have to constantly set goals for yourself to keep from going stagnant. Creating that habit will cause you to set similar goals in your professional life. They say that the mental health of the older generation is heavily dependent on their ability to continue having something to "work for." Your health and fitness goals will teach you to stop looking for the finish line in any avenue and understand what it means to make something a lifestyle as opposed to a one-time goal.
You will understand the concept of sacrifice and "reaping what you sow" To reach your fitness goals, you will be giving up a whole heck of a lot of things. Eating some of your favorite foods regularly, time in front of the TV, drinking heavily on the weekends, money redirected from clothes and other non-essentials to fitness and comfort among other things. But once you understand that sacrifice is rewarded eventually and that you have to spend some time planting seeds if you ever hope to see them grow, all avenues of your life will benefit, including your monetary affairs. For example, if your business is not growing, your next step would be to sacrifice some of your profits into things like market research, improved advertising or learning opportunities. The concept is the same. As you can see, investing into your fitness will improve your quality of life across the board and even help you become wealthier! How much would you pay to see these kinds of improvements in your life? For something that has the ability to improve your lifespan, happiness and the density of your pocketbook, maybe taking another look at the value of a personal trainer is something you should do!