Choose someone who chooses you. Don’t settle for being 2nd. It sets a poor precedent that will likely not work out

Developing habits can be hard. The goal is to be consistent. Doing it daily will make it easier as you keep up with the habit. But sometimes it’s hard to do the habit daily. Sometimes we fall short and that’s okay. just got to get back on the horse. No need to beat yourself up. Easier said than done sometimes

If you are persistent, you can become consistent. And that will lead to results

We see the spectrum of healthy vs unhealthy people. People who are fit and active vs people who are overweight and out of shape.

The difference between the two comes down to choice. Granted, that choice can be easier for some than for others. But being healthy isn’t easy and carefree.

While on the surface, it may seem like they maintain their health applies seamless and without ease, what you don’t see is the choices they make compared to an unhealthy individual.

It’s not as if they can’t hold themselves back from a salad and junk food has no allure. They made a choice and cultivated a life that focuses on health.

They’ve created meals that are healthy and palatable. Is it the most palatable? Probably not, but palatable enough for them to enjoy. They understand their taste buds and have crafted healthy meals accordingly.

Same with exercise. They are active because they found something enjoyable to them, either the activity itself or how they feel after to justify exercise. Just like anyone else, there are days when they don’t want to eat completely healthy or exercise. And maybe they do splurge, but on the average they keep within certain parameters to make sure they’re getting enough healthy food, exercise, and sleep. It’s not that it come naturally to them, But they’ve created the habits so it feels natural to them

While there is enjoyment in foods, there is also enjoyment in feeling healthy.

So choose actions that cultivate a healthy life and do it enough times, it’ll become a habit. Once it becomes a habit, it becomes almost effortless.

It’s like spinning a merry go round. It’s tough to get it spinning, but as it builds momentum, it gets easier and easier

You don’t have to wait for big wins to celebrate. It’s good to celebrate all the small victories.

Heard this idea from Nike Run Club app.

Only jogged for 20 minutes when you wanted to do more? Well guess what? You ran 20 minutes! And that’s pretty awesome.

To be honest, when I first heard this it was pretty great. I felt hyped up and it was encouraging.

Celebrate the effort.

Feeling a little discouraged because you are a slice of pizza? Well, celebrate the small win that you were able to stop yourself at one slice. The funny thing is, both perspectives are right. Except one is discouraging and makes you want to give up. The other is encroaching and makes you want to keep at it.

Look for the little victories, even in moments of “failure.” Give credit for the effort.

You’ll associate positive feelings with the direction you want and will help you focus on moving forward.

It’s not really a cope out, because you’re focused on the effort. Not necessarily the results. The thing is, effort don’t always lead to results, but there are no results without effort. Effort is needed to make results.

One thing you can ask yourself “would I eat a healthy version of what I want?” If no, then you’re just having a craving.

For instance, if you were wanting something sweet like a chocolate, ask yourself “would I be okay eating an apple?” If not, then likely a craving. If yes, then you’re likely hungry

It’s a new mantra I’m trying. When you’re at a crossroad in decision making, repeat the mantra “choose health”

Technically, you don’t have to choose health every time as long as you choose it more times that now. Moreover, you only need to slowly ramp up. Your body and habits will slowly adjust. So just do what you feel comfortable doing. Ask yourself what would be a reasonable ask given your situation?

Don’t try to overdo it in one go. Or you run the potential of crashing and burning

As you get older, you’ll notice your health can decline due to lifestyle (poor nutrition and no exercise)

Either choose health or you will live a slow, tortured death as your health will degrade over time.

If you don’t prioritize your health, your body will prioritize it for you in the backend…and it will suck

So get ahead of it now. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure

Was inspired by something I read. Just wanted to say it out loud and I’ll say it again.

You have to prioritize your health

No one is gonna to prioritize your health except you. And unfortunately, we live in a society that prioritizes unhealthiness. Eat that tasty processed junk food. Sit on the couch and watch a show. Sit at the computer and play video games. It’s easy to be unhealthy. That is why you have to make a conscious effort to choose health. Eventually when you choose health enough times, it becomes a habit.

It’s your habits that create your size and health

The flip side is if you choose unhealthiness, that also can become a habit and lead you to a life of poor health.

Now I’m not saying you can’t enjoy unhealthy things as a treat, but if you give into temptation all day, every day, you will build a world of regret around yourself.

Not only is it important to take care of yourself, know that you are worth taking care of.

We are what we do repeatedly – Aristotle

Health is wealth.

If you choose health consistently, then eventually you won’t have to use energy to choose anymore. It’ll be second nature.

I’ll leave you with this question:

If you don’t take of yourself, who will?

The big 4 factors to a quality life is health, wealth, relationship, sleep. If any of those four are lacking, you will likely not be happy. While not having them will lead to unhappiness, having them will only unlock the door. What will get you through is Purposes. This is my current theory in happiness

This is another tough lesson to learn. There’s seemingly two parts: the planner and the partier; the saver and the spender. On the surface they seem to contrast one another, but the reality is that they should be working together.

If you don’t plan for the future and only live in the now, you will make decisions that end in regret. This is the person who parties all the time, but is barely scraping by and sometimes not even that. This person will look back with regret because he will be struggling when he’s old, unable to take care of himself or others.

If you don’t enjoy life and only plan for the future, you’ll also look back with regret as you will feel like you did not live life. While this person will be well off, he may ask himself what was it all for? In addition, the unfortunate thing is that tomorrow is not always guaranteed. Being young, it seems like life is a long long road. But as you get older you’ll learn to appreciate the finiteness of it. And that something can happen to end that life short: a terminal disease, a car accident, heart attack, or just really bad luck. It’s a bit dark and to be fair, not as common, however it is a possibility. And then again, you don’t want to focus on building a life that you forget to live.

So it’s not focusing on one or the other, but working to optimize both. You want to work on both at the same time: enjoy life to a degree while also planning for the future. Work towards a better future, but do something everyday that you enjoy and that fulfills you. Because while life is not guaranteed, it is likely to go the distance.

So what does that balance look like? There’s no perfect ratio. It’s a spectrum depending on where you want to be, but there’s this idea by philosopher Aristotle of the middle path (his term I believe is the virtuous mean) where you aren’t too far one way or the other, but somewhere in the middle. That middle is a bit of a personal choice. Some lean towards planning and others leans towards living.

Personally, I lean towards planning, trying to set myself up to live comfortably while I’m older. The way I see it, if something happens and I can always give what I’ve made/earned to family and friends. However, if I don’t plan enough, I’ll end up destitute in the years I would yearn for comfort. And odds are I’ll likely live a decent amount of time.

You don’t want to be struggle paycheck to paycheck, but you also don’t want to be miserable while saving a fortune. Spend enough to not be miserable. That’s the bare minimum, but don’t spend so much that you can’t save at least 10-20% of what you earn. There are some people that are save 50%+ what they earn, so again it’s all contextual and individualized to specific person in life.

Enjoy today tempered with the belief that you’ll likely be around until you’re 80

This is a tough lesson to learn, but you don’t have necessarily have to prove yourself to others.

Growing up, you take tests and are always being graded. It creates this subconscious idea that you need to prove yourself. In some ways, it’s reasonable when you’re young to make sure you are developing and progressing appropriately.

However, as you get older and become more experienced, you’re less and less likely to be tested. You also know who you are and what your values are. Those become the new criteria to measure yourself. It becomes an internal metric.

If you keep at it and learn from your experiences, you’ll find those values. Unfortunately, it’s something you can’t learn solely from a book (although it may help).

People don’t talk about it, but as you get older there’s this shift from external validation to internal validation. Where instead of getting validated from others, validation comes from within.

It comes from knowing who you are, what’s important to you, knowing what you value, and then living in alignment with all of that.

Getting there takes time and experience unfortunately. The only way to expedite the process is introspection.