I live by the mantra that “Health Is Wealth.” You should too.
In fact, I believe health is even more important than wealth.
If you are not healthy, you won’t be able to get the most out of your life.
Without your health, you can’t take care of your family, you can’t pursue your passions, and you can’t even enjoy the wealth that you worked so hard to build.
“A healthy man wants a thousand things, a sick man only wants one.”
Confucius
Staying healthy is significantly harder than obtaining more money.
Even if you have all the money in the world, you can’t buy a healthy body. You can only build it.
If you are able to remain in top physical and mental shape for longer, you will have the energy to aggressively pursue your financial and other life goals.
To live a happy and fulfilling life you need to prioritize your own health before all else, especially for HENRYs with stressful professions on their path to financial freedom. Know that longevity will be your secret to living a successful life.
Front-load your effort early on while you are the most motivated and energetic. It may take a few years of hard work and sacrifice early on to gain momentum, but once you’re on a solid path, focus on maximizing your health.
TRH’s 5 Laws Of Health
These are the 5 laws of health to live by in order to live your richest life possible.
Law 1: Health Is Your Most Valuable Asset
Your health is your most valuable asset. Period.
A strong body and mind will allow you to overcome any challenge, solve any problem, and make infinitely more money.
With great health, you can experience life to the fullest, make memories with the people you care about, and go on adventures that you will look back on with great joy.
You are born with only one physical body that inevitably degrades over time. Your health can either work alongside you or against you throughout your life.
Kings, leaders, and billionaires all eventually become old and die as well. No amount of money can buy back time and health once it’s lost.
Make your health an asset and not a liability to aid you through the journey of life.
Law 2: Small Health Decisions Compound
Just like investing, your health compounds through the small decisions you make on a daily basis which are magnified by time.
These small decisions don’t require much time and are often easy to do, but just as easy not to do:
- 3 minutes of flossing and brushing your teeth at night or going straight to bed
- 5 minutes of warming up before a heavy weight lifting session or jumping straight into your workout
- A 10-second decision to order a healthy menu item or eat the burger and fries
If you don’t put in the effort to improve your mind and body, it will only become harder as you age. While your body has an incredible ability to adapt to new environments and recover when you’re younger, it will inevitability begin to slow down.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you will be as energetic, strong, and sharp when you’re in your 20s and 30s as you will be in your 40s and 50s. You will never be as healthy as you are today.
In your 20s and less so in your 30s, your body can handle immense amounts of pain and suffering. This is why you are able to get away with injuries, poor diet, and lack of sleep. Try doing the same in your 40s and beyond and you will be in a world of pain.
If you are still in your 20s or early 30s, you should use your body’s extreme durability to push as hard as you possibly can since your energy tank refills so quickly there is no such thing as “overtraining” or “overworking.”
Down the road when you get older you will have built the foundation to slow down the inevitable health decline and reap the rewards for the rest of your life.
Time is not on your side. Take advantage of what’s left and start working on your health today.
Law 3: Your Health Does Not Change Linearly
Since health decisions compound, then changes in your health (especially declines) do not happen linearly.
You will never notice your health declining until it gets serious because you can’t see the small changes on a daily basis:
- 3 minutes of flossing and brushing your teeth at night or going straight to bed over time can mean the difference between a beautiful smile and a set of dentures
- 5 minutes of warming up before a heavy weight lifting session or jumping straight into your workout over time can mean the difference between healthy joints and chronic injuries
- A 10-second decision to order a healthy menu item or eat the burger and fries over time can mean the difference between a happy life and a heart attack
You can get away with making bad health decisions for a short while. Running on low sleep, eating a poor diet, not exercising, and drinking may not hurt you today.
But believe me, time will take its toll and the results of your small decisions will come together and suddenly one day you’ll realize your health has dropped off a cliff.
I see this sudden decline in my own grandparents’ health, despite their best efforts to take care of themselves.
Just 5 years ago they climbed Diamond Head on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, but today they struggle to take a walk around the park without feeling wiped out.
Luckily they are still healthy for their age but it’s obvious they will never be as active and able as they were just a few short years ago.
Knowing this. If you understand that your health can change for the worse very quickly, then you can focus on doing small positive things over and over again that will keep you as healthy as possible and help you fight the inevitable decline of old age.
Law 4: Stress Is Your Biggest Enemy
Be wary of the biggest enemy to your health: stress.
Stress is a major contributing factor to all major health crises: cancer, heart disease, injuries, you name it. Elevated levels of stress are the main reason our bodies shut down and our health deteriorates.
Look at people in high-stress positions, chances are they look older than their biological age, especially if they haven’t been prioritizing their health along the way.
Everyone has their own limits for dealing with stress, I call it your “Maximum Stress Tolerance.” While you can go over your Maximum Stress Tolerance for a short period of time due to life circumstances, you cannot stay there forever without harming your health.
When you are in your 20s, it’s important to stress test your body and mind early on and understand your own Maximum Stress Tolerance. With this knowledge and experience, you will know how far you can push yourself and manage your stress levels accordingly, never going too far past your limit to a breaking point.
Similar to strengthening your physical body, you can train your mental strength and raise your Maximum Stress Tolerance. If you constantly expose yourself to high levels of stress (but not overboard), your body will naturally adapt and increase your Maximum Stress Tolerance.
While it’s not possible nor is it the goal to eliminate stress completely from your life (there’s no growth without stress), the goal is to manage your stress levels according to your Maximum Stress Tolerance and create a life where you have the choice to take on stress.
Whether it’s burning mental energy to finish a project for a client, lifting weights to stress your body and force it to strengthen itself, or solving a complex problem to improve your life, having the choice to take on or eliminate these stressors makes all the difference.
You strive for financial freedom so you can have control over stressors in your life, which improves your health and comes back to make your life even richer. Funny how that works.
Law 5: Nutrition Is Your Biggest Ally
Finally, understand that nutrition is your biggest ally in improving your health. The earlier you understand your own body and clean up your diet, the faster you will feel just how big of an advantage it gives you.
Everyone’s body is different and certain foods that work for you may not work for me. But we can all agree that certain foods that are high in saturated fats, high in cholesterol, highly processed, etc. are not the best choices for our bodies.
Good nutrition is like oil changes for your body, it keeps your internal systems clean so that you can drive at max speed. Having poor nutrition is like clogging up your engine with sludge, slowing you down no matter how hard you try to press on the gas pedal.
Your nutrition will determine the amount of energy, focus, and productivity you have available to make progress in any area of your life. However, your nutritional plan needs to be sustainable and one that can become a lifestyle.
To make things simple, here are my 80/20 hacks to guarantee a solid nutritional foundation:
- Limit foods that are highly processed, with refined sugars and oils.
- Eat a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, and well-balanced between proteins, carbs, and fats (you need all three to feel good!)
- Don’t drink your calories (i.e. soda and juice). If you choose to drink alcohol, limit it to special occasions, not sitting on the couch watching TV.
- Experiment and find foods that “work” for you, give you more energy, and make you feel good after eating them (no, not the cheeseburger…)
- Practice the “interior first, exterior second” principle. This means your interior (brain, heart, and other organs) is the foundation of your health. Your appearance is also important but comes second.
The key to nutrition is sustainability and balance. Having an ultra-strict diet that’s unsustainable won’t get you far.
Find a good nutritional plan that works for you and make it a lifestyle. It’ll make or break your health.
Can’t Be Wealthy If You’re Not Healthy
Health’s greatest value is the world of options it gives you.
If you’re healthy and penniless, you have infinitely more options than if you’re bedridden and can’t enjoy any of your wealth.
Early on you can afford to let your health take a back seat while you get on a solid path in your career, business, and life. This is the time to front-load your effort and leverage your youth while you are the most motivated and energetic.
Once you’ve found your path, you should now prioritize maximizing your health. While earning and investing to achieve financial freedom is immensely important, the whole point is to improve your life, which means improving your health!
Having financial freedom allows you to buy back more free time to exercise, eat healthy, get sun and fresh air, and control the stresses in your life.
You can’t be wealthy if you’re not healthy.