Retirement Planning

The Connection Between Financial and Physical Health

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office by Scott Dougan

As the seasons change, or another birthday or wedding anniversary rolls around, you may be taking inventory of your life. You may be asking yourself questions about where you’re headed, what’s most important to you, and how you got to where you are. It’s as if something is hard-wired into all of us that makes these milestones a perfect time to recalibrate and choose who we want to be. Good for you.

There are few things more satisfying than having a clear picture of the life you’d like to be living and knowing the steps to getting there. Yet, that process can be daunting for many. So daunting that you may have had many attempts at change fail in the past and you’re sure that another attempt just won’t stick. Can I make a suggestion? Forget the past. As far as your future goes, the past doesn’t matter. It’s done.

In light of this decision you’ve just made to look ahead and not backward, consider this: your physical health, financial health, spiritual health, relational health, and the very direction of your life are all very inter-related. If you want improvement in just one area, fine. What I’m about to share with you will work in that area. If you want to improve in every area, the same advice applies. That’s right, the very same process for improving in one area of your life, works in every area of your life. What’s the secret to improvement?

The key to improving in any and every area of your life is simply to adopt a successful process and stick with it.

What’s most fascinating about this approach is that it works every time, and improving your life in one area will result in improvements in other areas as well. Here’s an example: you want to improve your financial health but you’ve struggled through many attempts to affect real change in this area. Fine. Establish a successful routine for your physical health first. By scheduling yourself at the gym every morning and getting there uninterruptedly each and every time your routine calls for it, you will not only improve your physical health, but you will have planted the seeds that you can accomplish anything in your life through simple commitment to a routine. That 23rd day at the local YMCA will reveal to you, while on the treadmill, that you have changed. You have not only changed physically, but you’re a stronger person internally. As a result, you resolve to research a successful routine for your finances.

Your commitment to any single successful process becomes the proof your mind needs that you can establish a successful process in any area of your life that you choose.

Because better physical fitness results in greater energy, lower levels of stress, and increased confidence, you will likely aspire to increase your earning power in your career. And why not? You now know that you’re simply a successful routine away from anything you wish to accomplish.

You may be wondering where to find the resources needed to establish your successful routines. Here’s my challenge to you: go to the gym and ask someone who looks fit what his or her routine is. I promise that they can’t wait to share it with you. Ask a friend who has money under control what they’ve done to get to that point. They’d love to share. Here’s a little secret you must know: if you show up regularly at the gym at 6:00 AM, everyone who’s there respects you whether or not your current physical condition makes you feel worthy of his or her respect. After all, everyone starts somewhere and so did they.  Just get started.

So there it is. Develop a single successful routine and your life will explode with opportunities to grow in every area. You can establish a routine of savings, debt reduction, and investing when you choose to. You can transform your body and your your mind with a new fitness routine starting tomorrow. You’re worth it, so go do it for yourself.