Blog: How health has an impact on your success

Scouting for meaning in the age old aphorism of ‘Health is Wealth’ and piecing together the puzzle of being wealthy through good health!

Let us consider this scenario…

You finish your formal education and start your active career by your mid twenties. You go on to rise up the corporate ladder and hold positions of importance in the middle and eventually, in top management over the next 3 decades. By then, time is selling at a premium for you. It’s the most expensive commodity in your life. Most of the time is devoted to your work, another big chunk goes to your family, the rest being taken up by your social obligations and entertainment. Growth is often accompanied with great sacrifices.

The aspect of our life that gets compromised the most in the bargain is health. And why is that? One, the impact of poor health might not manifest negatively in life as quickly as a bad decision at work or family front would. Two, you think that health is a purely personal need which can be sorted out and cared for when the rest of the commitments in life are taken care of satisfactorily.

This is where we go wrong! Health is spoiled far too much before we find time to take care of it and the impact would be long standing and all pervasive. The negative impact of poor health not only affects you adversely, but puts a strain on the entire family and ends up impairing your work life too badly.

Over 50% of the people in the USA have been classified as obese. Diabetes is the third most populous country (if we classify it as a country) after China and India and before the USA which is the 4th most populous country. Facts are all over the place and most of us are aware of them too. So, it mystifying that we don’t want to do anything about taking care of our health

There is a strong correlation between health and success. In the book “The millionaire mind” by Thomas J Stanley and William D Danko, though the bulk of the millionaires who were interviewed considered health and fitness as just their 20th priority, 76% of them were actually healthy and fit. They were consistent in making sports part of their life or hitting the gym.

To surmise, it was seen that top achievers have the following 3 factors in common:

Exercise
Meditation
Consistency

Interestingly I have noticed that when people are quizzed on the single most important issue/ problem that they have, the answer is money. Yet, if there is an undeniable correlation between health and wealth like we noticed in the above statistic, why aren’t people putting more effort on their health? This brings us back to the point of lack of time people experience or claim to experience.

The question then becomes, is it really lack of time or just a perception of lack of time?

Let us look at a few simple tips to prioritize health and thereby wealth in the coming 12 months of the year and beyond:

Spend a minimum of 30 minutes a day at least 5 days a week for medium to intense physical movement. Choosing an activity that you most enjoy or alternatively, least dislike is one way to ensure consistency. Like any other complex machinery, our bodies too require constant use of its muscles and joints for it to be in working condition. Unused muscles deteriorate and render themselves useless. This should be avoided. Food is essential for keeping us alive and usually most of us eat way more than required by the body to create energy. Those calories are what need to be burned through exercise so that fat deposits are not created.
Be consistent about whatever you choose to do. Insisting on sticking to an exercise regimen all seven days might not be practical. So one could go with it 80% of the time or roughly 5 days a week to reap the benefits of it. It is always not how hard one exercises or how much one exercises that go on to decide the results. It is how consistent one has been that decides the progress and achievement. In his popular book Atomic habits, James Clear says “Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.” And habits are formed with consistent attempts.
Eat right 80% of the time. Going with natural sources for your carbohydrate requirements, having ample lean protein, maximizing fiber intake through vegetables, leafy edibles and fruits, reducing intake of sugar, salt, flour, processed food, excess grease, soft drinks, alcohol and desserts as much as possible can provide good results. Also focusing on home cooked food most of the time is a sure way for better health. Food from restaurants or takeaways is no doubt tasty but their focus is to appeal to your taste buds rather than bettering your health.
Clock in 7 or 8 hours of night sleep. Compromising on sleep to engage in some other activity could be very counterproductive. The importance of a good night’s sleep in maintaining your health and well being cannot be overstated. Keeping the gadgets away and cutting screen time and meditating or engaging in some deep breathing exercises for a few minutes before going to bed would enhance the quality and duration of sleep.
Get medical tests and check-ups to be done on time. It is suggested that regular tests, checkups and reviews of the same are done in reasonable intervals like once a year if you are above forty. It is an established fact that treatment is easier and more effective with early diagnosis in case something is amiss.
Taking care of mental health. Oftentimes, even people who take care of their physical well being end up ignoring their mental health. Mental well being requires equal attention because being in an adverse mind space can be quite detrimental to the efficient functioning of a human being across all facets of life. Research shows strong evidence of the existence of psychosomatic diseases. Psychosomatic disorder is a psychological condition involving the occurrence of physical symptoms, usually lacking a medical explanation. Lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension and even cancer are proved to have psychosomatic roots sometimes.
Reducing stress and living for oneself. Living for oneself is often misconstrued as being selfish. Nothing can be farther from truth. Saying no to things that you do not want to do, cutting people and activities from your life which aren’t productive or enriching, spending time on oneself and with family and friends, having engaging hobbies, traveling and meeting new people and embracing new experiences are all ways to keep stress at bay.

So, let’s take a solemn vow to take care of our health and, as a consequence, invest in creating our wealth! It is a known fact that approximately 20% of the world population control 80% of the world wealth and 3% of the population, in fact, control 90% of the said 80% wealth. The efforts hence should be to replicate good habits that successful people swear by.

If you are looking for some help with improving your time management skills or bettering your wealth creation path, do write to us at harish@harishrao.world to know how we can help you with it. We would love to work with you on this or any other business coaching needs you may have!