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Episode 2849:
Matt Cama explores the irony of prioritizing wealth over health, often at the cost of long-term well-being. He shares three practical tips to create a sustainable fitness routine: making movement a daily habit, setting realistic goals, and practicing self-compassion. True success comes from balancing financial aspirations with physical and mental health.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/irony-valuing-wealth-above-health-3-tips-get-fit/
Quotes to ponder:
"Many of us push ourselves to the limit, sacrificing sleep, exercise, and healthy meals to chase financial success."
"Good health doesn’t require perfection, it requires consistency, patience, and self-compassion."
"When we prioritize our well-being, we don’t just live longer; we live better."
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[00:00:00] Überlass deine gesunde Ernährung und die Gains nicht nur deinem Bauchgefühl. Denn bei der Ernährung gaukelt uns unser innerer Schweinehund manchmal ganz schön was vor. Sag stattdessen Hallo zu deinem neuen Coach, Yasio. Yasio ist die meistgenutzte Ernährungs-App Europas, made in Germany. Egal ob Massephase oder ein bisschen Abnehmen, tracke Kalorien, Proteine, Carbs, Fette, Bewegung und Intervallfasten. Und mit den Tasty-Rezepten bist du ready für deine Ziele. Let's go! Lade die Yasio-App jetzt herunter.
[00:00:30] This is Optimal Health Daily. Why It Doesn't Pay to Put Wealth Above Health and 3 Tips to Get Fit by Matt Cama with tinybuddha.com and I'm Dr. Neal. I'm gonna keep this intro short and sweet so let's get right to it and start optimizing your life. Why It Doesn't Pay to Put Wealth Above Health and 3 Tips to Get Fit by Matt Cama with tinybuddha.com
[00:01:00] Quote, Man surprised me most about humanity because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present. The result being that he does not live in the present or the future. He lives as if he is never going to die and then dies having never really lived. The Dalai Lama. It was 3 in the morning.
[00:01:29] The mean, destructive words that someone had said to me back in high school were replaying in my mind like a broken record. You're fat. Why are you swimming with your shirt on? Stop eating so much. As I heard each word in the back of my mind, I felt the passion begin to burn within me to help those who were overweight and suffering from self-worth issues like I once was. At 18 years old, I decided to open up my own fitness business. I had a burning desire to help others because I knew what it was like to feel worthless inside,
[00:01:59] to hate looking at yourself in the mirror, and to not be able to take your shirt off in front of people because you were embarrassed of your body. The desire was so intense that it had me getting up every morning at 3 a.m. to study, research, and work on my business. I was working at the gym, building my business from 5.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. five days a week. Other health coaches kept telling me, Matt, You need to settle down. You're going to get burned out. But I thought I was Superman at the time,
[00:02:29] replying with comments like, You just don't want this as bad as I do. Time went by, and at a young age, I thought I had everything. I was doing what I love, I was getting massive results from my health coaching clients, and I was earning high amounts of money. Business was great. But even though I felt I had everything, there was still one thing missing. I was constantly getting sick and taking time off of work. I was sleeping four hours a night. I was getting sleep paralysis.
[00:02:56] I wasn't making time to prepare my meals or train myself anymore. And my energy was deteriorating so much that I had my own little bed in the staff room so I could take naps in between coaching clients. Day in and day out, I was struggling. Until one day, I walked into my parents' bathroom and gazed over at the mirror. Tears started running down my face. I slowly crouched down to the ground with both hands on my head. I was shocked at seeing how my own personal standards had dropped so much,
[00:03:25] to the point where I had gained back most of the body fat I'd once had. I suddenly realized that the thing I was missing was my health. The sadness quickly turned into anger burning within me. I used the anger as fuel to make a decision that was about to change my life. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I hated that I wasn't able to be productive throughout the day because I had no energy to do anything. And I was fed up with not being congruent with what I was teaching my clients.
[00:03:53] I ran down into my basement and grabbed a small notebook. I wrote down everything I was committed to changing and the reasons why I must change it now. I made a decision that from that day forward, I wasn't going to value contribution, success, or wealth higher than my health and body. I was going to value health above everything and treat my body like a temple. I began cleansing my body with fresh vegetable juices. I started exercising again five days a week. I became vegan and I began writing to work instead of driving.
[00:04:23] I started doing little things that mattered and was going to produce more health, energy, and vibrancy. I learned a lot of things during this chapter of my life that may be useful to you as well. One, value health above everything. When you value building wealth above your health, you will face massive challenges, either in the short term or in the long term. But when you value health above everything else, the results you create in that area will translate to all other areas of your life.
[00:04:51] You will feel more spiritually connected, you will feel more confident with yourself, you will produce more throughout your day, and you will have pure energy to spend time and be playful with those who matter most. Two, schedule, schedule, schedule. If you don't take time to schedule, it's most likely not going to happen. That was true for me. It might be helpful for you to take time on a Friday or Saturday to schedule when you will prepare your meals for the week, when you will eat,
[00:05:19] and when you will exercise, meditate, or do yoga. And three, find an accountability partner or coach. Although I don't have a health coach, I learned the importance of connecting with someone with higher standards than you in the area you're trying to improve. I actually had an accountability phone call on a Monday morning where a friend and I would exchange our goals for the week. Our goals ranged from running half an hour five days a week to having a green vegetable juice and salad every day. We attached consequences to not following through
[00:05:48] by making a commitment to each other that we would do 100 squat thrusts if we didn't accomplish those goals we set out. Ouch. Jim Rohn once said, quote, take care of your body. It's the only place we have to live in. End quote. My only hope is that you take his advice and the lessons I've learned and start applying them to your life. You just listened to the post titled Why It Doesn't Pay to Put Wealth Above Health
[00:06:16] and Three Tips to Get Fit by Matt Kama with tinybuddha.com And I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. Back when I first started counseling patients, I would hear this excuse a lot. I just don't have the time or the money right now. I can do the things that you're recommending. I can't spend time working out because then I won't have enough money for my family. Or I can't plan my meals because then I'll have to sacrifice time doing fill in the blank.
[00:06:46] And early on in my career, I was a little bit more blunt with people. And so at that time, I would say something like, well, do you want to make the time for it now or end up paying for it later? And what I meant by that was, if you take care of your body now and make those little, what seem to be sacrifices, but aren't really, if you make the time for those things now, you're going to save money later, you're going to save time later, save heartache later, and then you'll hopefully have more time
[00:07:15] with those that you love. Because if you commit now, if you try and eat healthfully or nutritiously most days of the week, if you try and exercise in some capacity most days of the week, you'll hopefully reduce your risk for chronic disease later in life, allowing you to have more quality years on this planet and more time with your loved ones. But I know it's hard to think that far ahead. For many of us, we're just trying to survive each day. We're just trying to make sure that there's actually food on the table,
[00:07:44] that there's some money in the bank account, and that we're actually getting some time to take rest for ourselves. And so exercise, planning meals, those things aren't a priority. And I get it. Remember, I was there too. This isn't easy for me either. So I completely agree that scheduling, writing things down, is one of the best ways to start. Even if you just plan one day, no scratch that, one meal for just one day, that's a step in the right direction. If you schedule just one workout this week,
[00:08:14] that's a step in the right direction. And that may be all it takes to get you started. Now before I go, don't forget, we have four other podcasts where we narrate blogs for you, covering a bunch of different topics. To subscribe to those, just search for Optimal Living Daily wherever you're hearing this show. I thank you in advance for doing that. Thank you for being here every day. I'll be back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits. I'll be back here tomorrow.




