I begin each day of my life with a ritual of receiving one sms around 5:30 am from my fitness coach Sanjay. The sms reads “I am coming at 6:00 am so get ready” I take a look at the sms and reply “yes”. Initially, I thought that my ritual is to exercise every day, but my real ritual is saying Yes to my coach because, the moment I say YES to him my laziness goes away, my reasons/excuses disappear and I look up to the ceiling of my room and say to myself “Get ready Nandish it’s time to invest in your fitness.” This ritual has had transformative effect on me. I know it is absolutely no fun to wake up in the dark and push ourselves to go for a tiresome run or to hit the gym. But if you really want to cherish your wealth in later years of your life start forming healthy habit of exercising. One of the best website you can explore to get yourself educated on various exercises and diet is http://exrx.net/.
We have a rule if you do not exercise you can’t become our coaching client no mater how much money you have. It is because health is your true wealth. Let me share what we ask to our coaching clients
One of the Questions that we have asked all the people who have worked with us is
Is your well-being on your priority E.g. Do you Exercise/Go for a walk or play any sports? (If the answer is no this will be the first thing we will ask you to start, this will allow you to enjoy the wealth that you are going to generate in life)
Here are some Real Life answers from real people that I have received; I am sharing this so that you can learn from other people’s sharing
- Yes, I am health conscious and selfish when it comes to health
- I don’t exercise regularly
- I used to. I will be resuming soon
- Yes, for the past 7-8 months I have been going to gym regularly and have a very balanced diet.
- To somewhat no. I try to maintain a healthy life-style, but fail occasionally.
- Yes. I am too occupied to start with any of the activities. I am currently working on this.
- Yes. My wife is an athlete and she pushes/motivates me to stay healthy. I walk every evening and try to maintain weight. I very strictly believe that Health is wealth. There is no use of money at all if I cannot stay healthy. E.g. – Yuvraj Singh – what will be the use of so much money if cannot be cured.
- Yes. I go to Yoga in my office, daily. I have started this since last 8 months and doing it regularly<90% attendance>.
- Sporadic exercise. Swim and play badminton regularly.
- This is exactly what I don’t do at all. All I need to do is start ASAP.
- Yes. I used to walk daily till 2 months back. Due to back pain and monsoons now it’s held up for two months.
- I keep doing exercises on and off. More than 3 months back I have taken up Karate. I do that twice in a week, and I am quite sure that I am not going to quit that
- I hardly do the above, but I will try to make it as a habit very soon.
- No. My physical activities have reduced
- Yes, I believe it is. I have started to go on a diet plan and been on it for a couple of weeks now. I have also started to go to fitness centre (tread mill and weights) for a week now. I hope and believe I can continue this.
- I thoroughly enjoy sports. I play tennis and walk quite a bit. I also do yoga fairly regularly.JMy biggest priority is stay healthy and fit – a fitness freak, if you will. (I wish I had the same drive for money, ever since started earning!
Here is what one of our clients wrote me – “I have reduced my weight by 12 kgs in 6+ months and my BMI is close to ideal though still a bit above. Feel so much more energetic. How is your health investment doing?”
Some Need Shock Therapy
In one of the readers meet held at pune one of our client shared his life changing experience with the group .Once he had to participate in check-up camp organized in his company. He got his tests done and the doctor gave him a very serious look and told him to move to a separate room and relax there for some time. Doctor came after some time and said everything is going to be fine, with this his tension was at its peak. Our client got restless and asked the doctor “what’s the matter?” and doctor said “Diabetes” Our client’s world got shattered in that moment, his heart sank and his throat got dry.
Doctor saw all this and then said, “You are not having diabetes my friend but you are close to having diabetes and so it was necessary for us to give you some shock Therapy.” Our client bought new shoes the same day and was all geared up to take charge of his health. The next day, even with heavy rains, he was jogging in the park…. Do not wait for important things to get urgent, act today, take the learning’s from this experience.
Here is something that I received from my father a few days back
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, “Man. Because he sacrifices his health 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 he dies having never really lived!”
Start your Fitness SIP
Sharing from my personal life, I avoided doing physical exercise for years. My reasons were bigger than my commitment. I broke my reasons 2 yrs back, I hired a Fitness Coach who comes to my home and makes me do a lot of work-out. The fee that I am paying him for his services, I consider it as my HEALTH-SIP. I am familiar with all the exercises and capable to do them on my own but those 5 extra counts that he makes me do is only possible with him. I take this opportunity to thank my coach Sanjay, his commitment is amazing.
Some people…
- Take better care of their pet than what they do themselves
- Take better care of their gadgets than what they do themselves
- Take better care of their car than what they do themselves
Focus more on your health than buying health insurance
When I coach people I see that people are more committed to buy the right health cover and more laid back on focusing on their health! Your body is the only thing which is going to stay with you for the rest of your life. See that you take care of yourself because it is said that your body is the only place you are going to live in for the rest of your life. Connect with your true wealth first, we have heard this since childhood health is wealth but most of us forget this when we grow –up. Getting health cover is important but do not deviate focus from your health, make a commitment you will live your life in such a way so that you do not have to use your health insurance ever. (Unless it is an accident or some other major health issue)
Health Insurance for parents
We interact with many people who want to buy health cover for their senior citizen parents. It really becomes very difficult in getting health cover after certain age and even if you get cover it comes with high premium. More than health cover start giving time to your parents, put 2-3 lacs aside (you can put even more if you have) for them and you can have your own health cover designed for your parents. All they want is your time, your attention and unconditional love. Encourage your parents in doing light exercises or light yoga . One very powerful meditation is conducted by organization called vipassana Meditation, they have world wide centers http://www.dhamma.org/ . My parents have done the same and I think it is the greatest gift we can give to our parents. Enroll your parents for naturotherapy, see that they have proper intake of fruits and dry fruits. See that your parents are not feeling lonely and they are around their friends. Take steps that make them happy this is far far better than saying I am a responsible son I have bought health cover for my parents.
Conclusion
As people are turning towards term plans a lot of people also turning towards joining gyms, going for a brisk walk, hiring a fitness coach, taking advantage of fitness facilities provided by companies. This is your true wealth. I always tell people that at the age of 55 or 60 you might have a lot of money but what if your body is not aligned to cherish that money? Stay healthy, stay committed and stay FIT. Do share what message you got from this post, if you are one of those who are not exercising simply start from this moment. After you complete reading this article do 5 push-ups, climb a stair, just do something in this moment, take small steps, engage in activities that you enjoy doing and change your relationship with health and fitness.
This article is written by Nandish Desai
This week action ?
- Do you exercise? Yes or No
- Hire a coach or join a gym in this week?
- What one action you can take to bring more life in your parent’s health?