Think About Your Pecs.

Need more motivation to workout? There are more benefits to exercise than simply the physical.

Let’s think short-term. What are the benefits of an individual workout? Many might argue that it will promote physical fitness. While this is true, I think the more important benefits of the short-term workout are mental.

Working Out as a form of Meditation

One way to utilize the benefits of a workout is meditation. It is described nicely here. Imagine that you are doing some interval training on the stationary bike. You have your I-pod playing inspirational ambience in your ears. You can completely internalize. Your focus is on yourself. The rest of the world fades away into the background until it eventually disappears. Think of the simplicity! You might call it chi, you might call it biology, or it might be simply mental, but with this type of experience, your body is allowed to optimally heal itself and better itself. There is focused blood flow, energy, and a chance for the nervous system to relax.

Working Out as a way to Relieve Stress

Maybe you do it through meditation. You had a stressful day at work. You had an argument with your Significant Other. You can’t seem to stay on top of your fantasy football league! You might meditate away that stress to the point where it doesn’t exist. Another avenue is taking out your aggression or frustrations on the exercises themselves. Imagine you are doing a set of squats. As you get down to parallel, you might pretend that your frustration is underneath your heels. Thus, you can squash those frustrations as you push back to the top. This works threefold. It figuratively reduces the frustration to mush, it drastically decreases your aggression, allowing you to solve any problems with a clear mind, and it even helps you physically by potentially allowing you to “push more weight.”

Life is Epic

“The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity.” –Mark Twain

Why not prove this wrong. Many people simply focus on getting to retirement so they do not have to work, and so they can enjoy life. However, you might say that, as we age, we cannot do all of the things we would like to do. The causes might be health, or even motivation. This is why we need to plan for a life of retirement, not just a career.

There are two aspects to this:

I. What type of physical condition (capacity) will you be in upon retirement?

Many people have dreams of spending retirement doing wonderful things such as traveling to Europe, going on Safari, whitewater rafting, or even hiking in the Rocky Mountains. These ideas are all valid and likely very rewarding. However, do you think you will be able to live them if you are in poor health? If you have a lack of stamina or brittle joints from years of going home to the solace of your couch and prime time television, then that hike in Denver is bound to be more painful that fun.

Luckily we have a choice. If we begin today and be proactive with our health, we give ourselves the capacity to realize our dreams.


II. What are your passions, and will you be able to pursue them during retirement?

Still other people think they will be satisfied with a chance to relax upon retirement. Their visions are of time spent staying at home, sleeping in late, and enjoying prime time television. However, is that what you truly want? Will that be enough to satisfy you? A wise man known to me as Mahler put it best when he said the following:

“Our journey through life is much like that walk through the orchard. Our goals and ambitions can be like the fruit on a tree. Some of us don’t climb to the top to get to the choicest fruit. Why? We fear that we just can’t make it that high. We worry that we might fall. What if we get hurt? The risk is just too great…So, there are those of us who walk the orchard and never look up. The fruit on the ground has caught our eye. It’s there for the taking and so easy to get to. So what if we have to settle for something that is less than the best. It was so easy to just pick up and eat that it was worth it. Right? It required little effort and is almost as good. Don’t fool yourselves. Sooner or later, while you are leaning back against your tree eating the fruit you picked up, your eyes will spot the guy climbing the next tree, going for the fruit at the top. You will look at the fruit in your hand and suddenly lose your taste for it and perhaps toss it aside. Where are your goals then?”

For some of you, the fruit at the bottom of the tree (read-prime time television) will taste juicy and sweet, but for the rest of you, don’t you wonder what that fruit on top of the tree will taste like?

In essence, we need to plan. What are your active goals? What do you want to be doing with your free time--that after all--you earned?

Increasing Your Odds

Increasing Your Odds—One penny at a Time

“If time be of all things most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again.” –Benjamin Franklin

prod·i·gal·i·ty
Extravagant wastefulness.
Profuse generosity.
Extreme abundance; lavishness.

A life without direction is one full of prodigality. You can have all of the good intentions in the world, but without goals or plans, you will simply be treading water. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can gain footing and make progress.

At one point or another, we realize that action is needed. The first piece of any action is to have a goal in mind. Why not write it down along with the steps you need to take in order to get there?

I realized at a young age that I didn’t want to work forever. I decided that I should retire early and live. Live. However, I treaded water for 4 years (what prodigality!). I didn’t know how I was going to realize this goal. So finally, I began to put it down in writing. From there, I began to put the pieces together—the steps that I would need to take in order to retire while I was young enough to enjoy it.

Since I have done this, life feels more focused, more fulfilling. I can track my progress, look ahead to where I am going, and look back to where I have been. I know that I will simply put my foot on that next step to proceed, and that I will reach the top of those stairs if I continue.


“This is the only chance you will ever have on earth with this exciting adventure called life. So why not plan it, and try to live it richly, as happily as possible.” –Dale Carnegie