A few weeks back, I came to a blatant realization - I had gained weight, and the trend was going towards the right most side of the graph. Not only this, but I realized I was becoming very different from 2 years ago when I lost 50 pounds both mentally, and spiritually.
During my introspection period, I wrote a brief list of the most important things to me. Some of the most obvious things that came in mind was my family and friends, my meditation practice, and my businesses. Unfortunately, the one thing that I didn't realize that wasn't on my list was my health.
Like most entrepreneurs, I love what I do. In fact, I will work almost 16-17 hours a day. I sometimes forget about the importance of my health and well-being. The one man that got me thinking the most about my health was Gary Vaynerchuk. He talks highly about how is health is the number one priority in having his priorities in order. Simply because if he is in a bad health state, he has to spend less time with his family and businesses.
In this post, I will outline the 5 biggest resources that I have used to keep my mind and body in check, while still executing in business.
1. Practicing Heartfulness
Meditation has been one of the greatest saviors because it gives me an opportunity to not only shape my day, but re-connect with myself. The recently discovered Heartfulness page is an excellent resource for anyone trying to learn more about staying connected to their very being, and read about individuals who are practicing Heartfulness on a daily basis!
Other excellent resources are produced by Mindvalley, a company based out of Malaysia. Mindvalley (Insert link to mindvalley Youtube page) has hundreds of talks on YouTube that focus around topics such as happiness, your subconscious, company talent, and many more. I love Mindvalley because it gives me an opportunity to learn about something I wouldn't otherwise know about, or more importantly, think about.
2. Do what you do best and outsource the rest
Did I get very busy over the past 2 years? I sure did. Did I do a good job managing my health by working out daily and critically analyzing what I eat? Not one bit.
After watching a video by Ramit Sethi, I acknowledged the importance of getting a trainer.
Because I knew I wanted to learn more about nutrition, without paying an arm and leg for it, I signed up for GOQII, a business started by a friend of mine Vishal Gondal. The difference between GOQII is that is takes the traditional fitness band and gives you a personal trainer on the cloud.
My personal trainer is Noora, and she has deep expertise in nutrition, training, and wellness. I knew I wasn't great at exercise, and eating out had caused me to gain weight, so I needed help.
3. Eat mostly plants
After watching the documentary "Fat, sick, and nearly dead", I realized the importance of eating a plant based diet. Some people took away that you need to juice to loose weight, but the major take away for me was the majority of an American diet is processed foods, not wholesome foods.
As a takeaway, at least 75% of your diet should be plant based. For this reason, the easiest thing to do is to eat vegetables and fruits. Unfortunately, the amount of fruits and vegetables you have to eat for a well-balanced diet is more than a majority of us have time for, which is why juicing is one of the most successful alternatives to eating raw fruits and vegetables.
One of the best resources for juicing comes from Joe, the test subject in the documentary at rebootwithjoe.com. I love taking recipes from online and using them for my own benefit. For example, last night I made fudge bars that have a very small amount of calories to suppress my consistent chocolate craving.
On top of the consistent derailment of sweets, I realized that at the end of the day, there are certain types foods that are better for me, and less good. So do I feel guilty eating pizza? Not one bit. In fact, I enjoy it and work harder the next day.
4. Indulge in what you want to become
To keep the mind, body, and spirit in check, you need to feed yourself knowledge. This also means that being around constant garbage does no justice to your internal and external self.
One of my goals was to read 50 books this year to replenish my mind with positive thoughts. One of my favorite books that I read was called "The Art of happiness" by the14th Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. Not only did this book put a lot of issues into perspective I was having in my life, but it gave me an opportunity to look closer at great people who used tactical solutions to solve their problems.
Conclusion
Your mind, body, and spirit are some of the only things that can be in your control of. As busy entrepreneurs, we need to keep ourselves in functioning condition to succeed in not only business, but our personal lives.
What do you do to stay in touch with your mind, body, and soul?