Feeling healthier, wealthier and alive in 2020

Jason Safford (www.jasonsafford.com)

Beginning a new decade is exciting, especially when you write 2020 at the end of the date. For some of us there is even more to live for with each new day. Just a decade ago, I weighed 240 pounds and was completely overwhelmed with stress and anxiety as a small business owner and entrepreneur. Our company had been impacted dramatically by the 2008 financial meltdown. We had sold off most of our assets and let hundreds of people go. Our efforts were getting no results and there was no one interested in rescuing us. It was an extremely challenging time.

Up to that point, I had been an athlete my entire life. I played multiple sports, even through college and continued to compete at a high level on club teams after. But I was gaining weight, not losing it, no matter how hard I worked out and exhausted myself. I wasn't going in the right direction. I definitely was not happy. Something had to change.

As an entrepreneur and business person, you are often meeting people throughout the day for coffee, a bite to eat or a drink after hours. (Happy hour often started early despite my best intentions) I began to notice that I was doing more consuming than I was closing. We all were. We were coping. Life was tough for many of us in 2010. So I decided to make a little shift.

My first shift was to eliminate coffee from my vocabulary. I was drinking way too much and the additional milk and sugar was really problem. I began to drink tea. The only thing I might add was lemon if necessary. I experimented with different types of tea and still do. Eventually, I came across a few that liked, which became my staples that I drink throughout the day. Peppermint, Licorice and CBD-infused Iaso tea. You can find them at most health stores, but if you would like a free sample of the Iaso, you can get it here.

The second shift I made was to start walking more every day. At first it was a simple morning walk around my local park after my first cup of tea. But soon I began to walk again at lunch time. Then I added a 4pm walk and an 8pm walk. I began to notice that these short walks were clearing my head, reducing my stress level and allowing me to be creative. I began writing more and becoming more productive overall. My attitude was improving and so did business. It took time, but drinking tea and walking more and more started to curb my bad habits and help me develop better ones.

I find both walking and drinking tea to be extremely meditative and help me calm my mind. I breathe slower and deeper and concentrate more on each breath. It also helps me weed out distractions. As a business owner, entrepreneur and executive, I am constantly being distracted by other people's needs and wants. Finding time for myself requires consistent focus. It is way too easy to be pulled in every direction if you are not disciplined. Believe it or not, drinking tea and walking became my discipline.

As my journey continued and I got healthier, I also began to notice that my focus on wealth changed dramatically too. Material needs and wants began to dissipate. There was less desire to compete with others for physical assets and accomplishments in my mind. My vision became more connected with how I made other people feel and the results I could help them achieve for themselves. My impact became more important to me. How I was connecting with others, how my energy touched them, how my efforts helped them and how they reached the results they were looking for became my passion. Leaving people more positive and able to make positive impacts on others was what I wanted everyday. Wealth became less about what I had in the bank or on a sheet of paper and more about who I connected with and the impact I made for them to help others more effectively.

Unfortunately, like all journeys, there are always bumps in the road. Sometimes there are potholes, or crevices and even landmines, depending where you are going. Along my journey, I have endured multiple business failures, fallouts with friend and partners, death of loved ones and any other number of challenges. But they only made me more committed to walking and drinking tea. My mindset became more selfish about protecting my mind, which I realized was the key to my wealth. My mind was becoming the center of how I impacted everything around me. I was constantly weeding out distraction and focusing on growing better ideas, better relationships, finding better resources and growing better results. I was becoming the gardner of my mind and loving every second of it. I started to call it my Green Mind.

Suddenly, everything came to a halt in September of 2018. My heart rate was 26 beats per minute and I was strapped to a defibrillator in CCU. There is nothing scarier than facing death when your a father of two young children, one who had barely turned 3 months! I was immobilized by a tiny insect called a tick and had been diagnosed with Lyme Carditis. There were numerous doctors and nurses coming to my bed every hour, all with somber faces and clueless as how to approach me. If I left it up to them, my small children might be fatherless today.

I couldn't walk, but I could drink tea. So I would invite them to have tea with me. And we would talk about their day, other patients and the challenges of their workload. Eventually they would feel better and then ask me, why was I so calm and how did I remain so relaxed in my current situation? Under normal circumstances, someone with a heart rate of 26 bpm would be in a coma, but here I was having pleasant conversation and drinking tea with my medical team and nursing staff. I became the thrill of their day, even if they couldn't do anything for me. And that was when I realized the importance of urgency. I vowed to myself that if I got out of this situation alive, I would start a movement to help others Green their mind. I called it the Green Mind Initiative. (www.greenmindinitiative.com) It took me until the end of 2019 to officially launch, but every day we are growing. Obviously, I made it out of the hospital and my precarious situation, and I believe it was due in large part to my mindset, having a Green Mind.

Today I weigh 175 pounds and feel healthier, wealthier and more alive than ever. I'm focused on helping entrepreneurs, business owners and executives with growing revenue, improving their bottom line and impacting the world around them more positively. I'm writing books, speaking, podcasting, producing events and promoting my healthy lifestyle so that others can Green their minds. My passion for life and this planet has never been stronger and everyday I jump out of bed looking forward to weeding out distractions and growing my ideas in every encounter. My impact is directed towards being a positive change in this world.

Walking and drinking tea may sound silly to many reading this, but it worked for me. I've lost 65 pounds in 10 years, or 6.5 pounds per year. That may not impress someone who wants to lose 65 pounds in a year, but I now weigh the same amount I did 27 years ago as a college freshman. My focus and clarity is better than ever and my energy is good enough to play with two hyperactive little boys everyday. And I'm keeping up with them.

My hope is for anyone reading this article to look at this new decade as a new beginning but a journey to a better place in the future. We all face challenges and distractions that are constantly trying to prevent us from growing positively. But all of those challenges and distractions can be removed and will fade away with time. What is important is how you think about what is most critical in your life and where you want your time to be focused each and every day. For me, drinking tea and walking helped me to realize that was my time to focus on my mindset and become a positive impact for others. What it takes to change your mindset is for you to learn. My goal is to help you grow that mindset and bring it to others as a healthier, wealthier Green Mind.

Happy 2020 and beyond!

If you would like to learn more about the Green Mind Initiative or schedule a consultation with me to help you and your vision or organization, you can schedule here