Health or Wealth? They Are Not Mutually Exclusive - Part 1

Hello everyone, this is Mazen. Welcome to a special two-part episode of the Maximal Life.

Doesn’t the absence of aches and pains make it so pleasurable to go outdoors for a run, a bike ride or a game with your kids? You return charged up and feeling vitally alive! Maintaining good health without any illness, disease or infirmity gives you the opportunity to reach peak performance levels at work, to enjoy life and to really savor the fruits of all your hard work. Isn’t a marvelous thing to be fit, healthy, vital, brimming with energy and full of life? There is such a sense of gratitude and satisfaction that accompanies that feeling of well-being! Isn’t it wonderful not to have your pleasure of life dimmed or the range of your activities curtailed by aches and diseases; dos and don’ts?

So when the question of health or wealth is raised, I find that the two letter word ‘OR’ especially misplaced. Because imagine someone: who is living the life of the grind mind, who spends all his time working; long hours put in at the office, little or no time for family, leisure or personal health. He makes hundreds of thousands but loses his good health in the process. And then goes on to spend his hard-earned money to regain that health. On the other hand, imagine someone leading a maximal life, investing time in his health and his relationships. He is far more likely to enjoy a longer more productive, more prosperous work life and fewer medical expenses. So really, it’s hardly a question of health or wealth. It’s health and wealth that we should all focus on as Maximal Achievers.

We will be diving deep on this subject during this and the next episode of the Maximal Life: The importance of optimal health generates wealth for your today and for all your tomorrows! The way that health is tied to prosperity is self-evident, and yet it’s something that tends to be forgotten in the everyday grind. So today, I want to direct the full focus of your attention to this vital subject – before illness or injury occurs. And that is: The importance of being proactive about health and not waiting until things go wrong.

Health = more productivity = more wealth = a long and fulfilled life.

As Herophilus, an ancient Greek physician said, “When health is absent, wealth is useless.” And in fact, what good is having a lot of money when poor health places a bunch of restrictions on your enjoyment of it! While this is undoubtedly true, the connection between good health and prosperity is more profound and more direct. The statistics all point to how wealth generation has a direct correlation with good health and this is for a number of reasons: – increased productivity because of fewer work days lost to illness, – a better career progression because of perceived greater reliability, – the ability to work a longer time before having to retire, and most importantly, because you end up actually spending less money on diseases and their treatments.

Let’s start with a simple example of how being in poor shape influences the way one is treated in the workplace.

While it is illegal to discriminate based on factors such as a person’s weight, being obese is seen to be so closely related to poor health outcomes that organizations in reality do show a clear bias towards individuals with healthy weight – when hiring as well as when under consideration for career advancements and promotions. So being obese or overweight, when seen as an indicator of poor health, can and does impact your chances of being hired, promoted and doing well in your career.

Look at health and life insurance premiums: The poorer your health, the higher your insurance premium will be. It’s a simple cause and effect relationship. The impact of poor health falls directly on businesses too: absenteeism, where the person is physically there but under-performing, lowers productivity, employee turnover increases and morale drops. So it’s also in the interests of business owners and managers to help workers maintain good health.

According to a British report called “Health at Work”, the cost of work-related health problems in the European Union amount to over 3% of the GDP of the European Union. Can you even begin to imagine how much our neglect towards health is costing Us? Our family? Our company? Our country?

According to estimates, a smoker, giving up smoking can directly save about two thousand dollars a year. And the savings in terms of improved health and well-being and prevented diseases could be several times that much! A recent study examined the possible impact of increase in excise tax on sugared beverages. Upping tax would reduce consumption and this could potentially prevent 2.4 million cases of diabetes, 95,000 cases of heart disease, and 26,000 premature deaths while at the same time generating billions in tax revenue! Now that’s a tax hike that I fully support.

Another interesting study examined whether the link between health and wealth influenced decision making. The study found that despite the clear link between good health and wealth creation, governments and policy makers are not focusing sufficiently on health initiatives. So it’s up to us, you and me, to take charge; to make our own bodies support our own success.                                                                

Grappling with the Success Paradox.                                                                                                                     

I do acknowledge the inherent difficulties here; it’s what some experts call the Success Paradox: The pursuit of success itself leads to deterioration of health. For many, working hard means less time for exercise, healthy food choices and activities that enhance wellness; leading to more negative stress! So yes, it can be a tricky balance to maintain.

But that’s why I’m here. Over the course of this and the next episode, I’m going to show you how you can maintain this delicate balance to live the life most only dream of.

Consider the story of Forbes contributor Garret Gunderson who changed the way he approached improvement of his life. To begin with, it was all about professional and financial success and working to improve his business. Along the way, however, he acknowledged a central fact of life: What good is all the money in the world if my family life is dysfunctional? What good is all the millions if I cannot enjoy it to the fullest? How does the bank balance help if my health doesn’t permit me to travel, eat, and enjoy? What good is it if I have to spend this money paying off medical bills? Not only is poor health bad for business now, it leads to poor business decisions in future as well.

Gunderson found that he needed to change five areas of his life: physical, mental, spiritual, social and business. So, he went about making changes in his life to improve all these aspects: hiring a personal trainer to improve physical wellness reading books to improve mental and spiritual well being, exercising with others to learn from and share with them, Implementing a daily Power Hour to learn and meditate, checking with other like minded people to keep up the habit and to remain accountable. He realized in time. It’s not a question of health OR wealth. It’s health AND wealth. It’s always been health and wealth.

‘Health is Wealth’ isn’t merely a proverb. It’s the truth of life.

I love how Gandhi said it “Health is real wealth, not pieces of gold and silver” If this sounds too idealistic to you, consider the quoted words of A.J. Reb Materi: “So many people spend their health gaining wealth and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” Isn’t that precisely the Success Paradox I spoke about earlier? After all, this is the only body you have; the only place you have to live, can you really afford not to take care of it?

Investing in health offers an excellent return on investment. Consider the ROI when you opt for a well designed company wellness program: the savings in terms of: reduced sick leave and reduced health care costs are the obvious gains. Additionally, an increase in terms of morale and motivation, and the doubled efforts employees who are fitter and who feel better cannot be fully quantified. Similar investments you make towards your own health like: learning to eat better, getting a gym membership or purchasing home cross trainer that you actually make good use of, are also bound to reap rich dividends, now and in the future, in terms of a longer productive life, and more time to enjoy the rewards of your hard work and savings!

It’s easier to maintain good health than to regain it.

Consider how a small improvement to your morning routine could make a difference to your health and your wealth. As you head to work each morning, do you stop at a convenient coffee shop to grab a beverage? Something that many financial planners now refer to as the “Latte Factor.” This beverage costs you several dollars every day, which adds to a very significant amount each year, which also adds hundreds of unnecessary calories to your daily intake. So, where on the one hand you’re spending money unnecessarily, you are also creating avoidable health issues or compounding existing problems. Instead, choose to fix yourself a healthy protein shake before leaving home. It keeps you full, satisfied and gives you sustained energy without adding unnecessary calories or sugar, and costs a fraction. You fix both problems in one stroke!

The time to take action is now. The time to become proactive about your health was yesterday! Why wait until something goes wrong to make the changes that you need to, for your life? There are just so many reasons to make your health a priority that there is never any reason to procrastinate or to make excuses for not prioritizing health. Yes, there are pressures on your time, but the longer you avoid taking action towards your health the more likely it is that problems will crop up, chronic conditions will develop and that you will sacrifice time, vitality, energy levels and your productivity somewhere along the way. When you’re healthier you are a lot better equipped to deal with pressures, problems, and crises that can crop up in your personal and professional life as well;

In practical terms, good health is a terrific asset for Maximal Achievers and leaders: you can handle demanding assignments, provide valuable guidance to your teams, manage travel schedules effectively, have the energy for those important meetings and the fresh ideas for the brainstorming sessions! Even your stockholders want you to be healthier! We’ve all seen how stock prices can fluctuate depending upon the news of a CEO or top company executive illness or disability, haven’t we?

Decide to make one positive change in your lifestyle today. One that will have a positive ripple effect on your health and well-being. It could be cutting down on sugar or soda drinks. It could be to quit smoking. It could be to start running three times a week. Decide on one such motion today and stick with it. Stick with it like your life depends on it, because frankly, it does.

Now that we’ve established the absolute and vital importance of good health for practically all spheres of life, join me in the next episode as I guide you and equip you with the tools to take charge of your life and your health. Thanks for joining me today and stay tuned for the concluding episode of this series. Your life tomorrow will be a reflection of what you think and do today. Make it worthwhile. Make it bright. Make it prosperous. The question isn’t health OR wealth, but the answer is always health AND wealth. That’s the way to the Maximal Life.

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