1. Great way to get better, longer-term results…
Not sure why you aren’t getting the results you want in your life? Trying to figure out what you need to do to get what you want in life? What you do is important, but WHY you are doing it is more important. It’s the why behind the what that matters most. Show me the biggest doers in the world, the ones making the biggest difference and impact in the world, and I’ll show you someone with a huge WHY. Losing weight to fit into that dress for that wedding isn’t big enough. Trying to make more money so you can buy that new car isn’t big enough. The biggest change, the longest lasting change, the change that has the biggest impact, will come only if why you are doing what you are doing is big enough. Here’s a quick clip from a talk I gave about having a big enough why…
2. What’s more important than diet and exercise…
When it comes to health, wellness, and longevity, everyone wants to talk about diet and exercise. I found it fascinating to learn that your social connections are MORE important than both of those. You are 3-5 times more likely to die if you don’t feel loved and supported. And a study out of Brigham Young University found that feeling disconnected is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day (twice as damaging as being obese and as impactful as being a lifelong alcoholic). The exact impact that loneliness and isolation has on sickness and disease, or the impact that bolstering your social connections and relationships has on optimizing health and longevity is impossible to quantify, but research has definitively shown that the impact is super significant. Join a group, get to lunch with buddies, surround yourself regularly with the ones you love, and make more time for friends. It will reduce your stress levels, boost the immune system, increase longevity, help you heal faster and get sick less often, and protect you from disease… MORE than exercise and better eating will.
3. Dumb studies…
I am amazed at how much time and money goes into studies that end up showing us what we already know. You know, the ones that have headlines such as, “Exercise makes our muscles work better with age,” or “Research shows texting can deprive relationships of intimacy and conversation.” Really? I am a big fan of science and research, but we know enough to be healthier and happier right now without any science and research. Think about this… the healthiest people on the planet, the ones with the least amount of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, and any other chronic illness, are remote tribes that do no controlled research, have never read a single study, have no doctors or hospitals, and know nothing about DNA mapping, lipid profiles, or blood pressure. So try not to get too bummed about the next study that says drinking too much beer leads to relationship problems (you don’t say!), or get too excited about the next study on how wine improves your sex life (duh!) Don’t let so-called research trump common sense!