Healthcare is a mess. So went the conversation with John Chamberlain, a friend and healthcare entrepreneur. The part of healthcare that depends on someone else will always be a challenge. Yet, we both laughed when we discussed our own healthcare approach. We both have invested daily in several actions that have minimized our actual personal involvement with the healthcare “system.”
Are we just genetically lucky? No, just disciplined and consistent. Here’s what we have done, and believe me, these are actions everyone COULD take:
We exercise regularly. For 46 years I have invested 3-4 hours a week in aerobic exercise. As a result, my weight, blood pressure, and stress levels have earned smiley faces at my insurance physical.
We get 7 hours of sleep. Every study I read suggests that 7-8 hours of sleep increases your productivity and creativity. When it comes to our sleep routines, like fluids, most adults continually lower the amounts of daily intake and as a result, work related injuries and fatigue are on the rise. And the time we are not sleeping is usually spent ingesting negative information from our technology. Has the late night news or David Letterman ever helped you wake up refreshed?
We have a healthy mental diet. We both get up and invest the first hour of the day in positive and inspirational material. I am amazed at how people will monitor the food they eat or the octane of their car fuel, and then completely ignore what they feed their brain. Might as well pour milk in the gas tank of your Ferrari.
As a result of three decisions, both chosen independently, we both have the most important benefit of all, a healthy outlook about the future. John sees opportunity to improve healthcare and has the energy to start a new venture with that vision. I still see the future as becoming better than the past and find the market still values that attitude.
So turn something off earlier, set your alarm a little earlier, and hang in there for a month. See if you don’t find a newfound admiration for Ben Franklin. Early to bed, early to rise really will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise.