Do Hard Shit, Systems Beat Willpower, Have A Monthly Life Meeting | FRLN 125

I hit Financial Independence in three years after discovering the concept.

So did Cody Berman.

The difference? I did it in my mid-to-late thirties.

He did it at 25.

Cody just came back on the Fit Rich Life Podcast (episode 107) for the THIRD time to talk about his new bestselling book, Retire by 30 — and the parallels between our stories are kind of insane.

We both bailed on a corporate finance path. We both were heavily influenced by Tim Ferriss's "The 4-Hour Work Week" and Mr. Money Mustache's "The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement."

We both got to FI by maximizing one thing: the gap.

In the podcast interview, we cover the American Nightmare, cashflow FI vs. nest egg FI, the big three, mentors, and how losing his dad at 21 quietly became his fuel.

But like always, I closed out the interview by asking Cody for his tips on fitness, money, and life.

Here's what he gave us:

FIT — Do Hard Shit

Cody’s fitness and health tip was simple:

Do competitions or challenges.

He recently completed a HYROX competition in Spain, which combines running with strength-based fitness.

He also did a 100,000-step day with our friend James Lowry.

That is roughly 50 miles in one day.

They started at 4:30 in the morning and finished around 9:00 at night.

That is wild.

But Cody’s point was not that everyone needs to sign up for HYROX or walk 50 miles in a day.

His point was that hard challenges wake something up inside of you.

When you are just going through the motions, it is easy to get complacent.

You might still be going to the gym.

You might still be doing your cardio.

You might still be checking the box.

But without a goal that stretches you, your energy can get flat.

A challenge gives your training a reason.

A competition gives your body a mission.

A hard physical pursuit gives you access to another gear.

I have felt this deeply over the last year through pickleball.

When I started playing pickleball, I remembered something I had forgotten about myself:

I love to compete.

I played soccer from third grade through twelfth grade.

Competition was a huge part of my life.

And when I discovered pickleball, it tapped me back into that energy.

I am 100% okay when I lose a game.

But I want to win.

That desire brings something alive in me.

And that is the magic of competition.

It does not have to be toxic.

It does not have to be ego-driven.

It can be a sacred form of striving.

The word "compete" comes from the Latin competere — "to strive together." That's exactly what it feels like on the court.

That is beautiful.

Whether it is pickleball, HYROX, a 5K, a strength challenge, a hiking goal, a martial arts class, a dance performance, a step challenge, or simply committing to 10 workouts in the next 14 days, give your body something to rise for.

Your body is not just meant to be maintained.

It is meant to be expressed.

It is meant to be challenged.

It is meant to be used.

If life feels dull, go do something hard.

If your energy feels flat, create a challenge.

If your fitness feels stagnant, sign up for something that scares you a little.

Hard things reveal strong parts of you that comfort keeps hidden.

RICH — Systems Beat Willpower

Cody's money tip was one of my favorite principles:

Systems consistently beat willpower.

I could not agree more.

Cody has his financial life heavily automated. His investing happens automatically. His retirement accounts get funded. His money moves where it needs to go — without relying on motivation, memory, or willpower.

That's how you win with money.

You stop trying to manually force yourself to make good decisions every month. You build a system that makes the good decision automatic.

And one of the most powerful systems you can build is tracking your savings rate.

Your savings rate is the percentage of your income you keep, save, invest, or use to pay down debt. Cody calls it "the gap" — the distance between what you earn and what you spend. I call it the golden metric. Same exact thing. Different name.

And that gap is the engine of financial independence.

Most people track their spending and then feel bad about where their money went. Tracking your savings rate flips it. It gives you a target to improve.

It turns wealth building into a game.

Can I beat last month? Can I push my gap from 20% to 30%? Can I get to 50% or more?

When I discovered financial independence, tracking my savings rate became the simplest, most powerful system in my life.

I did not need a complicated spreadsheet. I did not need to be a math genius. I just needed to know how much money came in, how much went out, and how much was left over to invest.

I tracked it in a simple Apple Note. At the end of every month, I calculated income minus expenses, divided by income to get my golden metric (my savings rate). And the only rule was: beat last month.

That number changed everything.

Because what gets tracked gets improved. And what gets improved compounds.

This is why savings rate tracking is not just a metric. It's a system.

It gives you awareness. It gives you feedback. It gives you a scoreboard. It gives you a monthly moment of truth.

Did I win every month? No. Some months life happened and the number dipped.

But I played to win every single month — and playing to win every month is what made me win every year.

That's why I rocketed from $80K in debt to millionaire in two years.

And once you have that scoreboard, you can start optimizing the biggest levers. Housing. Transportation. Food. Income. Investing. Debt payoff. Automation.

Cody understood this early. He ruthlessly optimized the big three — housing, transportation, and food. He didn't upgrade his living situation. He kept driving a paid-off car. He was intentional with groceries and eating out. He kept his cost of living incredibly low while growing his income and stacking side hustles.

That gave him a massive gap. And that gap gave him freedom.

(Same instinct is why I dumped the Range Rover bleeding me $3.5K+ a year in repairs and maintenance, and bought a used Toyota Prius I still drive today as a multimillionaire. Fewer decisions. More gap.)

Most people obsess over the tiny details of investing before they master the biggest drivers of wealth. They debate index funds versus real estate versus digital products versus side hustles before they have a meaningful amount of money to invest.

But early in the journey, the only question that matters is:

How much money can I consistently direct toward wealth-building assets?

That's the game. And systems make the game easier to win.

Track your savings rate. Automate your investing. Automate your debt payoff. Automate your transfers.

Then use your mental energy for the higher-leverage stuff. Grow your income. Build your skills. Negotiate your compensation. Start a business. Sell more. Create something valuable. Serve people better.

Don't rely on willpower.

Build the system.

LIFE — Have A Monthly Life Meeting

Cody and his wife Lauren hold a monthly meeting — and record a year-end video every December.

They've done it since 2019.

They run through the same categories every time: money, real estate, health & fitness, travel, relationships, a "random" bucket, and goals for next month.

I told Cody on the air — this is a Fit Rich Life MARRIAGE habit.

Most couples do not struggle from a lack of love. They struggle from a lack of communication.

They don't talk about money until there's a problem. They don't talk about goals until resentment builds. They don't talk about what they want until they're already frustrated. They don't talk about the life they're building together until they realize they've been drifting in different directions.

A monthly meeting fixes that.

It creates a rhythm of alignment. It gives the relationship a container. It makes communication proactive instead of reactive.

It turns money from a source of tension into a shared project. It turns goals from private thoughts into a shared vision. It turns the relationship into something you are consciously building together.

I've been with Carly for 12.5 years, married almost 5. And I'm still actively working on my communication with her. We try things, we fumble, we get a little better. That ongoing effort is exactly why our marriage gets richer every year.

But a structured monthly check-in — where money is just a normal item on the agenda instead of a landmine you tiptoe around?

That's next level.

And here's the truth most people avoid: money is one of the top reasons marriages fall apart. Not because couples don't have enough of it — but because they never actually talk about it.

Cody and Lauren built FI together, in lockstep, because they knew exactly where they were every month and where they were going together the next month.

And the year-end video? Speaking your goals out loud, on camera, then watching it back twelve months later?

That's identity work disguised as a date night.

The best part is you don't need a complicated structure.

You can start with three questions: What's going well? What needs attention? What do we want to create next?

That alone can open up powerful conversations.

And if you want to go deeper, use Cody and Lauren's categories: money, health & fitness, travel, relationships, a "random" bucket, and goals for next month.

The point is not to make the meeting perfect.

The point is to create a regular rhythm where you get on the same page so that you can continue to move forward together.

Because a rich life is not built by accident. A rich marriage is not built by accident. A rich family is not built by accident. A rich year is not built by accident.

You build it by paying attention. You build it by communicating. You build it by reflecting.

You build it by proactively designing the life you want to create together.

ACTION — Build The Life You Want

Pick one thing to upgrade this week:

1. CHALLENGE YOUR BODY

Sign up for something that forces you to rise. A race. A HYROX. A pickleball tournament. A hiking challenge. A 30-day step goal. A strength benchmark. A competition or challenge does not need to be extreme. It just needs to give your body a mission. Hard things wake up strong parts of you that comfort keeps hidden.

2. AUTOMATE YOUR MONEY SYSTEM

Do not rely on willpower to build wealth. Create the system. Automate the transfer. Automate the investment. Automate the debt payoff. Automate the savings. Track your savings rate. Your future freedom is built by the money decisions you make repeatedly. The easier you make the right move, the more likely you are to make it.

3. SCHEDULE A MONTHLY LIFE MEETING

Pick a day this month to sit down with your partner, spouse, family, or even yourself. Talk through money, health, work, travel, relationships, goals, and what needs attention. Life does not improve by accident. Alignment is built through honest, repeated conversations. Put it on the calendar and make it sacred.

Then listen to the full conversation with Cody Berman so you can:

• Hear how Cody hit financial independence at 25 years old.

• Learn why the gap between your income and expenses is one of the most powerful wealth-building metrics.

• Understand why cashflow FI can be one of the fastest paths to freedom.

• Hear how Cody used side hustles, real estate, digital products, and index fund investing to build wealth.

• Learn why competitions and challenges can unlock a new level of physical energy.

• Understand why systems beat willpower when it comes to building wealth.

• Get inspired to build a life where work becomes optional and freedom becomes the foundation.

Listen here:

🎧 Spotify | 🍎 Apple | ▶️ YouTube | 🌐 Web​

To your health, wealth, and happiness,

— Justin David Carl