Fit Rich Life

Newsletter #20

Weekly Tips, Tools & Strategies to alchemize your Fitness, Money & Life

"When people have a willpower failure, it’s because they haven’t anticipated a situation that’s going to come along." — Charles Duhigg, American Author & Journalist

Greetings my fellow Life Alchemists!

I hope you are celebrating Memorial Day Weekend in a way that has heart & meaning to you.

One of my big goals for age 41 was to take my YouTube presence to the next level. I'm happy to report that I have gone to full video production for the Fit Rich Life Podcast with the release of Episode 50. I shared the mic with fellow entrepreneur & business coach Axel Schura. We cover escaping the 9-5 rat race, traveling the world, building online businesses, adopting an abundant money mindset & even his harrowing adventure overcoming cancer.

Without further ado, let's proactively build your Fit Rich Life—FRL! Your weekly dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to alchemize your Fitness, Money & Life to the Next Level.

FITNESS: Fix your tennis elbow with finger extensions.
I do a lot of weighted chin-ups, pull-ups & heavy rowing exercises. If I am not careful this can lead to debilitating tennis elbow from too much gripping exercise & not enough exercise of the opposing muscles. The opposite of gripping, or closing your hand into a fist to hold something, is opening your hand & fingers as wide as possible. There is a neat little exercise tool called a finger extensor trainer that you can utilize to create resistance against the extension of your fingers. I keep one of these in my car & gym bag and get in several sets a week to keep my elbows healthy.

MONEY: Avoid shopping when you're hungry or tired.
It is incredibly easy to buy a bunch of shit you don't really need if you're hungry or tired. I do my best to avoid going to the grocery store or using grocery delivery services if I'm hungry. Otherwise, I'll end up with less healthy food or more food than I can consume before it goes bad or so much food that it is lost in my pantry for months. I also avoid doing any online shopping on Amazon or other online retailers when I'm hungry or tired. At times I fail to do this and my stop-gap measure is to tell myself that I can put it in my cart, but I can't check out until I sleep on it.

LIFE: Make rules as your most powerful self to protect you from your weakest self.
I feel my most powerful & disciplined self in the morning after a good night of sleep. I call this version of myself "Energized Dragon" or "ED" for short. ED runs the show for about 8-12 hours from waking. The exact number of hours depends on the quality & quantity of sleep I got the night before & how hard I have worked the previous 1-3 days. ED makes high-quality decisions & operates from a place of strength, abundance & faith. Contrast this with my tired, exhausted, or stressed self that usually shows up in the late afternoon & evening and any time I don't get enough sleep. I call him Smaug. Smaug is irritable & gluttonous. Smaug usually operates from a place of anger, greed, fear, or scarcity. I've learned to have ED set rules for fitness, money & life that are non-negotiable for when Smaug shows up. A few examples are (1) after dinner & dessert I immediately brush my teeth & there is no more eating until the next day. (2) I never make any decisions about money if Smaug is present. (3) Any relationship conversations with my wife only happen when ED is present, never when Smaug is running the show. This simple framework protects me from succumbing to my lesser self that will invariably show up & wreak havoc if given the chance. In your own life, try setting some rules as the most powerful version of yourself that are non-negotiable for when the weakest version of yourself shows up.

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Sending you all lots of Energy & plenty of Dragon Magic!

Your Fitness, Money & Life Coach,

Justin "Dragon" Carl