FRLN44: Staying Injury-Free, The Connection Between Money & Work Happiness, Plus Part Two of My Annual Review (Happiness-Detractors)
Fit Rich Life
Newsletter #44
Weekly Tips, Tools & Strategies to Alchemize your Fitness, Money & Life
Newsletter Archive
“People come into your life for a reason, season, or a lifetime.”
— Unknown
Greetings Fit Rich Fam!
>>read this on my website to bookmark it for later or to view the archive for older editions<<
As I mentioned in the last Newsletter, at the end of the year I like to do an Annual Review.
In this edition of the Fit Rich Life Newsletter, I share another one of my strategies for reflecting upon the year (see below).
I also just released a new podcast interview with Stephanie Joshi, who is also known as @NuttyFoodieFitness on Instagram & YouTube.
It's a great episode for anyone curious about what it takes to become a full-time content creator as well as those who consider themselves to be a foodie while also being highly interested in fitness.
Check out episode 68 of the Fit Rich Life Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you enjoy your podcast entertainment.
Without further ado, let's proactively build your Fit Rich Life.
This is your weekly dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to take your Fitness, Money, and Life to the Next Level.
FITNESS: Focus is key to staying injury-free.
I injured my lower back while doing split squat single-arm kettlebell swings last week.
During the exercise, I was ruminating on some challenges a family member was going through instead of being dialed into my body and keeping my core tight.
It was a painful reminder that staying connected to my body during exercise is crucial to staying injury-free, especially when performing complex movements.
Since the injury, I've been taking just a couple of seconds before each exercise to ensure that my mind is connected to my body and that I'm focused on performing the movement with all the right muscles engaged.
Fortunately, at this point in my fitness journey, I am good at continuing to exercise around injuries while giving the injured part of my body the space it needs to heal and as of today my back is about 85% recovered.
MONEY: Maybe you hate your job because your finances are a mess.
When I was $80,000 in Debt and 6 years behind on my taxes I hated my 9-5 job.
It felt like no matter how hard I worked I couldn't get ahead.
I felt like I was stuck doing work that wasn't truly what I wanted to be doing (because I was secretly dreaming of being a Podcaster and an Online Coach).
Then I started working with Sales, Career, and Money Mentors/Coaches and started to get my financial house in order.
As I started working with these professionals I began to clean up my money situation.
With their help, I proactively worked to get my expenses under control.
As I got my expenses under control I started to create a gap between my earnings and expenses.
Then with their support, I doubled down and strategically worked to increase my earnings while keeping my expenses as low as possible.
The money started piling up in my savings account over the months.
Eventually, I had so much money saved up that I literally paid off all of my Debt in one weekend.
It was liberating AF.
I also got all my taxes up to date with the help of a professional.
After I was caught up on my taxes and finally debt-free I started plowing as much money as possible into the stock market.
I started tracking my Net Worth and was able to see it steadily climb each month.
As my Net Worth grew my engagement with my 9-5 grew along with it as I was utilizing it become more free.
I went from hating my 9-5 to loving my 9-5 as it was “the main thing” that was powering me to Financial Freedom.
Ultimately, what I learned is that it was the dire financial situation that made me feel trapped, not my 9-5 job.
As my financial situation improved my work-life satisfaction improved.
Once I got my finances in order and started using my 9-5 to proactively grow my freedom I fell in love with the work which made me earn even more at an even faster rate which in turn powered me to Financial Independence even faster.
So, if you feel like you hate your 9-5 job start using it as a vehicle to create financial freedom and I bet the more financially strong you become the more you will like your job (and the better you will get at it).
LIFE: Reflect on your biggest happiness-detractors from the past year.
This is another part of my annual review that I started doing a few years ago.
By reviewing the things that detracted from my happiness over the prior year I can consciously & proactively design a better upcoming year by taking one of three options:
(1) Remove the happiness-detractor.
(2) Reduce the happiness-detractor.
(3) Recontextualize my relationship to the happiness-detractor.
Here are a few of my biggest happiness-detractors from 2023 & what I'm doing going forward:
(1) Feeling too much pressure from my Business Partner to grow Fit Rich Life Coaching.
I took the remove approach with this one.
Since I am already financially independent my desire to grow my coaching practice at the cost of my life satisfaction is not what I am interested in.
My (now former) business partner is still working towards financial independence so we decided to amicably part ways so I can grow my coaching business at the speed & intensity that works well for me while he continues to grow his businesses at the speed and intensity that works for him.
I consider myself lucky & am deeply grateful for the fact that the two of us were able to come to an agreement that worked for both of us while remaining great friends. If it wasn’t for my former business partner I may have never brought this coaching dream alive.
He and I now both help others build their coaching programs so reach out to me if this is something you’d like to bring alive in the new year.
(2) Being overwhelmed by challenges that arose for some of my family members.
I have been proactively working to recontextualize this one.
Over the last year working with my own coach I identified that there was a part of me that held the limiting belief that I cannot truly be happy, healthy & thriving if someone in my family is suffering.
This is a terrible limiting belief because suffering is par for the course in the human experience and throughout any given year there will surely be times when family members are suffering.
My new empowering belief is that the more happy, healthy, thriving & radiant I am the more I can be of service to my family when they are suffering.
(3) Pushing myself too hard with work & exercise to the point of feeling physically unwell.
I am taking the "reduce" approach with this one.
Cultivating balance between my output & rejuvenation has been something I've been working on for a while now and with age (and maybe some hardwon wisdom) I am getting better at this.
With my exercise, I will take 1-3 active recovery days where I just do very easy cardio, foam rolling & stretching in accordance to how my body is feeling during any given week.
This changes week to week depending on how hard I'm pushing myself with work & my exercise and by intuitively listening to my body I am getting better about not pushing myself to breakdown.
In your own life, what were the biggest happiness-detractors over the last year?
And how can you remove, reduce, or recontextualize them to have an even better life in the coming year?
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I am sending you all lots of Energy & plenty of Dragon Magic!
Your Fitness, Money & Life Coach,
Justin David Carl
Check out episode 68 of the Fit Rich Life Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you enjoy your podcast entertainment.
Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
1. I run a custom-tailored 1-1 & group mastermind coaching program that will empower you to achieve your dream body, master your money & live your best life. Yup, it's a proven Fitness, Money and Life Coaching Program unlike anything else out there. You can book a free consultation with me here or just drop me a note on Instagram to find a time to connect.
2. If you work in an office introduce me to whoever handles your office snacks, catering & employee experience to take your work wellbeing to the next level. I'm a founding member of Garten, a tech-empowered employee experience & wellbeing platform that top companies utilize to power their most important asset (their people). Email me at >>justin@garten.co<< to set up a meeting.