Maintain A Fitness Identity During Travel, This Is What Money Is For, Leave Room For Magic To Unfold | FRLN 141

I’ve been on the road since September 4th.

Santa Ynez.

Santa Barbara.

Now Huntington Beach.

And next up: Palm Springs for FinCon.

This road trip started as a family trip with Carly. We spent time with her family in Santa Ynez, then headed to Santa Barbara together.

This past Friday (9/11), I drove down to Huntington Beach to spend a few days with my father-in-law Garth. Carly stayed behind for the day to visit an alpaca farm with her friend Sarah before driving back to our home in Santa Cruz.

I'll be here in Huntington Beach until tomorrow (Tuesday 9/15). Then I'll make the roughly two-hour drive to Palm Springs. I'll be in the scorching hot desert through Monday (9/21) before making the long drive back home to Santa Cruz.

Over the past week, I've been reminded of something:

A great life needs structure. But it also needs flexibility.

Your routines are going to get disrupted. Your plans are going to change. The gym might be closed. It might be too freaking hot to play pickleball. You might stay out late at a silent disco on the beach with friends.

And sometimes the thing you planned to do gets replaced by something even better.

The goal isn't to create a life so perfectly optimized that everything falls apart the moment you leave your normal environment.

It's to build habits, finances, and relationships strong enough to bend without breaking.

That's what this road trip has been teaching me.

Let's dive in.

FIT — Maintain A Fitness Identity (during travel)

Every day of this road trip I've either worked out or played pickleball.

But almost none of it has looked like my normal routine at home.

And that's the point.

When we were staying in Santa Ynez, I found pickleball in Solvang and got to play with the local community. Then Sunday rolled around and I couldn't find a gym that was open.

Thankfully, because we're road-tripping, I had thrown some kettlebells in the car. I turned our Airbnb into my gym and got in a solid 75-minute kettlebell workout.

Monday (9/7) was checkout day, and I was also finishing last week's newsletter. I didn't have enough time to go find pickleball, so I went for a two-mile run instead.

I ran past olive farms and vineyards through the rolling hills of Santa Ynez.

And yes, I'm 12 years sober.

Turns out you can still appreciate the beauty of wine country without drinking the wine.

Then Carly & I moved on to Santa Barbara.

Tuesday (9/8) morning I found the local pickleball hotspot everyone calls Muni — 16 courts packed with players — and played for two to three hours.

Then something cool happened.

I had posted on Threads that I was going to be in Santa Barbara, and a guy named Shadoe Fox reached out and generously invited me to use his gym, Key 2 Fitness, for free.

It was an awesome gym. I liked it so much that I trained there Wednesday (9/9) and went back again Friday (9/11).

Thursday (9/10) I returned to Muni with plans to play another few hours of pickleball. The problem was that I got there later than I should have and it was too freaking hot.

Could I have forced myself to keep going after an hour?

Probably.

Would that have been smart?

Nope.

So I listened to my body and called it.

Then Friday (9/11), I headed south to Huntington Beach to stay with Garth for a few days. Saturday (9/12) I played about two and a half hours at Goldenwest Pickleball, and Sunday (9/13) I hit 24 Hour Fitness for another strength workout.

Different cities. Different gyms. Different courts. Different workouts.

Same identity: I'm someone who moves my body.

That's the important part.

Fitness doesn't need to mean doing the exact same workout, at the exact same gym, at the exact same time, 6 days per week. That's a routine, and routines can be fragile. Change the environment and suddenly people don't know what to do.

I prefer to think of fitness as an identity and lifestyle.

No gym? Use kettlebells.

No pickleball? Go for a run.

Only have an hour? Move for an hour.

It's brutally hot and your body is telling you it's had enough? Call it.

Consistency doesn't mean rigidity.

The modality can change. The identity stays the same.

I've done the same thing with my nutrition. I literally brought a giant bag of protein with me on this road trip.

Every morning before my physical activity I've been having essentially the same breakfast I've eaten since the beginning of June: 50 grams of plant protein, 10 grams of spirulina protein, 20–30 grams of beetroot powder, a heaping tablespoon of chia seeds, and a piece of fruit.

The powders get mixed with water. The chia seeds get dry scooped.

Is it the sexiest vacation breakfast in the world?

Absolutely not.

But it works for me.

I don't need to wake up every morning and search for a healthy high-protein breakfast. I brought one of my nutritional anchors with me.

And that's my biggest travel fitness recommendation:

Bring your anchors with you.

You can't bring your entire home environment on vacation. But you can bring enough of it to stay grounded.

Maybe that's protein powder, running shoes, resistance bands, a kettlebell, a nationwide gym membership, or simply the identity that says:

I'm going to find a fun way to move my body today.

Build a fitness lifestyle flexible enough to travel with you.

RICH — This Is What Money Is For

Our first stop on this road trip was special.

We stayed at an incredibly beautiful property in Santa Ynez overlooking a vineyard and the rolling hills. There was even a giant field of agave plants on the property.

But my favorite part came every evening.

As the sun began dropping behind the hills, golden light would pour across the vineyard. The entire landscape would glow.

It was stunning.

But we weren't there simply because we wanted to stay in a beautiful Airbnb.

We were there for family.

This year would have been my father-in-law Garth and his wife Debi's 50th wedding anniversary.

Debi passed away a couple of months ago.

So Carly and I joined Garth, Carly's sister, her husband, and their kids at this beautiful home to commemorate their 50 years together.

We explored Solvang and the surrounding area. We ate together. We watched the sunsets. We spent time together. We remembered Debi.

And we supported one another through what has been an incredibly difficult chapter for our family.

I knew Debi for well over 15 years and had an incredible relationship with her. A few months before she passed, I dedicated Fit Rich Life Newsletter 124 to her.

I'm incredibly grateful that I got to read it to her while she was still here.

One of the lessons I wrote about was something Debi embodied:

Use your financial resources to enrich the lives of the people you love.

This past week felt like living that lesson.

Because this is what the money is for.

It's easy to forget that when you're building wealth. Save. Invest. Increase your income. Max out your retirement accounts. Buy index funds. Increase your savings rate. Watch the net worth climb.

I did that for years.

And I'm incredibly grateful I did because those boring financial decisions created the freedom I have today.

But eventually you have to remember why you were doing all of it.

The goal was never to die with the biggest number on a spreadsheet. The goal was to build a fit rich life.

And sometimes that means spending money.

On a beautiful house where your family can gather. On travel. On experiences. On the people you love. On creating memories while everyone is still here to create them with.

There was a season of my life when one of my primary financial questions was:

How much can I save and invest?

These days I'm increasingly interested in another question:

How can I intelligently convert a healthy portion of my money into a life of rich experiences?

That doesn't mean blowing your retirement account on luxury vacations. You still need to save, invest, and prepare for tomorrow.

But don't become so obsessed with preparing for the future that you forget to live today.

I've said this before:

Stop maximizing net worth. Start maximizing net life.

This week was another reminder of what that actually looks like.

Money paid for the Airbnb. But money wasn't what made those days special.

The sunsets. The conversations. The laughter. Exploring together. Remembering Debi. Supporting Garth. Being there for Carly and her family.

The people were the point.

One of the greatest things money can buy is the freedom to be there.

And once you're there, money becomes almost irrelevant.

LIFE — Leave Room For Magic To Unfold

Thursday (9/10) didn't go according to plan, and I'm glad it didn't.

The night before, Carly and I met up with one of her best friends, Sarah, who moved to Santa Barbara a couple months ago. We went to a silent disco party on the beach and had an awesome night, which also meant I was NOT waking up at the crack of dawn Thursday to play pickleball.

I got to Muni later than I should have, and it was HOT & HUMID AF. I wanted to play for a few hours, but after about an hour my body was telling me it was time to call it.

Initially, I was a little bummed. I love pickleball, and I wanted to play more.

But instead of forcing the original plan, I let it go.

And that's when the day opened up.

Carly, Sarah, and I headed down to Carpinteria. We explored town, had an awesome lunch, got coffee, and walked through the farmers market, where Sarah's boyfriend was working. He's a beekeeper, so we bought some of his honey and beeswax bars of soap.

Then we went to the beach and spent a few hours in the sun. We swam in the Pacific, hung out, talked, laughed, and had an awesome afternoon together.

At some point I realized:

This is a freaking great day.

If you'd asked me that morning what the ideal Thursday looked like, I probably would have told you 3-4 hours of pickleball. Instead, I got an hour of pickleball AND an afternoon exploring a new town, eating good food, wandering through a farmers market, swimming in the ocean, and spending quality time with my wife and friends.

The day became better when I stopped trying to force it to look the way I had initially imagined.

Sometimes you have to leave room for the magic to unfold.

That can be hard for people like me.

I'm an optimizer by nature. I track things. I set goals. I follow a specific strength training program every week. I optimize my finances. I monitor my health. I build routines and systems because I know they work.

And I'm not going to stop doing those things. Structure helps us create better lives.

But structure needs space around it.

Some of the best things in life can't be optimized in advance. You can't schedule the exact conversation that makes you laugh until your stomach hurts. You can't put the perfect sunset on your calendar. You can't predict the person on Threads who's going to generously invite you to an awesome gym.

You can't plan every friendship, every adventure, every swim in the ocean, every random farmers market, or every unexpected experience that ends up becoming one of your favorite memories from a trip.

Magic needs a little room to breathe.

There's also a funny paradox here for those of us pursuing financial independence. We spend years optimizing our income, savings rate, investing, careers, and businesses because we're trying to create more freedom.

Then we finally get the freedom...

...and immediately start optimizing the freedom.

Every hour gets scheduled. Every workout gets tracked. Every dollar gets allocated. Every trip gets planned. Every day gets an itinerary.

At some point you have to ask:

Did I build all this freedom so I could create another rigid schedule for myself?

I don't think the answer is to abandon structure. I think it's to build enough structure that you can safely loosen your grip.

Your habits keep you healthy. Your money gives you options. Your calendar has enough structure but also has plenty of white space.

You say yes to the silent disco. You sleep a little later. You play an hour of pickleball instead of three. You explore the town you've never been to. You swim in the ocean. You follow the day where it wants to go.

And sometimes that's where the magic happens.

Don't optimize the magic out of your life.

You can't schedule all of the best moments.

Leave enough space for some of them to find you.

ACTION — Build A Life That Bends

Pick one below to build a better life:

FIT — Identify your anchors. If you had to leave home tomorrow for 2-3 weeks, what 2–3 habits would keep you feeling like yourself? Maybe it's strength training, protein, and 10,000 steps. Don't try to replicate your entire routine. Maintain the identity.

RICH — Spend on something you deeply value. Not mindlessly. Intentionally. Use some of your money to create an experience, buy back time, or enrich the life of someone you love.

LIFE — Create space for magic. Leave a few hours unscheduled this week. Go somewhere. Explore. Say yes to something unexpected. Stop trying to control exactly how the experience unfolds and see what finds you.

A great life needs structure.

But it also needs flexibility.

Your plans will change. Your environment will change. Your body will change. Your finances will change. Your relationships will change. Your season of life will change.

Build habits strong enough to bend.

Build wealth that gives you options.

And build a life spacious enough for magic to unfold.

Because the goal isn't to execute the perfect plan.

The goal is to live a great life.

To your health, wealth, and happiness,

— Justin David Carl

P.S. My good friend Kevin is meeting me at FinCon in Palm Springs, and we're rooming together through Monday (9/21). The conference ends Saturday, so we're sticking around for a couple extra days afterward to explore before I make the long drive back to Santa Cruz. If you've got a favorite pickleball spot, gym, hike, restaurant, or must-do experience in Palm Springs, hit reply and send it my way.