you're going to begin to see the headaches go away, you're going to see the weight drop off,
you're going to see new energy flowing into your bloodstream because you're going to start
to work out. So try it, go for it, Habit 8 is worth the effort.
So today we're talking about Habit 8 and I've got my book here and I'm so excited about
this habit because it's made such a difference in my life. When we talk about the idea
of doing the hard things and we talk about the idea of learning to work out your problems,
those kind of go together. So Habit 2 and Habit 8 kind of coalesce together at least in my mind
they do because the reality is most people don't want to work out. So when I think about working
out your problems I'm literally talking about working out and recently Liz and I were up at
our cabin up in Colorado in the mountains and it was a big snowstorm that hit maybe three or four
inches and I got up in the morning I was so excited to shovel the driveway and I love shoveling. It's
just one of those natural physical exercise things that I like and I would say living in Colorado
I get plenty of opportunity and we live out in the forest. We live on some acreage out where
our main house is and so I'm oftentimes cutting wood with a chainsaw and splitting it. So I am a
big believer in this I'll just start off by saying this that there's natural ways to stay in shape
without going to the gym. You don't have to go to the gym and what I see a lot of folks that are
getting a little bit older doing is sitting down or watching tv or being on the internet or whatever
they're doing from a seated position for most of their day and they're starting to gain weight
and they're gaining weight because there's not enough movement in their life. For example I have
an atv this atv I plow the road with we have about a half a mile of road that when it snows I get out
and I use the atv to plow the road. I enjoy that it's great but that atv also has a wagon has a
connection on the back that many times I've used when I've cut and split wood in some of the woods
in my on my property to drive it back to the fire pit or to the front porch and what I've done over
the years is switch that out and I don't even use the atv for stuff like that because it's more
valuable to me to carry that wood from where I split it back to the house. It might be a 200 yard
walk with wood in my arms but what a great workout I mean what a fabulous workout right there doing
something that's very natural and even in your house anything from vacuuming to sweeping to
shoveling to working outside on your yard or whatever it might be I really encourage you to
stay active stay active. Here's what the statistics show in the research that you'll find in the book
is that your nutritionist your physical therapist and the scientists and doctors that are out there
that care about your physical health are all saying the same thing they're saying that the number one
way to oxygenate your brain the number one way to be cognitively sharp and decisive in your decision
making and the number one way for continuing to grow and increase your IQ is called neuroplasticity
continuing to grow your brain is through physical exercise whether it be aerobic or anaerobic
exercise it's so valuable so one of the habits that I believe is crucial to your life spiritually
mentally emotionally even relationally is the physical workout that you do every day now I'm a
big believer in working out six out of seven days of the week now there's all kinds of different
opinions on that there's there's great points with each one and I think most I think they vary from
three three to six days a week they encourage people to work out I work out every day but one
day usually that's on Monday I don't work out Sunday is kind of a taxing day because I'm speaking
a lot so sometimes I don't want to get up and just jump right into a workout that's my study day too
the reality of how do we stay sharp mentally is probably one of the
of the biggest questions for folks that are getting older.
So if you're in any way, say, I would say like 40 and above,
you have to start thinking about and considering the fact
that it's really, really important
that you continue to increase your IQ, grow your brain,
stay sharp, be decisive in your decision-making
throughout your life.
And reading is powerfully important.
Meditation, powerfully important.
Prayer, powerfully important.
All those habits that I've talked about in the book
are so important, but too many times we forget
that literally exercise, working out,
has one of the key components
of building the neurotransmitters in your brain
continually through the oxygenation of your brain
through working out.
So if you don't work out, that's fine, but start.
Start with something.
And I like to say a little done a lot
is better than a lot done a little.
So we have a lot of people
that are sort of the New Year's resolution types,
and you may be one of those.
I certainly was one of those, nothing wrong with that.
That's not really how we begin to develop a new habit.
I would say that what is it, the question to ask
is what is it that you like to do already
that's physical?
Now for me, I already said it, I like shoveling snow.
I've always found that to be really invigorating.
I like to be out in the cold, not all day,
but I like to be in the cold for a little while.
And it just brightens my day
to do something physical like that.
And as I said before, I like to split wood.
I've always enjoyed cutting with a chainsaw
and then splitting with an ax the wood that I cut.
I've always enjoyed pushups.
Pushups and sit-ups have always been easy for me to do.
And so it's kind of a natural gifting maybe
from my gymnastics days, I don't know,
but I've always enjoyed that.
I've always enjoyed pull-ups.
I think pull-ups are a blast to do.
So to get started,
you've got to find a few things that you like to do.
Because when you find what you like to do
is a bigger chance you're gonna continue to do it.
And then do just a small amount.
Don't do a lot.
And just do a few things one day
and then repeat it the next day.
That's how you get started.
That's how you build a habit.
So I can tell you that during COVID,
which was really a big,
that was a big part of the turning point in my life
in valuing physical exercise more
because I had more time on my hands for a period of time,
was I would get up and I would do a certain number.
I'm not gonna even tell you what the numbers are
because everybody's different on this,
but I would do a certain number of push-ups.
I would do a certain number of sit-ups, like crunches.
And then I would get up
and I would do a certain number of air squats.
That's all I did.
That's all I did was those three things.
And then I did five sets of whatever the number was.
So let's just say for you,
you can do five push-ups and five crunches
and five air squats, then do that.
Do that 10 times, do that five times.
And then the next morning you go,
well, that wasn't really that hard.
Well, then increase it to seven or eight.
But the point is not the number.
The point is you did it the next day
and the next day and the next day and the next day,
because that's how we start to grow in a stronger body
and the building up of our immune system
is finding something we can consistently do.
Now, I began to graduate into a machine.
It was like a Gold's Gym is what it's called.
And it's kind of like a universal set,
which has the bench press on it,
pull down on it, leg raise, all that stuff.
There's like eight different things you can do.
So I bought one of those, spent the money, bought it,
and I put it in a room and that's my workout room.
I've got a mat that goes on the floor.
So I do stuff on the mat,
like crunches and push-ups and things like that.
And then I got little 20, see 20, 25,
and 30 pound dumbbells for curls.
And as you can tell, I don't do heavy weights at all.
At my age, I think it's more important to do a lot of reps
than to do a lot of weight,
but you may be different because you're younger.
So that's what I'm saying.
The habit here is to work out.
And when you read the chapter.
it gives you all these different reasons why working out so important I'm not
going to cover that here but you can see that you can see what such notable
personalities as Robert F. Kennedy jr. Jordan Peterson and others who you've
probably seen on TED talks I quote all of them about the value of working out
so enjoy that chapter it's gonna it's gonna change some of your lives that
you're gonna begin to see the headaches go away you're gonna see the weight
drop-off you're gonna see new energy flowing into your bloodstream because
you're going to start to work out so try it go for it
habit eight is worth the effort god bless you