Waste not your days in idleness

“Ye lads whose age is fitted for reading,” Alcuin said, “learn! The years go by like running water. Waste not the teachable days in idleness!” 

The years do pass by like an ever-flowing stream. 

And you're faced with one sobering reality—your days are numbered and you don’t how many you’ll get. 

So why waste them? 

Why spend them binging on entertainment and frivolous pursuits, when bigger, better and greater things are calling? 

You want to squeeze every drop you can out of life. To be the best and most remarkable version of yourself you can muster. 

You don’t slack and take your eye off the ball on purpose, it’s just the easiest thing to do.

One compromise here or there, and you slowly drift into idleness. 

You must fight compromise and idleness at every turn, especially on things that seem insignificant. That’s where your battle is won or lost. 

Big things are easy. It’s the small things that don’t appear the matter that in the end matter most of all. 

Reading is like that. It is a small habit that avoiding or forgetting doesn’t appear to impact your life today. And one day without reading doesn’t set your course for destruction and ruin. The problem comes when one day turns into two, and two becomes three, and so on and so forth until you look up one fine day and realize all the opportunities to learn and grow you've missed. 

It’s the same with what diet, exercise and a whole host of tiny habits and routines that don’t appear important on the surface. Their magic isn’t found in the days work, but in the compounding effect, they’ll have if you’re consistent over time. 

So stick to the path. 

Stay the course. 

Don’t allow slack and idleness to creep into your easy chair. In fact, throw out your easy chair and get after it because seizing the day ain’t easy. 

It takes constant vigilance to hold the line on even the tiniest of things.    

Who's Responsible For Your Health?

Your health is your responsibility. It’s not mine, your neighbor’s or the government's. 

It is 100% yours. 

You are responsible for it. 

Don’t shrug off that responsibility or give it away. 

Own it. 

After all, you’re the one who has to live with it day in and day out. 

The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can start making the changes necessary to ensure that you’re in the best possible shape. 

Before you get to the changes in diet, exercise, and routine, you’ve got to tackle this change of mindset. 

As long as you think your health is someone else’s responsibility you’ll never grow or improve. In short, you’ll be stuck with the same health issues you’ve always had. 

Why Don't We Eat What We Know We Should?

Your health and life aren’t determined by what you know, but rather by what you actually do. Knowledge is great but it’s the actions you take that matter more. No area is this more apparent than in what we eat.  

We know most of our food should come from good, whole, nutritious sources. Things like fruits, veggies, and whole grains. 

We also know that we should avoid processed meats and foods. Things like pecan wheels, Oreos, and deli meat. 

But we don’t. At least not on a large scale. 

And many of the illnesses and health issues we face are a direct result. 

“For the first time in history,” Michael Pollan said, “man has created a diet that makes him sick.” 

We know the right things to do, but fail to act. Why? 

The answer: Discipline. 

We lack the discipline to make good food choices.

We lack the strength of will to say, “No,” to the sugary lies the entice us to pick up the donut instead of the apple or hand full of almonds. 

Health, happiness, and fulfillment are often by products on the road to discipline. Take that path. You’ll be glad you did. 

3 Takeaways From Watching What The Health

I sat down to watch What The Health yesterday afternoon. I found it disgusting, shameful and shocking—and not for the reasons you may assume.

For those of you unaware What The Health is the newest in a long line of documentaries discussing the gross and cringeworthy aspects of the American diet. WTH focused their attention on overturning the tables of the meat and dairy industries. 

I’m not here to convince you one way or the other. I don’t think this documentary is the greatest thing ever, or the worst thing imaginable. As with most things, it lands somewhere in the middle. Bottomline: You’re going to have to make up your own mind about the diet choices you make. That’s 100% up to you. 

What I do want to share with you are three takeaways from the film. We can all walk away from this documentary thinking and united on at least three things: 

1. There is a link between what we eat and our health. This isn’t groundbreaking or even new information. Far too few of us make decisions that reflect a deep understanding of this link. I know I haven’t. If we pause long enough to think we’ll see that the link between how we feel, the measure of life we experience and its length are all directly linked to the things we put into our bodies. 

2. There are some serious concerns with the meat industry. The meat, dairy, and egg industries have truly appalling practices that need to be addressed. The issues go far beyond the treatment of animals—which is an issue requiring serious thought and action—to include the items injected into the foods we consume. It is hard to square these practices with what ethics and sanity would call us to.   

3. You must take ownership of your own health. Regardless of where you land on the issue of nutrition and the great meat debate, your health is your responsibility. You can’t sit back, take it easy and pass the buck. Your health is no one else's responsibility. It’s something you have to seize control of. Your choices and decisions are yours to make. Do with them what you will, but don’t blame anyone but yourself for how things turn out.