You’re Responsible for Managing Your Money
“Don’t be like a ship at sea without a rudder, powerless and directionless. Decide what you want, find out how to get it, and then take daily action toward achieving your goal. You will get exactly and only what you ask and work for. Make up your mind today what is it you want and start today to go after it! Do It Now!” ~ Napoleon Hill
When you understand that you alone are responsible for managing your money and building wealth, everything changes. It’s not up to the government or your neighbor—it’s all on you.
Take control and make it happen.
It is ultimately the choices and actions you take with your money that have the greatest impact on your financial well-being.
It is about developing disciplined spending and saving habits, being responsible with debt, making wise investment decisions, and exhibiting patience and long-term thinking when it comes to financial goals.
Start by thinking about your end financial goal. What is the number (amount needed for retirement) you are aiming for? Once you have that number in mind, consider what actions you need to take now to make it a reality. If you’re unable to invest a lot right now, think about what steps you can take to change that situation.
Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable tasks, and you’ll be surprised at how much progress you can make.
Even if you cannot afford to invest $1,000 monthly, do not allow that to discourage you from investing. Beginning with more modest amounts such as $25, $50, or $100 can be a great starting point. It is crucial to make investing a priority, no matter how little, and then gradually increase your investments as time goes by.
When striving to build wealth and for financial freedom, don’t forget the importance of maintaining good health. True wealth is not only the freedom to pursue personal goals, but also the presence of good health. Without good health, financial freedom holds little to no worth.
While a healthy person desires numerous things, a sick person longs for just one: good health.
Quote: Do Something Different
“One of my guiding principles is don’t do anything that other people are doing. Always do something a little different if you can. The concept is that if you do it a little differently there is a greater potential for reward than if you do the same thing that other people are doing. I think that this kind of goal for one’s work, having obviously the maximum risk, would have the maximum reward no matter what the field may be.” ~ Electrical engineer Seymour Cray—who made a number of improvements to computer performance and is often credited with inventing the supercomputing industry—explains his approach to doing groundbreaking work.
Source: Interview with David K. Allison, Smithsonian Institution Computer History Project (May 1995)
Building Wealth & Financial Freedom
Work allows you to earn an income.
Income allows you to purchase assets.
Assets allow you to create wealth.
Wealth allows you to buy freedom.
Defining Wealth
Frequently, when discussing wealth, the importance of good health is overlooked.
Being wealthy means more than just having money—it also means having good health. So, while you’re working hard to build wealth and be financially free, don’t discount the importance of good health.
Wealth is not about having the most expensive possessions, but rather having the freedom to do what you want, feeling joy and contentment in life, and being healthy. This is the best definition and meaning of wealth.
Elephant and Limiting Belief
The first trick an elephant trainer teaches an elephant is not to escape.
When the elephant is still but a baby, the trainer chains the infant’s leg to a huge log, so when/if the elephant tries to escape, the log proves stronger and he gives up. Eventually the elephant becomes so used to its captivity, that even when it has grown huge and strong, all the trainer has to do is merely tie a rope around the elephant’s leg to anything – even a peg and the elephant won’t even try to escape. It has become a prisoner of its past.
“The Elephant Rope” is a story about limiting beliefs. The elephants were conditioned from a young age to believe that they could not break free from the rope. As a result, the elephants never tried to gain freedom again, even when they were fully grown and capable of doing so.
Moral of the story: Limiting beliefs can hold us back from reaching our full potential. We may have been conditioned by our past experiences or beliefs to believe that we cannot achieve something, but in reality, we may be more capable than we think. By breaking free from our limiting beliefs and challenging ourselves, we can achieve great things.
Source: https://www.notsalmon.com/2015/04/29/limiting-beliefs/
Autophagy
Autophagy is your body’s rejuvenation process that can be turned on by fasting.
Autophagy is our body’s natural recycling process, a system our bodies have used for centuries to survive. It is our body’s way of renewing itself. It involves the breakdown of old, damaged cells and renews them into healthier versions of themselves.
Over time, our cells grow old and become more susceptible to damage, which leads to oxidative stress in the body. This occurs when the body is exposed to harmful substances in the environment called free radicals, which can increase the risk of disease and accelerate aging.
Autophagy’s sole purpose in life is to reverse this negative process as much as possible. It is your friend, and is a protective mechanism to preserve the health of your cells and your entire body.
During autophagy, cells identified as being damaged are broken down, destroyed, and parts of them are reused to generate healthy, more high-functioning cells.
This process needs to occur frequently and long enough to achieve its intended benefits. Fortunately, there are ways to induce autophagy more regularly to support healthy aging and longevity.[1] One of the best ways is through fasting.
Autophagy Fasting Benefits
There are multiple autophagy benefits to health, and fasting is one way to help you achieve these benefits more often.[2] This is the case with both intermittent fasting and prolonged fasting methods.
Denying your cells of nutrients when fasting gives your body (and liver) a break from digestion and allows it to focus on cell renewal.
It then begins to locate the damaged cells that need to go, recreating them to become stronger.
Here are a few possible autophagy benefits associated with fasting:[4]
- Decreases oxidative stress that leads to early aging.
- Destroys damaged cells that can cause disease.
- Bolsters the removal of toxins from the body.
- Improves hormonal balance.
- Decreases inflammation.
- Boosts skin health by increasing collagen production.
- Supports proper nerve communication and function, helping your body work more efficiently.
- Promotes the conversion of your food and nutrients into needed energy.
When it comes to your own autophagy fasting timeline and method, it’s important to know yourself and weigh out the pros and cons of starting an autophagy diet plan like fasting.
How to Induce Autophagy By Fasting
Here are a few tips and best practices if you want to start fasting to stimulate autophagy.
Fast for at least 24 hours – While the exact fasting schedule to stimulate autophagy is not yet set in stone, your body needs some time to prepare for autophagy. While some experts say it’s possible to induce autophagy after fasting for 14–18 hours, most research points to at least 24 hours to begin to see a notifiable autophagy effect. For this reason, at least a 24-hour fast with is generally recommended to stimulate autophagy.[5]
Consider extended fasting – It’s possible that more extended fasts of at least 24–48 hours may lead to even bigger autophagic activity. However, this is not easy or necessarily safe for many people to follow.[6] Extended fasting can be especially dangerous for those who take insulin or other medications to manage blood sugar, as this can result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
Add certain foods to speed up the process – There are a few foods you can try to help support the autophagy process during your eating windows. This includes coffee, green tea, turmeric, and polyphenols called ellagitannins and ellagic acid that promote health.[7] These polyphenols break down into Urolithin A
There are other effective (and safe!) ways to induce autophagy that don’t involve drastically changing your diet or eating schedule.
Calorie Restriction
A continuous calorie restriction can provide the same autophagy fasting benefits by “starving” your cells of calories on a more regular basis. You don’t need to go super low on calories to achieve autophagy – just reducing by 10-40% of your maintenance calorie needs can be effective.[8]
To achieve this safely and effectively through this method, it’s best to work with a registered dietitian for guidance.
Exercise
If you need a little extra push to exercise more, let the healthy-aging benefits of autophagy get you going on those unmotivated days. Physical activity has been shown to induce autophagy in muscles, especially after higher intensity exercise like interval training or running.[9]
However, even more prolonged, moderate-intensity exercise like walking produces these same autophagy benefits – you may just have to do it for longer.
Autophagy is your body’s way of self-preserving to delay the aging process, optimize health, and protect you from disease. You hold the tools to induce it more often through your daily habits like fasting, calorie restriction, and exercise.
References:
- Nakamura S, Yoshimori T. Autophagy and Longevity. Mol Cells. 2018 Jan 31;41(1):65-72. doi: 10.14348/molcells.2018.2333. Epub 2018 Jan 23. PMID: 29370695; PMCID: PMC5792715.
- https://www.timelinenutrition.com/blog/autophagy-and-fasting-unleash-the-power-for-optimal-health
Mental Health Awareness Month: Positive Thinking
What you think shapes who you become and where you go.
Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information or expectations due to preconceived ideas of what may happen.
If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you’re likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking.
There are numerous health benefits associated with positive thinking. Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:
- Increased life and health span
- Lower rates of depression
- Lower levels of distress and pain
- Greater resistance to illnesses
- Better psychological and physical well-being
- Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease and stroke
- Reduced risk of death from cancer
- Reduced risk of death from respiratory conditions
- Reduced risk of death from infections
- Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress
It’s unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body.
It’s also thought that positive and optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and don’t smoke or drink alcohol in excess.
References:
Tax Everyone But Me – The Rich
Congress! Congress! “Don’t tax you. Don’t tax me. Tax the guy behind the tree.” ~ U.S. Senator Russell B. Long
Regarding taxing the other guy, “Most people have the same philosophy about taxes,” says U.S. Senator Russell B. Long, (D-LA), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which handles tax legislation.
“All taxes discourage something. Why not discourage bad things like pollution rather than good things like working or investment?” – Lawrence Summers
Making federal tax policy is hard work because virtually any path chosen by Congress will have different impacts on sectors, regions, and tax payers no matter how hard one tries to make it as even-handed as possible.
“It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low, and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the tax rates.” – John F. Kennedy
In recent years, governments seem to have even stopped trying for tax policy neutrality and instead have embarked on tax policy competitiveness—using it as a bribe to entice companies to locate in their territory and as a weapon to punish companies that are either out of favor or attractive targets for easy money, writes William Reinsch, the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” – Winston Churchill
Recently, the European Union has begun to weaponize its tax policy as a search for easy money from foreign (almost entirely American)—marks and a way to disadvantage foreign companies in areas where the Europeans are having a hard time competing. The best current example of this is EU efforts, as well as those of individual member states, to impose a digital services tax (DST), according to Reinsch.
References:
- https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/04/04/tax-tree/
- https://www.csis.org/analysis/dont-tax-me-dont-tax-thee-tax-fellow-behind-tree