In my opinion your overall health and your overall economic situation determine the lion's share of your quality of life. Quality of life means enjoying life. You and your family are happy, your material needs are met, you don't suffer from constant health distress, and you are in a position to regularly improve your lifestyle. If you aren't sure you're moving in the right direction think about yourself and the family members you are responsible for and ask "Do we currently have fewer health problems, less stress, more options in dealing with challenges, and a more affluent lifestyle than we did 5 years ago?"
Ensuring that you are living a better overall lifestyle 5 years from now actually starts right now with positive healthy behaviors and effective economic decision making. When you make these behaviors part of your current lifestyle you will see small positive changes fairly quickly. Over time you will see dramatic, life-enriching changes for you and your family. Certainly you will agree that the problems and challenges you could face due to poor health or a poor economic situation will result in a less than optimal quality of life for you and your family. So let's review 10 ways to measurably improve your lifestyle just a few years from now. In each category I have listed one of my favorite examples.
Water
There are so many reasons why water should be the cornerstone of your healthy lifestyle. An important reason for me is that a lack of water is the number one reason for daytime fatigue. The reason is that you are dehydrated. So many people don't recognize dehydration. They gauge it by thirst. You don't have to be thirsty to be dehydrated. If you are tired or sluggish there is a good chance you are not getting enough water and you are not working toward your goals at 100%.
Expense prevention and management
So many times I have seen people get in financial trouble because they didn't prepare for problems. Think about it - things such as home repair, health care, and car repair can end up being huge bills if little problems are left unattended. I have a story on my website about a time I was too lazy to blow the leaves out of my gutters. For years all the tree debris built up until eventually the damage from backed up rain water cost me several thousand dollars. Ben Franklin said it best = an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Spend a little bit of money and effort now to avoid potential financial disaster in the future.
Healthy food choices
Whole grains provide stable energy and act like little scrub brushes cleaning your arteries. The cleaner those arteries are the more fresh blood is flowing through your body providing energy creating nutrients and flushing away energy robbing waste materials. Energy equals effective work. Work equals positive results.
Start with a clean slate - don't owe anyone anything
Think about a day at work or around the house when you were on your feet all day long. At the end of the day you get to sit down and the sensation of "taking a load off your feet" feels great. You will experience the same feeling when you pay off your debt and start over with a clean slate. Not owing anyone any money is a terrific feeling and jump starts your efforts in living a financially sound lifestyle.
Exercise
Exercise doesn't necessarily have to be strenuous to be beneficial. Moving your body makes your blood pump harder and pushes fresh oxygen through your body to your cells. That feeds your cells and will produce more energy for you throughout the day.
Be ready to take advantage of opportunities
Just like problems opportunities are sure to come your way. The thing with both problems and opportunities is that just like your mother in law neither give you much of an advanced notice of when they are going to arrive at your doorstep! Your best plan of action is to budget for opportunities. I will give you an example. I know that I will eventually need to put new tires on my car. I don't have to buy them today but I put money aside every 2 weeks in my "tire fund". I have a general idea of when I will need to buy new tires but because I have been putting money aside in advance I am ready to take advantage of any great deals on tires that come my way. The last time I bought tires I was in a position to wait for the best deal and ended up paying $90 less then the best estimate I had received only 2 weeks earlier.
Environment
Your environment can have either positive or negative affects in either the short term or long term on your physical or mental health. Your environment can affect your mood. As much as you can you should make your environment conform to your desires. That gives you a motivating mental boost that give you more energy throughout the day. Energy equals effective work. Work equals positive results.
Buy assets not liabilities
How can you tell the difference between an asset and a liability? Assets are generally boring. Liabilities are generally fun. Assets are things you buy that 1) fill a need and then 2) produce additional money in your budget through income or expense savings. The purchase of high efficiency light bulbs is an asset because they solve your need for light and produce cost savings over traditional lighting. Those savings are the "found money" that allow us to buy liabilities. Liabilities produce no income and are usually just a cost. An extra night at the beach produces no income and will cost more money therefore it is a liability.
Vitamins
Often times we do not get the optimum amount of nutrients either because there is not enough healthy variety in our diet or the foods we eat are too processed. Supplements make up for deficiencies in your diet. Whether you get your nutrition from supplements or completely through diet remember that vitamins allow your body to heal and work more effectively.
Interest
There is a fairly easy rule to remember when it comes to interest - earn it don't pay it. Arrange your budget and your financial plan so that you are buying things that pay interest and budgeting enough cash to pay for things outright and not on credit. One thing to remember is to keep your credit rating high and squeaky clean so that if you do need to pay interest you are in a position to demand a better rate.
For more ways to enjoy a better quality of life visit BowmansMoneyCollege.com
Mike Bowman
BowmansMoneyCollege.com
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