You know what your biggest asset is but yet most discount it until it’s often too late. You can be smart, have an amazing work ethic, and be super productive, but if you don’t have your health you got nothing. Your competitive drive to succeed in your career leads you to continuously work long hours, not get enough sleep, not take rejuvenating breaks, eat foods that lack the nutritional value that allows your body to thrive and maintain a sedentary routine...until it’s too late.
You, or someone close to you, gets sick and everything changes. The realization that life is precious and that in a blink of an eye all the things that truly matter could be gone, is a wake-up call that too many accept too late. So, I’ve asked myself…why? Why would intelligent human beings like us be so irrational?
My research led me to a Princeton University study researching our brains to better understand the decision-making process between short-term gain vs. long-term goals, with fascinating results. Undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the study showed that decisions involving the possibility of immediate reward (in our case, a successful project, the prospect of a promotion, more financial gain, etc.), activated parts of the brain influenced heavily by emotion. However, when choosing an option that brought greater gain in the long-term (in our scenario, sustainable success while valuing your health and JOY in life), the calculating regions of their brains were more strongly activated than the emotional systems.
“Our emotional brain has a hard time imagining the future, even though our logical brain clearly sees the future consequences of our current actions” says David Laibson, professor of economics at Harvard University. Dopamine related circuits in the brain are cued when more immediate rewards are in sight.
But hold on. Most career driven individuals tend to adopt a logical decision-making process, priding themselves in leaving feelings and emotions at the door. Well, it certainly appears that our subconscious mind overrides our calculated and rational thinking. Unless we continuously remind ourselves of what’s truly important in life, and the amazing gains we can realize when taking proactive steps to thrive, our subconscious mind will override all rational.
Being diagnosed with a preventable disease will change your life and career in an instance, taking strain on your stamina and focus needed to succeed, not even considering the immense strain it puts on your wallet and the people around you. Is it really worth the short-term gain?
Start prioritizing yourself and you’ll discover that you’ll get the best of both worlds - health and JOY, and the capacity to be there for all those that need you to live a long life.
Would it be helpful for us to support you when you moving towards your vision of your healthiest, most JOYful life? We’d love to guide you every step of the way in this process and along your journey to reaching that vision. Click the 'Contact' button in the top right corner or simply send us an email to info@joyvial.com to schedule your free discovery session.