It's my birthday week, and this year, I'm keeping things low-key. Instead of big celebrations, I'm taking some time to reflect on what I want the year ahead to look like.

In today's episode, we're talking about how our health connects to our wealth and financial success. I'll share what I'm doing and the tools I'm using to stay on track.

First, we'll chat about taking care of our bodies through diet and exercise. Then, I'll dive into the power of journaling for a healthy mind.

Anna's Takeaways:

• Focus on Health and how it’s connected to wealth and financial success
• What I am doing and the tools I am using to fuel my
• Body
• Mind
• Soul

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Guest website & Links mentioned

• Financial Planning - mainstreetplanning.com
• Fitness Apps: Nike Running Club and 7 Minute Workout
• Good Housekeeping-Mediterranean Diet
• Oura ring- monitoring daily activity levels, tracking workouts, and measuring progress toward fitness goals.
• Daily journaling- using 5-minute reflection Jenna Kutcher’s journal
• Time Genius Course by Marie Forleo- as I get older, I am starting to value time more than money. This year I want to focus on maximizing my time.

Hey Buddy bosses. Welcome back to the podcast. It is my birthday week in this year, I decided to keep things really quiet. So no big celebrations or big vacations planned, at least around this time, and I wanted to take some time and think about, it's still very early in the year. What do I really want for myself as a gift? And honestly, not a whole life came to mind in terms of material things that I wanted. But at the same time, I was really more focused on how can I feel better? And when I started to ask those questions, how can I feel better? How do I have more energy? How do I go about more excited with what I'm doing in my days, the whole area gave me an idea that I needed to focus on my health, and what are some of the things that I should be focusing this year. And as I as I embrace the 40s and juggle the business ownership and motherhood and connection with my significant other and lots of things are on my plate, it really started to sink in that health. And ultimately how you go and how you feel how you've lived your days, is the most important asset that you ever gonna have. And so yes, we can make smart financial decisions by just re shifting what we're going to put our undivided attention into. So today, I wanted to share with you a few things that I'm doing tools that I'm using, and hopefully that will spark some ideas for you to maybe make changes in your life. And to I'm very open to hear what it is that's working for you. And how are you incorporating this idea that health is our wealth, where, wherever you might be on your life journey, whether in your 30s 40s 50s or older. So here's what I kind of want to touch, I want to cover three areas with you that I've sort of grouped for myself to keep things simple. That's another focus for me this year is to keep things simple. So I'm going to talk about body, mind and soul. Those are kind of three big areas that I can identify for myself. Now, as Liam has gotten older. And the idea of quality sleep has gotten to come back to us, it is still definitely something that I am really conscious of, and I really need to have. So that's really number one, because it powers not only the whole body, right, but it also powers, how I feel during the day how I interact with others. So definitely prioritizing quality sleep, to give me all of that energy. So in the body department, two kind of big topics that I'm focusing on are diet and exercise. Again, my friends, nothing new. You've heard this many times before. But here's the things that I want to do this year. After a very long break, like 10 years, or more, I'm even embarrassed to admit, but I made a decision in January to start practicing yoga again. It's been over a decade, I'm not sure if this is the intrapreneurship. That's the bug that gotten into me over the last 10 years. Maybe it's becoming a mom, maybe all of these things together. Maybe this was a phase of life, but I loved yoga, I practiced yoga in my 20s and I enjoyed it very much. And I actually decided to come back. I'll share with you on another interaction my first class back, the least I can say is that it was rather interesting because I went in into the class with confidence that I knew exactly what poses are there how to do them, I had my new mat and I was ready to go. The surprise that I had to face was that my body has forgotten some of these things. And so of course it's like I've done yoga in the past but it's really coming back to a new me 10 years later but really still enjoying this activity very much. So I am incorporating that into my week, probably twice a week to begin with. Number two way that I am really excited and to I feel like 2024 has been sort of the year of reintroduction of things. Anyway maybe this is a sign for you as well. I am going to start running more actively as I have in the past and one of the things that is really exciting that is on our calendars and this is all think thanks to you My husband, Yuri, who's, who was reading a book, over the last month or so that I forget the exact title. I'm sorry, I'll put it in the show notes after the recording, but it's a second book that David Goggins rode. And Dave Goggins if some of you know him is a Navy Seal, who runs these ridiculously long, ultra, ultra marathons. And so very inspirational way of how he does things. And so that bog is coming from that areas like, well, if this person can run 100 miles or more, and he does a lot of these a year, why can't we? And he was the first one to kind of think of this idea, why can we run a marathon and when he said that, I was like, I can run a marathon, I'm a runner. So I dug up my Nike app. By the way, this is one that I've been using for years, embarrassed to say that it's been like six months since I ran outside. Last, but I started. So that's, that's the focus is and I and I forgotten, just like with yoga, how much I actually love to run. So these are my my two focuses, running and yoga. I'm also incorporating strength training in between, because that's something that we all need to do, as we get older, to keep our healthy muscles. I also use, you may find this useful. In application, if that is called seven minute workouts, I'll link this in the show notes for you as well. And I've learned about it a few years ago, I now have a paid subscription. It's not very expensive, it's like 50 or $60 a year. And it really started with like, if I can move my body for seven minutes, I can do anything. And so you sort of have these daily workouts that are, you know, timed all together for seven minutes. But guess what, once you start, it sort of takes off for you. So check, check those out. For sure, I now have a favorite running coach. His name is Coach Bennett's if you want to check him, check him out. But I love his coaching style. And so anytime I'm feeling like I want to be out there focused on the whole running area, he is the good one to keep in my ears. And of course, my favorite time to listen to podcasts or music, and really get this body moving. Now, the next the next idea to keep the body healthy and energized is a diet. And to tell you the truth, I am the person who's never really had a diet, I feel like I've been lucky to be able to eat and enjoy all kinds of foods without real serious issues in my health. But I realized that it's probably not sustainable, especially as as I'm heading into later years of my life. So I wanted to focus on something that's sustainable. And one of the diet that gave me the variety of food, which is really important to me, and I wanted something that was easy, available everywhere. And so kind of narrowed it down, nothing new again. But it's Mediterranean diet, I can incorporate a lot of the foods I love, you know all the variety that it has. And it's been really interesting to explore how we could buy this food everywhere you go cook easy, fast meals at home, and not to have to really think about the fact that we are on a diet. So it's really more of a lifestyle. One of the sources that I love to explore and I am the type of person even with all the modern technology and applications I have I actually like hard copies of magazines. So Good Housekeeping magazine has a whole section. And there's they they actually rather release monthly or maybe like every other month, Mediterranean diet magazines, and they are focused on like seasonal dishes and ideas around what purchase to buy, what to cook and so forth. So next time you're like at Whole Foods or you're maybe stopping Barnes and Nobles get one of those magazines. There's lots of good recipes. You can also Google for that. But that's kind of like my go to so I've been experimenting with a lot of of those recipes lately. Now something's really new but I'm very excited about this is I wanted for my birthday one actually one material thing but I kind of attributed it more towards an item that's going to help me improve the health. I've never really had. I have an Apple watch but I'm not using it as as it's supposed to be used.

I kind of use it more like a watch. So I wanted to have an aura ring. I wanted to have a device that's going to allow me to monitor my daily activity levels, track the sleep, measured the steps and kind of have me be focused on some of this area, especially as I mentioned that sleep has been an is the priority. So I do I am a proud owner of aura ring, it's only been a very short period of time. And I'm learning to use it and learning to adjust to it because you have to wear it on your finger all the time. But it's it's one of those things that and I gave myself a mental permission, if I don't use it properly. If I if I just have another item that I have to track, it's not, it's not going to give me the results that I really wanted. So I am committed to using it to the fullest to make decisions about what tweaks or changes do I have to make so that at the end, I do feel that optimal energized. as I as I put those in my goals. One side note that you may be excited to hear from a financial planner, but I didn't know that. And I learned this in my research, that aura ring has been approved for you to pay with your flexible spending account or health savings account funds. And it's actually really cool, because most of like fitness memberships, yoga classes, gym memberships, Apple Watch or whatever other fitness trackers aren't really eligible for you to pay with your HSA or FSA funds. Because remember those funds is what you would put in your accounts pre tax. So you've saved some taxes on it. Now you're paying for these items, an aura ring is like 300 plus dollars, depending on what size or what color and material you get. So I'm excited. But that because that's where I'm spending my HSA dollars. So keep a note on that, if you're going to try to explore one for you this year. Now, next section is my and and so how, how am I keeping this part of the body healthy, because a lot of what's happening in the body is of course, driven by what's happening in the mind. A couple of things, one that I'm really excited to revisit is a course on how to become a time genius. And you might be wondering, like what is this has to do with the overall health? Well, one for one is, as I head into, you know, this year, and just thinking about what really is the value and priority for me, it's really focusing on how I can maximize my time and putting more value on time than money in all areas of my life, business family, personal and so Marie Forleo has created a course called time genius. It's really interesting, I started to to revisit the modules and really reminded myself and some of the basic things. And so I'm not gonna give away all of the information here. I'd love for you to explore it. But if you ask yourself in your life right now, wherever you might be your life phase, wherever you are located, what what more value do you bring to time or money? And if that answer is time, you really should take a look and check out this course. Now one of the things that I've been practicing for a while but kind of re shifting tools that I'm using is daily journaling. Simple things like a five minute gratitude practice before going to bed. I'm exploring a new journal called The Five Minute reflection journal by Jenna Kutcher and it's more of a prompted kind of a journal that really does take only five minutes. And it's it's a quick daily check in, there's more things that you can do on monthly or quarterly basis. But it's it really does give you this quiet space for you to focus on where you are, what it is that your mind is telling you and opportunity to be present. So those are my kind of like the the mind focused items. And last but not least, is the soul. So I've also as a as an adult has have not really spent time reading scripture and really more like intentionally reading scripture. So I decided that it was time for me to revisit reading of the Bible. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I finally said, Okay, it's enough thinking, let's start doing it. And I know it's a big undertaking because for those of you who have read the Bible or any other scriptures, these these have been written many, many years ago even though they've been translated and all kinds of resources available. It's a lot and so and it's not like reading any You know, other books that you may read in. So as I was thinking about what books I want to read or materials I want to study, this was kind of like sort of lending with me this year. So I've, I found a few interesting resources, I think it's really helpful if you give yourself a timeline of when and how fast you want to finish it. Of course, there's no like, there's no speed at which you need to do this or want to do this. But I feel like maybe that's just how my mind works. If I have a timeline, then I can work it into my day and operated in a way that it fits in. So I'll link some resources here too. But I found reading plants. So if you just Google Bible reading plans, there's a few applications that you can use, that kind of gives you a timeline. And so it's really cool because it gives you a daily checklist of things that you can be reading. And also also along with it, Bible iraf have actual references and explanation of the meaning and getting some more clarity because I've, I've been finding myself that some sometimes I get stuck, is the trend trying to read between the lines and really incorporate like, what is the same to me? And how do I like, for me, it's like, how do I apply this message in my life. And so those two together, the reading plans, and Bible references are really, really, really interesting. And And last but not least, like I wanted to commit to doing this daily, because if you think about this, it's a lot to, to practice. But if I can look at my day and say these are the things and really simply that I want to focus on this year, every day. And for those of you have read atomic habits, by James clear, but I think I'm gonna butcher this now. But it's something like becoming 1% Better, every day will yield really huge results 360 days from now. So as I think about all of this, that's kind of like the driving message. That's keeping me excited. And so in closing, I want to remind you that investing in your health is really investing in your future. I know these some of these things may sound like cliche, but the older we get, the more things start to pop up and prior prioritizing the physical, mental and the overall spiritual well being is really that foundation. So I am excited for putting all of these things together. It's certainly as a journey. I am just a few as human as you are. And I'm exploring, learning and trying. But at where I sit today and thinking about what this next year around the sun is going to bring. All of these things are really uplifting and exciting for me to think about. So here's to another year, filled with health, happiness and really abundant blessings, blessings, all around and I hope this, this was inspiring to you. As you come come around to celebrate your own special day, but until next time, my friends. Remember you are the bosses of your own money.