Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Motivation Monday: 8 Ancient Laws for Creating a Simpler and Happier Life

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

Confucius once said that life is simple but we insist on making it complicated. Come again? What’s simple about the myriad demands, dilemmas, and dealings of everyday life that push and pull on our body, mind, and soul? What’s simple about love, success, health, wisdom, satisfaction, spirituality, and the rest of the brass rings we all strive for? Many times, life appears overwhelmingly complex, like trying to build an airplane while in flight, or even bitterly abusive, like licking a car battery. And understandably so. In this age of liberty and abundance where we’re free to be and do whatever we want, we must choose tasks and responsibilities from a dizzying number of possibilities. And then, as efforts evaporate, wins elude, and penalties encroach, we realize we’re not spinning an elegant web but cobbling up a clumsy knot. And so we sputter, skid, and spiral as our self-confidence leaks from a thousand wounds. Many people try to escape this existential strike zone by heaving more lumpy stones into the rock tumbler of life. This only makes more noise. What they need to do instead is, as Confucius counseled, strive for simplicity by jettisoning everything that’s unclear, unsound, and unworkable and seeking the opposite—clarity, sanity, and practicality. Often, this means doing less but doing it better by focusing on what’s essential and saying no to everything else, by learning to do the right things, not trying to do everything right. And in this podcast, I want to share with you several simple and essential laws of successful living, some of which go back thousands of years. These principles have remained in currency because they form a robust operating system for life—one that not only helps you make smart decisions but also avoid very stupid ones, which many people fail to appreciate the importance of. Most of my biggest wins in life have come from remembering the obvious and ignoring the esoteric and trying to be consistently not stupid instead of sporadically brilliant. Anyway, let’s get to the laws . . . --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: legionathletics.com/products/books/ The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation: legionathletics.com/the-little-blac…out-motivation/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Hey, Mike here. And if you like what I'm doing on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please do consider picking up one of my bestselling health and fitness books, including Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Men, Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women, my flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef, and my 100% practical and hands-on blueprint for personal transformation inside and outside of the gym, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Now, these books have sold well over 1 million copies and have helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever. And you can find them on all major online retailers like Audible, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play, as well as in select Barnes & Noble stores. Again, that's Bigger Leaner Stronger for Men, Thinner Leaner Stronger for Women, The Shredded Chef, and The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Oh, and I should also mention that you can get any of the audiobooks 100% free when you sign up for an Audible account, which is the perfect way to make those pockets of downtime,

like commuting, meal prepping, and cleaning, more interesting, entertaining, and productive. meal prepping, and cleaning more interesting, entertaining, and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on that offer, and if you want to get one of my audio books for free, go to www.legionathletics.com slash audible. That's L-E-G-I-O-N athletics slash A-U-D-I-B-L-E, A-U-D-I-B-L-E and sign up for your account. Confucius once said that life is simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Yeah, come again? What is simple about the myriad demands and dilemmas and dealings of everyday life that push and pull on our body, mind, and soul? What is simple about love, success, health, wisdom, satisfaction, spirituality, and the rest of the brass

rings that we all strive for? Many times, life appears overwhelmingly complex, like we are trying to build an airplane while in flight, or even bitterly abusive, like licking a car battery. And understandably so, in this modern age of liberty and abundance where we are free to be and do whatever we want, we must choose tasks and responsibilities from a dizzying number of possibilities. And then, as our efforts evaporate, and as wins elude us, and penalties encroach upon us, we realize that we are not spinning an elegant web, but cobbling up a clumsy knot. And so we sputter and we skid and we spiral as our self-confidence leaks from a thousand wounds. Now, many people try to escape this existential strike zone by just heaving more stones into the rock tumbler of life.

Unfortunately, this only makes more noise. Now, what they should do instead, though, is, as Confucius counseled, strive for simplicity by jettisoning everything that is unclear, listening, everything that is unclear, unsound, and unworkable, and seeking the opposite, clarity, sanity, practicality. Often this means doing less in general, but doing it better by focusing on what is essential and saying no to everything else, by learning to do the right things, not trying to do everything right. And in this podcast, I want to share with you several simple and essential laws of successful living, some of which go back thousands of years. And these principles have remained in currency because they form a robust operating system, so to speak, an operating system for life, and one that not

only helps you make smart decisions, but also avoid very stupid ones, which many people fail to appreciate the importance of. Most of my personal biggest wins in life have come from remembering the obvious and ignoring the esoteric and just trying to be consistently not stupid instead of sporadically brilliant. So the first law for simpler and happier living is if you say you're going to do something, do it. And if you say you won't, don't. This is important because without your word, you are of little value to yourself and to others. And the fastest way to lose a friend is to just show that you can't be trusted. You can't be relied on.

And that also applies to the most important friend you can have in your life, which is you. What's more, when you know that your word must be kept, even when it's tough to keep it, it forces you to carefully consider your commitments. How many times have you said yes to something and then flaked because it really should have been a no? Get into the habit of keeping your word once given, no matter what, and you will not only earn the respect of others, no matter what, and you will not only earn the respect of others, but more importantly, you will earn your own respect. All right, the second law for simpler and happier living is don't lie, exaggerate, withhold vital information, or mislead others. Now, lies can certainly be tasty, but honesty makes life much easier to live because lies beget more lies and must be continually protected from

collisions with reality, whereas statements of fact require no further work on our part. As Mark Twain once quipped, if you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. By lying, we're not only building a false world that must be guarded against inspection or introspection, we're also demonstrating how little trust and how little respect we have for others. And that disengages us from life, it darkens our opinion of other people, and it can even warp our sense of what is real. And let's not forget either that people are not as easily fooled as we might think. How many times have you been suspicious of someone but chose not to confront them on it for whatever reason? And how did that color your perception of them? All right, the next law, law number three for simpler and happier living is don't complain. So it is Monday morning and there's a guy curling in the squat rack. Or maybe you don't make enough money.

Or maybe the free coffee shop Wi-Fi is too slow. Or maybe it's cold outside because it's January. Or maybe your friend's Facebook status updates always have typos. Or someone left the toilet seat up. My point is every one of us can find an endless number of things to bellyache over. But why dig the hole deeper? Everything that happens is either endurable or not, wrote the legendary Roman emperor andoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. If it is endurable, he said, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it is unendurable, then stop complaining. Your

destruction will mean its end as well. Just remember, you can endure anything your mind can make endurable by treating it as in your interest to do so. In your interest or in your nature. So don't go looking for sympathy because most people don't care about your problems and many people are secretly glad that you have them. Don't compromise your standards either. No matter what you want to do, remember that moderation is not going to get you very far. Nothing succeeds like excess. Don't shirk your duties. Remember that the more you suffer voluntarily, the less you are going to suffer involuntarily. Choose your pain,

choose your difficulties, choose your burdens. Whatever you do though, don't whinge. The next law, law number four for simpler and happier living is outwork everyone you know until you've made it. So if you haven't accomplished your career or your financial goals yet, and you are not working more than anyone you know to achieve them, you are trying your luck. I would even say you're probably doing it wrong because it takes far too much toil and trouble to realize our ambitions, to dilly-dally. We just can't afford it. We don't have the time and nothing in the world worth having comes without significant effort, pain, and difficulty, and often far more than we anticipate when we begin. And that's not going to change. The physical, intellectual, and social comforts of modernity

fall like soft snow upon the harsh fact that life is a game of competition and selection. And that metaphorical snow blurs the outlines and it covers up the details, but the terrain is still treacherous and turmoil is simply unavoidable. Only the toughest conquer the rigors of existence and even they have a time of it. Remember, our forebears had to chase, they have a time of it. Remember, our forebears had to chase, fight, and kill to survive. They expected hardship. They were willing to face the worst. And they embraced the fact that the universe, in all its apparent tranquility, is really just a carefully balanced chaos of forces that we barely understand. And if we want to bear upon its journey, then we too must be a force of nature. The romantic notion that greatness can be shortcut by honeyed thoughts

and candied smiles and cloying words is nonsense. words is nonsense. Hey, before we continue, if you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please do consider picking up one of my best-selling health and fitness books. My most popular ones are Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Men, Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women, my flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef, and my 100% practical hands-on blueprint for personal transformation, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Now, these books have sold well over 1 million copies and have helped thousands of people build their best body ever. And you can find them anywhere online where you can buy books like Amazon, Audible, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play, as well as in select Barnes & Noble stores.

So again, that is Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Men, Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women, The, the shredded chef, and the little black book of workout motivation. Oh, and one other thing is you can get any one of those audio books, 100% free when you sign up for an audible account. And that's a great way to make those pockets of downtime, like commuting meal, prepping and cleaning more interesting, entertaining, and productive. Now, if you want to take Audible up on that offer and get one of my audio books for free, just go to legionathletics.com slash Audible and sign up for your account. The next law, law number five for simpler and happier living is do the right thing even when it costs you something. Now, you don't need a degree

in philosophy to know what is right and wrong. We all come hardwired with a sensitive moral compass that points toward simple signposts like treating others the way we want to be treated and not doing things to other people that we wouldn't want done to us. And so in most situations in life, we immediately and we instinctively know right from wrong. And if we then do our best to aim our actions toward what is right as often as we can, what is right as often as we can, then we can rightfully expect to be repaid in kind. That is, acting with integrity ripples out into the world and then back into our lives in more ways than we can imagine, and especially when the stakes are high. Now, this is an old idea. In the Bible, for example, we are enjoined to seek God and live righteously to receive everything we need. In Indian religion, they call this karma.

These days, we know it simply as what goes around comes around, right? And so, like gravity, there is no escaping this force. And like the northern star, its light is always visible to those who are willing to look. Okay, the next law, number six, for simpler and happier living, always make time for personal growth. The flashing lights and the ringing bells and the junk food of today's penny arcade culture promotes frenzied consumption as the highest and greatest good. And so it's no surprise that now we have a very dysfunctional normal where most people are comfortably numb. They have resigned themselves to what they believe they can and can't do and change. And they have accepted the rules and restrictions that have been dinned into them since childhood. And the results? Well, according to various surveys and studies, these people are

on average 23 pounds overweight and do just three hours of real work, but watch five hours of TV per day. And they are over $130,000 in debt with less than $1,000 in savings. These people sit, they eat, they watch, and they die. Now, if you don't want to join their ranks, you must commit yourself to personal growth through lifelong learning, and you must block out time for it every day. There is no other way. Leonardo da Vinci once wrote that iron rusts from disuse, water loses its purity from stagnation, and even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. And here's how Warren Buffett's business partner Charlie Munger put it. In my whole life, I have known no wise people over a broad subject matter area who didn't read all the time. None. Zero. What's that? Oh, you don't have time? Oh,

okay. Well then don't worry about it. The universe will definitely grant you a special dispensation. Yeah. No. Quit watching TV, delete your Facebook and Instagram accounts, ditch the video games, and take another look at your calendar. And do you see an opening or three there? Okay, so now that we have freed up time, what should you do instead? Well, I would say that anything that involves learning is fair game. So would you like to speak another language? Great. Start. How about playing an instrument? Awesome. Do it. Hell, even just starting in on that pile of self-help books you've been meaning to read qualifies. Might I suggest my little black book of workout motivation? Just go. Start.

All right. The next law, number seven, don't have debt. Now, after your health and your relationships, I think that getting your finances in order is the highest leverage action you can take to improve yourself because with it comes more self-esteem, more self-efficacy, more self-reliance, as well as a sense of freedom and stability and just overall sense of well-being. Now, money may not be able to buy happiness, but it definitely can buy some peace of mind and an opportunity to find and pursue whatever does make you happy. And as with fitness, in personal finance, the fundamentals matter the most. The things that most people just don't want to do consistently. So with diet and

exercise, we know what those things are, energy balance, macronutrient balance, resistance training. And with money, it is budgeting, investing, and avoiding debt. In fact, if that is your primary financial focus, just to establish those three habits, budgeting, your primary financial focus, just to establish those three habits, budgeting, investing, and avoiding debt, you are basically all but guaranteed to achieve significant financial fitness, so to speak, in your lifetime. If you can routinely spend, let's say, 10% to 20%, or more if you want, but at least 10% to 20% less than you earn and then invest the surplus in safe appreciating assets like mutual funds or real estate and avoid consumer debt. You can be rich. End of story. Full stop. Now, the rub here, of course, is how long it takes to do that and what you have to sacrifice to get to that finish

line. In fitness, you can build an outstanding body in just a few years of hard work, but for most people, it's going to take a couple decades to achieve the same magnitude of success in the financial sector, to achieve true financial independence. That really is the end game. To that though, I say, who cares? Because of how terrible the alternative is. The negative ramifications of financial failure and ruination are so many and so pervasive and so destructive that it is worth avoiding at any cost. It's like drug addiction or alcoholism. It ruins your entire life. Now, if you think that addressing habits and behaviors is not as important for conquering indebtedness as just making more money, think again. Because the more money you make, the easier it gets to accrue debt. Because

as your income rises, you are offered more credit, for example, five and even six figure credit limits and banks practically beg you to take out another mortgage. And hey, while you're at it, why not finance that boat that you want? Or maybe that $100,000 sports car. Hey, just sign here and it can all be yours. This is why I personally buy things with cash. If I don't have the cash, I don't get the thing. It works. I don't literally pay cash. I actually use a credit card just to get the points, but I have no revolving credit card debt. I have the money sitting there. I buy the thing on the card. I get my points. I pay the card off. Zero balance every month. Done. All right. The eighth and the final law for simpler and happier living is keep an emergency fund. Now this ties into the last

one, of course. And why don't we use a nerdy Harry Potter analogy here? So debt, you can think of as the dementor of personal finance and a lack of savings is the boggart. And for those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, what I'm saying is debt slowly devours your soul until you are a zombie-like husk roaming the mall in search of another trinket to make minimum payments on. And an empty bank account torments you with gruesome visions of having no home, no food, and no hope. And don't put yourself in that situation. Live below your means so you can save up at least a year's worth of expenses and then don't touch that money unless you absolutely have to. And if you do that, you might be amazed at how your mountain of moolah impacts your mood

and your productivity and your general outlook. And hey, it'll probably lower your blood pressure too. Hey, Mike here. And if you like what I'm doing on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please do consider picking up one of my bestselling health and fitness books, including Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Men, Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women, my flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef, and my 100% practical and hands-on blueprint for personal transformation inside and outside of the gym, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Now, these books have sold well over 1 million copies and have helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever. And you can find them on all major online retailers like audible amazon itunes kobo and google play as well as in select barnes and noble stores again that's bigger leaner stronger for men

thinner leaner stronger for women the shredded chef and the little black book of workout motivation oh and i should also mention that you can get any of the audiobooks 100% free when you sign up for an Audible account, which is the perfect way to make those pockets of downtime like commuting, meal prepping, and cleaning more interesting, entertaining, and productive. if you want to take Audible up on that offer, and if you want to get one of my audio books for free, go to www.legionathletics.com slash Audible. That's L-E-G-I-O-N athletics slash A-U-D-I-B-L-E and sign up for your account. All right. Well, that's it for today's episode. I hope you found it interesting and helpful. And if you did and you don't mind doing me a favor, could you please leave a quick review for the podcast on iTunes or wherever you are listening from? Because those reviews not only convince people that they should check out the show, they also increase the search visibility and help more people find their way to me and to

the podcast and learn how to build their best body ever as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and whatever app you're using to listen, and you will not miss out on any of the new stuff that I have coming. And last, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts. Let me know how you think I could do this better. I read every email myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. All right. Thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon.