#41 - Your Most Important Asset
An asset is “a useful or valuable thing.” In a business it’s usually the equipment, machines, trucks, etc. but for you, it’s…you. Your ability to do things is a valuable and useful thing. This includes your knowledge, skills, talents, abilities, physical health, mental health, reputation, everything about you. What exactly do these things allow you to do? Quite literally, everything. It allows you to have time, energy, ability, and responsibility. What would you do with more of these? Would more energy allow you to achieve these goals better? Of course it would.
There are many people who fail to see how useful and valuable their own body is; they treat it like trash and struggle to spend their time living at 100%. You were made with enormous potential but poor nutrition, sleep, or habits can get in the way of getting the most out of every day. You can probably think of someone you know who has put themselves in one of these destructive cycles—whenever you see them, they cannot talk about anything but how tired they are. What kind of living is that? What exactly is the point of being awake more if all you can think about is not being awake?! Like so many things, it’s really easy to see these destructive cycles in others but what about your own life?
One study found that over 90% of teens are sleep deprived. That means probably 90% of your competitors are sleep deprived. If you aren’t that’s a major advantage. For some reason sleep has been demonized by many in our country: “you can sleep when you’re dead.” What a great quote—I’ll be dead sooner if I don’t sleep, and you’ll be dead very soon if you don’t let me sleep!
What about food? Incessant rushes and crashes are hard on the body and make the day a rollercoaster of existence. So what kinds of foods actually help and who do you trust? Does fat make you fat or does sugar? How much caffeine is necessary?
Many times I’ve had people approach me asking how I possibly fit everything into the day. They’re even more shocked to hear that I get more sleep than they do. I am not superhuman, I’m not especially talented, or extra smart. But I have a secret that I’ll share with you. I’m able to do what I do because of how I manage my own body. It’s my most valuable asset, so I treat it as such. After my last season as a college athlete ended I took a break from caring for my body. I kept training because I liked it, I stayed up late, and I ate unhealthy foods all the time. Well, after about a month of that my life came to a screeching halt when I came down with mono. I was bed-ridden, missed a month of school, couldn’t train for 2+ months… In short, it was awful. I couldn’t do any of the things I wanted to because I failed to care for my body.
This stuff is not like your typical 9 months out of the year learning. These are the things that will make your friends ask, “what’s your secret? When did you get so smart/fast/strong/good at this?” None of the things that we are going to learn are especially complicated, but they may be difficult to incorporate into your own life because of the environment—so few people put as much emphasis on their most valuable asset as they should. Over the coming sections, we are going to talk about each of these areas: food, sleep, exercise, and recovery.