Introduction: Cultivating Health and Happiness... A Whole Life Approach

Ever feel like you're constantly putting everyone and everything before your own well-being?

Well, it's time for a change! Our latest episode discusses the Whole Life Fitness Manifesto, a life-changing guide to help you invest just 2% of your day towards complete well-being - body, mind, and spirit.

We integrate fitness beyond the gym into every facet of our lives, including finance and mental health. It's not about getting those chiseled abs. It's about leading a life of awesomeness.

We all need a community that uplifts, motivates, and supports us through this journey. We dive into the importance of having this supportive tribe as we aim for whole-life fitness. Age, gender, lifestyle - they don't matter. Each of us deserves to prioritize our personal growth and enhance our well-being.

Tune in as I, your host, Dai Manuel, share my transformative journey from morbid obesity to a life of health and happiness. It's time to redefine fitness and cultivate a life of awesomeness together. Join us in the quest for whole-life fitness.

👉👉 If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, share, and leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast listening platforms.

🌟 AND be sure to JOIN the 2% Collective - a free community where you can connect with like-minded whole health champions and get many free resources, challenges, action guides, and much more. Go to www.2percentcollective.com  

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

All right, my friends, I told you before that I was releasing the whole life fitness manifesto, the book I wrote many years ago, which teaches people how to optimize body, mind and spirit with just 2% of every 24 hours. That's 30 minutes a day. And here it is. This is the introduction chapter, so make sure you can listen to this one first. This is going to set the stage, and then the following episodes, immediately after this will be chapter one, all the way through to the end of the book Lots of information.

Speaker 1: 0:35

I know you're going to love it because it's all going to just open your mind's eye to just a different perspective for yourself as it relates to whole life well-being. Think about fitness not like going to the gym and working out, but fitness as being the actions or activities that we do to see certain characteristics within ourselves improve. So, whether that be our finances, whether that be our faith, whether that be our relationships, right Our family, whether it be our health, our physical health, fitness is a wonderful sort of activity to see our physical health improve. But what can we do for our financial fitness? What can we do for our mental fitness? These are going to be things that we dive into in the remaining chapters and there's lots that I'll be covering and I want to encourage you just chip away, listen to one chapter a day, even, and take one action item away from what you hear and try to apply that. Just one thing, that one little thing, done consistently, might be the game changer that you've been searching for, but you won't know until you try.

Speaker 1: 1:51

Enjoy this book. I know I had a lot of fun writing it, even though there was a lot of sleepless nights trying to be deadlined, so my publisher would be happy. But I'm super honored to now be able to share this with you through this new podcast. Again, my name is Diamond. Well, I'm your host as well, as I aid on this journey to leveling up in all areas of your whole life. With that, I'm going to say adieu and let you dive into the introductory chapter of the whole life fitness manifesto. This is your journey to physical, mental and emotional fitness. Enjoy Introduction.

Speaker 2: 2:37

Do you want to live a life of total awesomeness? Some years ago, I asked myself that same question. I realized that, while I had a lot to be thankful for in my life, I was falling short of my own potential. Don't get me wrong. I was doing the best I could and life had been trucking along just fine. I had moved to a new city on the West Coast, attended university, started to discover myself, landed a great job, fell in love, traveled a little and started a family, but I never seemed to have time for the things that were most important to me. I was also spending more money than I had. My health and fitness ebbed and flowed throughout my life. When I only had to worry about myself, I could always find time for fitness, but when other people my family became a significant part of my life, I felt pulled to prioritize us rather than me, and my health often suffered as a result. I figured this was just the way it went After all. It seemed like everyone else I knew was on the same path, but in the back of my mind I was always thinking is this really how life is supposed to be?

Speaker 2: 3:46

As time went on, I kept trying to balance the priorities of my life, striving to attain perfection, but I was constantly disappointed in myself. I was never able to truly balance it all. When I let one part of my life become the shining star, all other aspects of my life would dim in comparison. If I focused on family, my career suffered. When I turned my energies towards my career, in particular when I was building my company, my family felt it, and so did my health. I just never seemed to have enough to make everything work. Do you know that feeling? Like many people, I found happy distraction in activities that didn't propel me forward in life Pub nights, boys trips, nights out with my colleagues and long days on the golf course. I kept telling myself that tomorrow would be the day to reset and get everything in order. Tomorrow is the day to start my new habits. Tomorrow is the start of my path to awesomeness. But you know what? Every day I'd wake up to today and tomorrow would never arrive. Maybe you can relate.

Speaker 2: 4:50

Many of us put all of our obligations, whether it's work, family or social life, ahead of our own well-being and personal growth. We're so busy taking care of what other people need from us that we forget to pay attention to our own needs. The problem with that is that, while this might help us to get a lot done, mostly for others, we're probably not feeling satisfied with our lives. Even worse, if we're not careful, we can burn out both mentally and physically. When that happens, we not only let ourselves down, we also let down those who depend on us.

Speaker 2: 5:25

My goal in creating the whole-life fitness manifesto is to sweep away the negative energies, accentuate the positive ones and ultimately empower you to radiate your own awesomeness along with the greatness of those around you. In a nutshell, the whole-life fitness manifesto is putting yourself first, which will ultimately benefit you and those you care about. We all have people in our lives that matter to us. It's time we begin to matter to ourselves so that we can enjoy an incredible life with each other. So welcome to a new kind of fitness book. We're not just talking about physical fitness here. We're acknowledging that whole-life awesomeness encompasses fitness of mind, body and spirit, and because this is something that we all deserve, this book is for everyone. Even the most stamina-challenged person can tackle the whole-life fitness power 30 program, which will also test you if you are already pushing your own fitness limits.

Speaker 2: 6:22

Getting a grip on total health and wellness is particularly important now because of disturbing rises in obesity and diabetes. Current health statistics, which you'll find throughout this book, are not pretty. In fact, they are sobering wake-up call. But there is reason for hope. On the other end of this spectrum, there is booming personal growth, in which people are realizing their limitless potential as human beings. But simply linking your greater potential to your physical fitness is a powerful combination that can change and possibly save your life. As you'll see, workouts don't have to be a chore. Working out is really about enjoying a burst of movement that can function as a reset, a break and a check-in with your body throughout the day. It's about feeling how daily movement can activate all kinds of positive things in your life. What makes me so certain about all this?

Speaker 2: 7:16

Let me share a deep and personal story. When I was a kid, there were two students in my school who were extremely overweight. I was one of them. As a 200-pound-plus-15-year-old, I had a body mass index of over 40. I was, by definition, morbidly obese. But after a big personal breakthrough shortly after my 15th birthday, I dug deep to make change and, quite simply, I never looked back. My mental attitude played a pivotal role in making that change. I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to be happy. I'm more satisfied with my life in all, and I did whatever it took to make that happen. Today, I'm honored to be a part of a healthy and beautiful family with my wife, christy, and my two daughters, shardin and Bre Lynn.

Speaker 2: 8:03

I constantly strive to live a life of which I'm proud. My professional life have evolved from a successful fitness equipment entrepreneur to a personal trainer, a life coach, a speaker, author and all around life and answer. I'm honored to have the ability to help people every day. That's pretty awesome. Beyond my family, physical health and career, one of the most important aspects of my well-being is my mental health, or emotional fitness.

Speaker 2: 8:31

I continually strive to cultivate a deep sense of purpose in my heart and mind. This is what makes me spring out of bed in the morning and at the end of each day I ask myself was I the best person I could possibly be today? If I can answer yes more often than not, then I know I'm on the right track. I know we are all capable of achieving whole life fitness. That is, while I believe that we can work out on our own, we never have to be alone with our fitness and lifestyle goals. Now that you've found this book, you have found your community, your tribe. No matter what your current lifestyle, age, gender or personality, you are not alone. We are here to encourage and support each other to be happiest, healthiest version of ourselves. So hands up if you're ready for a whole life of awesomeness.