Train your Body, Mind and Soul.

“You have a four-fold life to live: a body, a brain, a heart and a soul-these are your living tools. To use and develop them is not a task. It is a golden opportunity.”–William H. Danforth

Former United States Army general George S. Patton is often credited with saying, ” Sweat more in peace, bleed less in war.” That statement is true in almost every area of life, especially while training the body, mind and soul. I strive to have a daily routine based on various frameworks, such as the TIME Framework by Jay Shetty and the Morning S.A.V.E.R.S. Framework by Hal Erold. These two frameworks have been very influential in helping me develop a consistent daily routine.

My daily routine revolves around having a self-care regimen that includes the following.

Mind Gym (Mental): Read for an hour or 90 minutes first thing after waking up (4 AM daily)
Body Gym (Physical): Shoot basketball (60-90 minutes), Swim (60 minutes), Weightlift (60 minutes), Run or play pickleball.

Soul (Meditation): I meditate using the Calm app for at least 30 minutes.

TIME Framework (Thankfulness, Insight, Meditation and Exercise) by Jay Shetty in Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day

“Location has energy, Time has memory”.

Morning S.A.V.E.R.S. Framework by Hal Erold in The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8 AM)

Training the body, mind, and soul is very important as you get to be in the right frame of mind to conquer life’s various challenges. Whatever would go wrong would usually go wrong in life, but by staying prepared during peace, as General Patton quipped, the tough times, vicissitudes, challenges and winter would not be too rough. As the Scandinavians often say: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.”

There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.”

I run multiple marathons yearly, six in 2022 and 10 in view in 2023, not because I love the pain that much, but because it is one of the best preparation for life vicissitudes. As British sports reporter and endurance runner, Vassos Alexander observed in his book, How to Run a Marathon: The Go-to Guide for Anyone and Everyone: “There’s nothing fairer than the marathon. Nothing quite as egalitarian. Not in sports, and not in life. Simply this: train hard enough, and you’ll finish it.“

There’s nothing fairer than the marathon. Nothing quite as egalitarian. Not in sport, and not in life. Simply this: train hard enough, and you’ll finish it.

Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger shared ten principles of success in his autobiography: Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story and one of the principles is: “Take care of your body and your mind.” He writes

“Some of the earliest advice that stuck in my head was Fredi Gerstl channeling Plato. “The Greeks started the Olympics, but they also gave us the great philosophers,” he would say. “You have to build the ultimate physical machine but also the ultimate of the mind.”

“I realized that the mind is a muscle and we should train it too. So I was determined to train my brain and get smart. I became like a sponge, absorbing everything around me. The world became my university, I developed such a need to learn and read and take it all in.”

“For people who are successful with their intelligence, the opposite applies. They need to exercise the body every day. Clint Eastwood exercises even when he’s directing and starring in a movie. Dmitri Medvedev worked endless hours when he was president of Russia, but he had a gym at home and worked out two hours each day. If world leaders have time to work out, so do you.”

In his inspiring book, I Dare You!, founder of the Ralston Purina Company and co-founder of the American Youth Foundation (AYF), American businessman William H. Danforth implored readers to dare to be courageous and live a worthy life. Danforth noted that we all have a four-fold life to live: the physical (a body), the mental (brain), the social (a heart) and the spiritual (a soul).

The Four Sides to Life

What are the hidden resources to look for? What are these sleeping giants within us? There are four of them—the physical, the mental, the social, and the spiritual. Life can- not be complete unless we develop all four sides. Each side that is developed, in turn, stimulates the other three sides. “All for one and one for all.

The Physical (a body) – Stay Physically Fit

Keeping fit is not a tedious job. Treating your body with the ordinary care you give your automobile or your dog is not a nuisance. Giving your body the stimulation of good, wholesome food is more fun than doping it with artificial stimulants. Again I challenge the scoffers who say that living right is not more thrilling than living wrong. You can keep yourself fit and enjoy doing it. Make it a game.

Make it the hard thing to do not to eat right, not to take regular exercises, not to get the proper amount of sleep. You can play bridge until midnight, but not every night and feel rested in the morning.

There is no secret to good health other than just plain, good common sense. You wouldn’t let your automobile go along, week after week, month after month, without the proper mixture of oil and gas and overhauling. Why, under heaven, do you expect your body to carry on without at least the same consideration? You wouldn’t keep a dog or a horse cooped up in a stall all day without a chance to stretch its legs. Then why expect to avoid trouble if you treat your own priceless machine in such a manner? Everybody knows these things, but so few do anything about it. I have never been able to under- stand why people are not willing to pay the small price for good health.

Abundant health is such a luxury! Energy is such an asset in business. Physical strength is the backbone of success and happiness in every walk of life.

Eight hours’ sleep. Open windows. Regular daily exercise, morning and night. Eat the things that agree with me—but not overeat. Walk my mile a day. Open air every noontime and on vacations. Plenty of sun- shine. Practice simple rules of posture which make me feel better; besides, the man who walks straight and sits straight, I believe thinks straight.

The mental (brain): Think Creatively

Today, ideas get an audience immediately. Industry is at the feet of creative thinkers begging for ideas.

Most of the unexplored regions of the world may have been discovered, but what a field lies ahead for the mental Columbus, the thinking Peary, the planning Byrd. Physical adventure promises not half the thrill of mental adventure. Physical life brings happiness, but mental life brings interest—a consuming, absorbing interest.

The Path of Least Resistance

When it is so easy to get our thinking done for us, the big temptation is not to think. We glance at the newspaper headlines and let them form our opinions, and neglect to read the scholarly articles in the monthly magazine that would give us the meat on the subject. We listen to a few minutes of the radio and flatter ourselves that we know all about the Symphony. We read a review of a play and decide that we don’t need to see the play itself. These are the temptations of the average person today.

Make your decision and then determine to know that one thing well, better than anyone else. In doing this you will have to think. No one is going to get far these days unless he thinks for himself. This is going to take time and hard work, but the joy that you will discover in knowing one thing well will more than repay you

You have to train for your mental crusade just as you train for your physical game of life. You can do that in the same time you spend on the comic page in the daily paper. It will benefit you a lot more.

Social – DEVELOP A MAGNETIC PERSONALITY

Personality is an illusive thing. Good looks, good habits, good education, fine family, magnificent supply of the best of life to draw from, and yet something lacking in the connections.

A millionaire in money is nothing compared to being a millionaire in friends, and everyone can be this, provided you keep these friends when you make them. And thoughtfulness in little things is the best way I know to keep them.

Be your own self with all people whether they be prince or pauper. This may sound like a bromide, but look around you at the people you know. Unfortunately, there are many people in the world so constituted that

BUILD CHARACTER

Hidden down in every man is some of the di- vine. It is this spark that I am daring you to turn into a blaze. It is the spirit that naturally makes you do the right thing at the right time.

Strength and courage are essential in the development of the physical, mental, and social sides of life.

Lift your thoughts above the commonplace. Think on noble things. Soon you are on a higher level. If you consider religion something to be put up with, it becomes a drudgery. Exercise and study are a drudgery to one in the wrong mental attitude. But if you consider the building of character, or ethics, or morals, or religion— whatever you choose to call it—as an opportunity to grow, then the unseen things of life take on a new significance.

Physical strength demands exercise. Mental alertness demands study. Winsome personality thrives on service. Religious growth requires action, the actual doing of right things instead of the wrong. We advance only by doing.

Meditation

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Mindful Listening
One of the challenges of listening in the workplace includes various inhibitors, such as a deadline. Most of us listen with the intent of replying rather than understanding. Non-listening is ripe for misunderstanding and resentment, but when we cultivate the skill of mindful listening, we can become more effective in the workplace while also improving relationships with co-workers, clients and partners.
Mindful Listening starts by being present with kindness and without judgment. When we listen, our only task is to listen, giving the speaker our full attention without interrupting or objecting.
Practice pausing before you respond to ensure you understand what is said, and ask questions if anything feels unclear. When people feel heard, they are more receptive when it is our turn to speak.