Making the Right Investments with the EVERY. DAMN. DAY. Program

Invest! That is what many people have told me throughout my life. Investing will help bring you security and peace in the future they said. Investing provides a blanket of safety. This simple act when done little by little over time until one day you reap the rewards of your hard work, contributions and patience.

For most of my life, I thought everyone was just talking about money. Sure, we are supposed to save and invest our money, so we have funding for retirement or a safety net in times of need. Investing money and allowing it to grow is a way of bettering our lives. Nobody wants to retire poor and destitute. If we lose our jobs, we want to know that we have something to fall back on in tough times.

I have recently learned that money isn’t the only investment we need to be making. We should be investing in ourselves. We should be looking for ways to grow mentally, physically and spiritually. As human beings our purpose is to learn and to grow. Just like we want our money to grow. To remain stagnant in our personal progression is the equivalent of not saving towards retirement. If we didn’t save money for retirement, then once we retire, we find ourselves depending on Social Security, welfare or relatives, etc. Depending on someone else. When we do that, we have given up the right to be self-sufficient. Much the same can be said when we do not invest in our personal progression.

For most of my life, I was stagnant. I was content with just getting through life focused on just getting through the day. I would go to work, perform my tasks, grudgingly at times, then I would commute home. Once home I would plop down in my chair and immerse myself in hours of television screen worship. My wife and kids would try to pull my attention towards them. Many times I would simply acknowledge them and return back to my TV news induced trance.

I was depressed a lot. I would eat to feel better. I would consume junk food to extreme excess. I had the mindset of “I’m an adult now. I can eat anything I want.” The amount of junk food I would ingest was mind boggling at times. I look back on how much sugar, processed desserts and candy I would put in my mouth and the thought makes me sick to my stomach. The fact is my stomach should have been sick then. But it wasn’t so I kept on eating. This addiction to sugar created the wrong kind of growth. Fat growth. I gained so much weight that I became unhealthy and miserable. It contributed to my poor health, not just physically, but mentally. Eventually I had to have heart ablation surgery to correct a childhood defect that had been exasperated by my poor eating and physical habits.

At that point my self-worth was at an all-time low. There were periods where I would have spurts of enlightenment. It would last for a week or two. Maybe a month. But in the end, it would sputter out and I would return to my favorite dormancy pose in my recliner sucked into watching political bantering, or something else of little worth on my TV, distracting myself from my unhappiness.

The Introduction of “Every. Damn. Day.” and My Physical Journey

Stagnation equals death. That’s where I was. I was dying a slow death. Physically, mentally and spiritually. My life had been deteriorating for many years. It wasn’t until just before my 47th birthday a close friend pushed me to stop the monotony. That person started me on my physical journey that, I am proud to say, I am still on over 18 months later which is called the “Every. Damn. Day.” program. The program started off slowly with a simple requirement that I go to the gym once a day, 5 days a week, and scan my gym card at a minimum. However, I made a specific goal to not just scan my card. 99% of the time I would do some sort of workout. The 1% where I only scanned my card was time when I was not feeling well or recovering from sinus surgery I had done. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic closing the gyms, the “Every. Damn. Day.” requirement has evolved into doing some sort of exercise every day 5 days a week at home, outdoors, or at the gym if it’s available.

I started with easy stretching and light weights. Within a couple of months, I hired a personal trainer to help me learn the proper way to lift weights and gain muscle strength. As my joint strength would improve and I could add more weights to my routine, I started to see real strength gains. I then began to focus on weight loss. I have now added a nutritional coach and started taking a martial arts class to increase my cardio.

Little did I know as I started all of this, I was making an investment. I was making little deposits into a savings account called my future. My future self was the long-term goal. What is my future self? A healthy, fit and strong man. This future state, looking and feeling physically fit, has been a lifelong dream of mine. Finally, I was making progress. These little deposits into my future over 18 months have already started paying off. My heart health has improved dramatically. I can do things I never could before the heart ablation surgery. I have developed noticeably larger pec and bicep muscles. I can do HIIT exercises. I can go jogging. I can do amazing athletic things that my heart would have prevented me from doing prior to my heart ablation surgery. Most importantly, I am no longer living a sedentary lifestyle.

The Mental Investment of “Every. Damn. Day.”

However, not only am I stronger physically, but mentally as well. You see I hit my lowest point before I started “Every. Damn. Day.” I was suicidal. I felt like I wasn’t loved by those closest to me. I felt as though they would not miss me. I had told myself I was unimportant in their lives. I was screaming for attention but for the wrong kind, and no one wanted to give it to me for fear of supporting my depressive and self-destructive behaviors. I felt alone and scared. I was financially broke with a family that was counting on me for support. I felt as though I was drowning in despair and that nobody saw me.

After a few months of daily workouts under the “Every. Damn. Day.” program, I started to realize I was not alone. I had some amazing people in my life who really did care about me. By setting a goal for myself to workout 5 days a week, I had made a new investment in my mental health as well. My confidence increased. My self-esteem was on the rise. My family and friends, who had seen my potential all along, were excited to see me finally grabbing a hold of life and not letting go. I also realized that I was loved. Had I taken my life at that point of desperate panic, I would have hurt a lot of people and caused them great harm for the rest of their lives. One of my friends had already experienced the loss of a close friend to suicide. A second loss would have been devastating. It would have been so wrong of me to have caused that. I am so glad I didn’t make that choice. I chose “Every. Damn. Day.” instead.

My investment into my physical and now mental health gave me perspectives I never would have even thought of. I saw how my departure from this life would have impacted the people I loved. I also realized I had so much more to accomplish in this life. I finally saw my own potential that others had seen. As a result, I started investing even more into my mindset. I started reading books, journaling and immersing myself in self-improvement materials and techniques. I even went so far as to start meditating. A practice I used to laugh at and say was for yoga loving hippies. By the way, I do yoga now too!

Before I started “Every. Damn. Day.” I fell into a selfish state. I wasn’t interested in helping anyone except myself. This fed my depression. I had forgotten how much pleasure I felt when I helped others. As I progressed mentally and became more gratitude based in my thinking, I found myself wanting to go beyond my focus of self-improvement. All of my life I have taken joy in wanting to help others. It has always given me a satisfaction that is beyond measure. I chose to do something more intrinsic in value. I decided to become an advocate for others to improve mental health and physical wellbeing. I started to share my story with others and provide updates on “Every. Damn. Day.” and other self-improvements I had been working on. The immense joy I received knowing how much I influence other people with my example has given me a drive to invest even more in myself.

In the book “Lost Connections”, Johann Hari states “ …people who achieved their intrinsic goals did become significantly happier, and less depressed and anxious.” I can personally confirm that this has happened to me. The more people I help through the sharing of my experiences, the happier I am. I have a purpose that drives me to be more than I ever was.

“Every. Damn. Day.” and Spiritual Growth

“Every. Damn. Day.” has been a significant driving engine in my personal progression physically and mentally over these last 18 months. These two areas only partially complete the required investment into ourselves that is required. For more than half of my life, I have committed myself to a spiritual faith. But to say that during that time I truly dedicated myself to spiritual growth would be a significant understatement. Once I had established my balance with my physical and mental investments, I realized I need to examine my spiritual investments next.

After some deep pondering, I found that my spiritual focus lacked the required amount of investment for my future state. As a Christian I have always had an unwavering faith in the existence of God, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost. I was not raised in an environment that encouraged church attendance let alone a heavy practice of religion. It wasn’t until I was 21 that I chose to join a specific faith and make covenants with my Heavenly Father. But for 26 years, I found that I was not investing into my spiritual growth as I should have. This was most likely a side effect of my choice to live a stagnant lifestyle physically and mentally. Perhaps I felt that if I was going to fail at life in the grandest of ways, why not be the best all around?

Interestingly enough, from a spiritual perspective, it is our purpose in life to invest in ourselves. We are meant to grow and become better than we were the day before and the day before that. Each day we are supposed to dedicate ourselves to be better. To learn and prepare ourselves for the future. Part of this is preparing spiritually for our future selves not just in this life, but for after we are finished with this probationary state.

Like my previous physical and mental self, I was spiritually sputtering. I would have these periods of enlightenment. I would read scriptures but only when I felt like it. But again, my commitment and persistence were weak. I didn’t put my heart into my church service or attendance either. I was going through the motions. When I was in my deepest depression I wouldn’t even pray. I felt unworthy of the attention my Father in Heaven wanted so much to give to me. As I was dying a slow physical death before, I was also dying a slow spiritual death.

During the last 18 months. I learned that one of the greatest investments I can make is to call upon my Father in Heaven to help me in all things. It is through His wisdom and grace that I am granted the blessings I need in this life to learn and grow. I have found that through prayer I am more grateful, which is essential to our spiritual growth. As I read scriptures, I learn the historical lessons that have been written, so I don’t make the same mistakes as my ancestors. As I serve others in the name of The Lord, I am reminded that it is not only a commandment, but it provides a joy that is equal to that our Father in Heaven has for us. I find that making these spiritual deposits into our treasure chest in heaven will pay dividends in the future self that I want to become. If I fail to invest in my spiritual future, I am throwing away the opportunity to receive blessings already set aside for me. I also miss out on the joys that await me from receiving those blessings, and the overwhelming comfort that can be showered upon me in my darkest moments.

The spiritual investment, like the physical and mental investments, is something I continue to focus on. Perhaps this is the weakest part of my investment strategy that can use more balancing. I could simply blame the fact I was not given these tools early enough in my life to establish the routines and habits I needed to accomplish this. But I would simply be making excuses. This too, is an “Every. Damn. Day.” principal that can be started anytime. By adding a spiritual focus every day of prayer and scripture study, sprinkled with some gratitude for the blessings we have been given, we can grow this part of our lives. I have faith that if I focus on persistent spiritual growth, I will complete the trifecta of investment that I seek after for my future self.

Conclusion

I challenge you to invest in yourself “EVERY. DAMN. DAY.” It may start off with something small like a daily walk. Perhaps you start with a full workout at the gym. Just start somewhere. If you aren’t ready to start your physical investments yet, start with reading a good self-improvement book each morning to start your mental growth. Or perhaps focus on your spiritual side and get on your knees to pray daily. Then as you consistently stick with your initial goal and not give up, you establish the needed habits and routines to keep going. As you do, you build upon this investment by adding new routines to your life. Start reading more. Write in a journal. If you can become hippie enough, start meditating and doing yoga. Read scriptures. Never settle for stagnation. Investing requires consistent effort. Persistently increasing your investment over time will increase the reward and the quality of your future self. How awesome your future self becomes is infinitely proportionate to the quality of your investment. The greater the investment, the greater the gain. It’s never too late to start. Today is the best day to start.

A wise investor knows a great opportunity when they see one. Look in the mirror. You are wiser than you realize.