Recommendation: Before you do anything to ‘get healthy’, identify your current priority and make sure it’s getting done. After this, estimate your current and future expenses based on any priorities you predict down the road. Make and save enough to ensure that these will be taken care of. Only after these two are addressed, seek health.
What Is Your Priority?
My priority is the answer to the question, “Of the things in my control, what one thing do I want to succeed if everything else were to fail?” Kids, school, or current job, whatever it is must be addressed before we try to take care of other stuff. If our priority isn’t getting done, we are inevitably less effective at everything else and–by definition–unsustainable. We grow frustrated, and frustrated people don’t make healthy choices. Therefore, in my opinion, it’s more effective to be happy and eat poorly than be unhappy and eat well.
How Is Money More Important Than Health?
It’s only more important if it’s required to get your priority done. Even then, it’s not about making as much as possible or even saving up, necessarily. Instead of focusing on maximizing income, it’s more effective to focus on covering expenses–current and future–instead. This includes possible emergencies–the rule of thumb is “6 months of expenses“, not income! This is because ‘maximizing income’ could lead to working more than you need to. Conversely, when you’re focused on expenses you’re more likely to recognize decreasing marginal utility of time spent earning money. If your priority is living a stress-free life alone on the beach, catching and growing your own food, would you need to work? Maybe for health insurance, I guess. Money is never a priority–only a means to an end. That ‘end’ is your priority, and it may not require as much money as you think. I chose to walk this walk by leaving a well-paying job that required too much time and wasn’t aligned with my priority. I’ve never looked back.
No Willpower Needed
When your current priority is getting done and you’re saving enough money to support your future priorities, healthy decisions are WAY easier to make. You’ll never be truly “stress-free”, but it’s way easier to plan a healthy dinner when you know you can afford the grass-fed ribeye. Eating right becomes a hobby, not a test of willpower. Sleep inevitably improves when you’re not worried about failing at what’s most important to you. Exercise, on the other hand, will always be tough to get used to. Make it easier by taking care of what’s most important first.