Focusing on Your Health: A Lesson from Warren Buffett
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The past few months I’ve been listening to the audiobook of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, by Alice Schroeder. Many people consider this book to be the most comprehensive biography of Buffett that’s ever been written. In total, it’s 37 hours (or 832 pages) depicting his life, business decisions, and the wisdom he has gained along the way.
Buffett is quoted all the time, but it has been interesting to hear those familiar quotes within the context of how he arrived at those lessons. One story stood out to me in particular, especially considering the times we’re in amidst the coronavirus pandemic:
One Car to Last a Lifetime
“When I was sixteen, I had just two things on my mind — girls and cars. I wasn’t very good with girls. So I thought about cars. I thought about girls, too, but I had more luck with cars.
Let’s say that when I turned sixteen, a genie had appeared to me. And that genie said, ‘Warren, I’m going to give you the car of your choice. It’ll be here tomorrow morning with a big bow tied on it. Brand-new. And it’s all yours.’
Having heard all the genie stories, I would say, ‘What’s the catch?’ And the genie would answer, ‘There’s only one catch. This is the last car you’re ever going to get in your life. So it’s got to last a lifetime.’
If that had happened, I would have picked out that car. But, can you imagine, knowing it had to last a lifetime, what I would do with it?
I would read the manual about five times. I would always keep it garaged. If there was the least little dent or scratch, I’d have it fixed right away because I wouldn’t want it rusting. I would baby that car, because it would have to last a lifetime.
That’s exactly the position you are in concerning your mind and body. You only get one mind and one body. And it’s got to last a lifetime. Now, it’s very easy to let them ride for many years. But if you don’t take care of that mind and that body, they’ll be a wreck forty years later, just like the car would be.
It’s what you do right now, today, that determines how your mind and body will operate ten, twenty, and thirty years from now.”
– Warren Buffett
There is a lot of wisdom packed within this small story. We all only get one mind and one body, and we should be doing whatever we can to take care of them. In this way, we increase the likelihood of prolonging our healthy years and living a life of no regrets. We can’t buy more time, and it’s much more effective to try and prevent illness before it happens rather than paying for treatments. Building wealth
Here are some other ways we can all take better care of our minds and bodies:
- Eating healthy, including decreasing consumption of sugar and processed foods
- Drinking more water, less of everything else
- Increased quantity and quality of sleep
- Exercising, stretching, avoiding long periods of sitting
- Getting outside into nature daily
- Less screen time, more reading, continually learning new things
- Decrease caffeine intake
- Decrease stress
- Improving daily habits
- Saving/investing money for the future
- Spending time with a community of friends and family that build you up
- Wear a mask!
I cringe when I hear people talking about how they’re working so hard that they haven’t eaten all day, or only got 4 hours sleep the night before. These aren’t badges of honor, they should be wakeup calls that we need to be taking better care of our minds and bodies – the ones that need to last a lifetime.
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