010 • The single best thing for your health

Last week’s issue was on an automated publish…

I wrote it on Thursday and scheduled it to be released at 8 pm the following day.

What was I doing?

At that point in time, I was with 8 friends in a small caravan in Great Langdale, in the heart of the Lake District in northern England.

No mobile signal, very weak wifi. I’m talking 60-seconds-to-send-a-tweet wifi.

Disconnected.

But that only made the connection with the other lads I was spending time with stronger.

All aged from 19-22, from YouTubers to podcasters, agency owners, coaches, writers and game designers, everyone who showed up was a motivated, engaging and interesting person to be around.

Everyone clicked with everyone else, even those who hadn’t met before the first day. By the end of the holiday, it was like we’d known each other for years.

There was zero ego involved. That was the best part. We’d gone beyond being toxically competitive. Everyone was willing to learn, to be proved wrong and everyone had respect for the other.

Even as we pulled up on the gravel in front of the caravan, the first thing we did was put on the gloves for some rounds of body sparring.

Straight into things.

Nobody backed out of taking part, and the more experienced fighters took the chance to help the novices, showing them techniques like footwork and defence.

This was just the start.

Over the next few days, we went cold water swimming and cliff-jumping in driving rain and cold, boxed some more, played poker, looked for ghosts and spent hours talking through our businesses, values, morals, experiences and knowledge.

Not a single person slowed down, gave in, complained or thought they were too special to take part.

Everyone walked away with almost too many improvements and actionable steps to take in their life and business.

Why am I talking about this?

I’ve been focused on levelling up my well-being for the last two years, as well as my business for the last year or so.

For most of this journey, I’ve been almost alone in having a motivation for entrepreneurship and building online income.

However, developing a friendship with these lads and spending time with them takes me back to a quote that I heard from Chris Williamson on the Diary of a CEO podcast:

"The single biggest predictor of your health outcomes in life… are the number of close connections that you have… it’s more than going to the gym, it’s more than stopping drinking." — Chris Williamson

I was exposed to the truth of this when surrounded by my new friends in the Lake District. I resonated with the guys there because we were all on a similar mission, building a future for ourselves on the internet to live lives of freedom down the line.

That’s why it was so easy to drop the ego. That’s why everyone took part, and contributed suggestions and ideas. That’s why I’ve begun to realise that connecting with like-minded friends is the single best thing for personal growth.

This isn’t to say you should neglect all the other things that benefit your health. As I said in a previous issue, attracting the attention of these people requires you to be on the right path in the first place, or they won’t give you the light of day.

You have to bring something to the table, you can’t jump straight into having friends like this.

So journal, meditate, work out and learn to be social whilst practising other high-value skills. This is so that when the opportunity to connect with people like this arises, you have the best possible opportunity of making a friendship.

This is step one.

It’s once you’ve connected that the benefit of many minds on the same path can combine to produce an exponential effect on the growth and well-being of those involved. This is the next step for someone who’s just starting to find their way in personal growth and improvement.

The final step is working hard, holding each other accountable and taking over.

Keep working hard, and stay grateful.

I’ll see you next week.