How do you define “success”?

Go ahead, think about it for a minute.

Is success working like a slave day-in, day-out? Is it skipping meals and losing sleeping? Is it neglecting time with your family or having no social life?

For so many people, life goes something like this:

• 5 a.m. Wake up and get yourself ready
• 6 a.m. Wrestle the kids out of bed
• 6:30 a.m. Rush around trying to get the kids fed and dressed and out the door by 7 a.m.
• 7:30 a.m. Drop them off at three separate schools
• 7:47 a.m. Skip breakfast and start the day with a venti double espresso from the nearest drive-thru, on your way to work
• 12 p.m. Work straight through lunch, trying to keep up with your to-do list
• 5-7 p.m. Spend your evening chauffeuring the kids around from soccer to dance to violin
• 7:30 p.m. Throw together some box mac-n-cheese for the kid’s dinner
• 8:15 p.m. Get them all into the bath, then tucked into bed
• 9 p.m. Realize you haven’t eaten all day and inhale all three meals… in one sitting
• 10 p.m. Pull out your laptop and go back to work
• 1-2 a.m. Fall into bed, drained and stressed
• 5 a.m. Wake up and do it ALL… OVER… AGAIN!

I lived this way for a season – or two, or more – of my life. And it resulted in a heart attack and nervous breakdown.

Sadly, on their way to making a lot of money, people unconsciously abuse their health… and they don’t even realize it. But, think about it. If you don’t take care of your body, you WON’T live long enough to see the wins you’ve sacrificed everything for!

See, success isn’t just about money. It’s finding success in ALL areas of your life. This means if you want to the FULL definition and picture of success, health must be included among your goals. Success must include food. It includes making wise choices. Bottom line: If you don’t make health a priority, you rob yourself of your destiny.

1. You Will Experience Less Stress

If money is your only yardstick you use to measure success, your life will eventually look a LOT like that list up there. And, you end up missing-out on all the things you actually want to do in your life. We are all uniquely made, and we each have a different destiny, a different calling in mind. So ultimately, it’s up to YOU to discover and define that for yourself.

For some people success is about getting fit and healthy. For others, it’s purely financial- making money or getting out of debt. For some, success is meaningful relationships,  or maybe advancing in business or career.

And for others, it’s about a personal ministry. Who knows, you may be called to get out there and rescue children from the sex trade. Maybe you want to feed and clothe orphans or widows, or take care of the homeless or help abused mothers. 

Whatever tugs on your heart, whatever defines success for you, always remember: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. We all have a lifelong purpose to fulfill.

And I don’t know about you, but I want my life to be more than an endless to-do list. Yes, you CAN build a business or career or family or charity, and all of these things have purpose. But if we don’t take care of our bodies, it’s all for NOTHING.

I spent my first six months, failing MISERABLY in business. And those following six months of “success,” I spent a tremendous amount of money educating myself, going to seminars and learning exactly how to succeed… RIGHT NOW!

For those six months…

…I worked like a SLAVE.

I worked non-stop, I had no life, my whole life was about my business… with the added “bonus” of INSANE stress levels. THEN, I made a ton of stupid choices. I married a man – after knowing him for only seven days – and ended up homeless, with my business embezzled from, credit cards overdrawn. I was $35,000 in debt, 50 pounds overweight, had $2.03 to my name. WOW… at 21, I already had a failed marriage and a failed business!

I felt like such a failure. That’s when I made the decision to never work that way again, just for money.

And throughout that whole time, I seriously abused my body. I drank crazy amounts of alcohol; I certainly didn’t eat well; I had a hardcore sugar addiction; and, to top it off, I became a full-on compulsive eater. I ate based on my emotions. And, it ALL pointed to my obvious depression, which is WHY I abused my body with drugs, abused my body with alcohol and abused my body with food.

Let me tell ya, THAT is no way to live.

That’s why it’s so important to ask yourself, how do YOU want your life to look. What’s important to you? What were you put on this earth to do? What is your unique calling?

Once you decide, NOW you can start making better, healthier decisions for yourself. Make time for regular exercise. Don’t skip meals. Choose foods packed with nutrients, designed to fuel your body. Get adequate sleep. Watch what happens: your blood pressure will come down. Your finances will actually improve. You’ll have more fun!

[RELATED: Want to work smarter, not harder? Learn how to accomplish all of your goals – WITHOUT sacrificing your health, relationships, finances or fun]

2. You Will Save Money

You’ve heard the myth – and it IS a myth – how it’s just not possible to eat healthy on a budget. Eating healthy is expensive, right? All those “special” foods, with “special” labels. I mean, if you want to eat good, healthy food, you’re gonna have to fork-over the big bucks… right? 

WRONG!

I have fed my family of six – often with guests bringing that total to 8-10 people at my table – on any given day. I cook six nights a week… and we’re not talkin’ “mac-n-cheese” from a box. Healthy meals, usually gourmet, and I can tell you I did it all on $100 a week – including things like napkins, paper plates, and even, cleaning products.

We got a message on Facebook from a woman who told us she and her husband eat completely organic for $50 a week. Another client, Amanda, told us she and her husband used to eat out all the time and spent tons of money on food – prepared by someone else. They didn’t know what was in it, and it made them feel not so great. They started eating at home and sticking to a planned grocery list, and have saved hundreds of dollars!

Our money always looks for a place to go, just like our time. And, the same holds true for our health. So if you don’t tell your money, your time and your health EXACTLY where to go, they will get pulled and sucked into places that eventually take you away from your goals.

If you want to lose 50 pounds, if you want to feel better, if you want to be fit, you have to make different choices. Look, when I was 50 pounds overweight, I had to make different choices, too! If a bag of chips or box of crackers costs the same as a bag of apples, I mean what’s the obvious choice here? If you budget $20 per person, per week, you can’t buy all that extra processed stuff. Not only will you lose weight, you will actually save money.

(You can click here for six ways to save money the next time YOU are at the grocery store).

3. You Will Have Better-Behaved Kids

How YOU approach health will either set-up your kids for future health problems and current emotional problems… or for future success. I often hear moms say they just don’t have the time and can’t afford to feed their family healthy foods. Well, we just busted that “eating healthy is expensive” myth. And I honestly believe their intentions are good, but they’re just clueless about how to eat healthy or even cook for their families. It’s as simple as buying more “whole” foods and less processed junk.

I’ve heard multiple testimonies from women, struggling with infertility, who were able to get pregnant within a few months of making healthy diet changes. Another woman, April, stopped giving her two daughters food with additives and dyes and GMO ingredients – and immediately saw a change in their behavior. They were less cranky, got into fewer struggles with each other, were less hyper and more focused in school.

Think about those little growing bodies… bodies that need at least 110 nutrients to grow and function properly. However, instead of filling our kids with the nutrients they need – those good, wholesome deposits – we pump them full of dyes and chemicals, then can’t figure out why they are so crazy. And then, we medicate them.

A big part of being a parent, is positioning your child to fulfill their destiny. And an important part of that strategy is being a guardian of their health. (Check out “Grooming The Next Generation For Success” ) for more about this. Let’s face it, a major part of this responsibility involves paying attention to what you put inside your kids’ bodies… AND setting a healthy example, yourself.

Today, we see a whole generation of women who were raised in busy households, dined almost exclusively on fast food, with a mom who didn’t cook. See, we took mom out of the house. She worked a full-time job, while the kids went to daycare and after school programs. These mothers didn’t teach their daughters how to be mothers and wives. They raised an entire generation of moms who don’t know how to care for the home, care for the health of the children or care for the health of herself and her husband.

We are robbing these women of the confidence to be a real wives and mothers, and it absolutely shocks. For me, gardening, preparing meals for my family and taking care of my household made me not only feel better food-wise, but empowered me as a woman – reclaiming what we are called to do.

And it IS something we are called to do. We are all called to take care of the home, to take care of our spouse, to take care of the children. And, yes, we are all called to be that nurse in the home. And dietician. Bottom line: we are all called to nourish our families with things designed to sustain long-term, good health.

4. AND…Your Health Will Be Better

Duh. If you aren’t taking care of your body now, you’ll pay the price in future health problems. Think of your health in terms of creating long-term wealth. Did you know, health problems like cancer, heart disease and strokes, are preventable through proper nutrition?! Again, humans need around 110 nutrients a day to keep our bodies healthy and functioning optimally. Most of us are only get around 20 a day. Think about THAT.

You have to weigh your excuses against your goals. “Oh, Dani… I want to, but I don’t have time.” “Dani, eating healthy just isn’t in my budget.” So, let me ask you a question: “What kind of life do YOU want to lead?” Think about those time-consuming and expensive treatments for cancer, coronary disease, strokes, high blood pressure and diabetes. Think about the medicines for all those conditions.

Now, you’re not only dealing with the disease, itself. You’re also dealing with the side effects of those medication. So then you take MORE medication to deal with the effects of the first medication… and all those medications lead to vitamin deficiencies and yet, MORE health complications.

You either put future PROBLEMS, or you put LIFE, into your mouth. Let’s face it, you need to be alive to hit your financial goals. You need life to reach your career goals. You need life to take care of your family. You need life to fulfill your vacation goals.

Health, the way we treat our bodies, either sets us up to abandon our dreams, or to fulfill our dreams. If you don’t want to position yourself for future failures – that rob your time, your money and your happiness – you HAVE to put health on your list of goals.

If you’re struggling to “do it all,” and want to unlock the secrets of time, check out Time Secrets. You’ll learn how to budget your time wisely, become more focused, less stressed and free to have more fun!

And WE want to equip you with the tips, strategies, ideas and skill sets to help you become successful in any areas you choose. And that starts, when you stay connected to the Dani Johnson community on Facebook, and sign up for updates from The Daily Fix!