Latest / Prosper With Wayne / 5 Small Habits That Rebuild Your Health, Money and Peace After 50
Transcript
- Wayne Sutton: Let me ask you something. I want you to answer honestly in your own head. If the next five years look exactly like the last five, are you okay where you will be? Not just with your bank account, with your body, your energy, your peace, with the people around you? For a lot of us, the answer is not really. And the reason is almost never that we don't care. It's that we care a lot. The reason is life got busy, we stopped paying attention to the small things, and the small things quietly add up. The good news is though the small things can add up in the other direction as well. And that's what this episode's all about. Welcome to Prosper with Wayne. I'm Wayne Sutton. And this is the show about money, health, life, three things that decide whether you're actually doing well not just looking busy. So today I'm gonna give you five anchors. Now an anchor is a small simple habit that you attach to a part of your day or week so it happens without a big fight with your willpower. One in the morning one midday one in the evening one on Sunday and one once a month. these are for anyone in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. Though honestly they work at any age. And they're built for real life, which means they're small. If you get to it in five or ten minutes, it counts. Now a quick note before we dive in. Yes, I'm a minister, I'm a Christian counselor, and I've been trained in temperament therapy. Everything here though is encouragement and education. If you have a health condition, check with your doctor before you make any massive decisions. For money decisions, talk to a professional. And if you need one, I've got one for you. Now, let's jump into the word. There's a verse that actually sets the tone for this. It's in the book of Psalms, Psalm 90, verse 12. In the King James it says, So teach us the number of days. That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Numbering our days does not have to be gloomy. It just means we treat each day like it matters, because it does. Now before we get into anchors, I wanna say something about the age we're talking about, because there are a lot of nonsense out there that makes people feel like their best years are behind them. As recording this, I'm fifty-three years old or fifty three years young. Yes, some things change. Our bodies may take a little longer to bounce back. We may carry responsibilities, children, sometimes grown children, a job, etc. and that's why I'm doing this video. Because if you're not careful, you may look at the calendar and feel the weight of how many years we have left to build something. After 50, many of us know ourselves better than we ever did. We've lived through mistakes. We know what they cost. We're less impressed by flashy promises and more able to tell what is real. At fifty three, I have a perspective that I didn't have at 30. All right. And that perspective is an advantage. It means you do not have to have a dramatic reinvention. You need steadywise adjustments, and that's exactly what anchors are. So why anchors instead of goals? And here's the problem with big goals. We get excited on a Monday, make a giant plan, change everything at once, and by Thursday, we're exhausted behind and quietly ashamed. Then we don't try again for six months. Anchors work differently. an anchor is tiny. It's attached to something you already do, like waking up, eating lunch, brushing your teeth at night, Or sitting down on Sunday with your coffee. You're not creating a new part of your day. You're placing a small, steady thing inside a part you already have. Now, there's three rules for each anchor. First, start small so it feels almost silly. Five minutes is enough. second, tie it to something that already happens so you don't have to remember. And third, if you do miss a day, never beat yourself up. Just don't miss twice. Missing once is life, missing twice starts to become a pattern. And let's go back into the Bible one more time because it matters. Galatians six, verse nine says, And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Small, steady, faithful. That's how it works. And before we jump into the five anchors, hit that subscribe button, hit that share button. Someone needs to see this. Okay. Anchor one, the morning anchor. Five quiet minutes and one wake-up move. Before your phone, before the news, before the first email, give yourself five quiet minutes. Now, there's a couple ways of doing this, and I'll share mine in a minute. I want you to do two things in those five minutes. First, sit still. Pray if you pray, think if you think. Just breathe. Ask yourself one question. What is the one thing that matters most today? Just one, not ten, one. That one question trains your mind to aim before the day starts shooting at you. Second, move your body a little. not a workout, a wake up. Stand up, stretch your back, roll your shoulders, reach for your toes, whatever you need to do. And what I do is I take some deep, slow breaths. Even before I get out of bed. I'm just taking in some deep breaths. I'm getting the oxygen in. I'm telling my body it's time to wake up. All right. So do something for you. And then Maybe get up as I do. I I get my daughters up. We get their I got one little task that I do for them every morning. And then I go for a short walk. Almost every day. That short walk is quick and back in time to go and take on the rest of the day. Movement is something we often let slip without noticing. We sit more, I sit here a lot, we move less and stiffness creeps in. A small daily wake-up move. Walk, stretch, whatever it is. Tells your body we're still in this. And over time, strength and balance are some of the things that help us stay independent, which most of us want very much. So here's how to make a stick. Tie it to something that already happens. Right after you turn off the alarm or right after you start the coffee, whatever it may be. Again, for me, wake up before I get out of bed. I'm spending time in prayer. I'm focusing on what has to be done for the day, taking some deep breaths. Then the morning walk. Again, I'm anchoring it to something I'm already doing. Waking up. And when I actually is just making my daughter's water bottles, when I get their water bottles ready for school, okay, now. The next part of that logical step is a walk. Logical, illogical, whatever. I use it. That's my anchor. All right. So this is your first anchor. Five quiet minutes and one wake up mode. All right. Let's go to midday. Anchor two, the midday anchor. All right. This one surprises people because this one has nothing to do with money or exercise. It's a real conversation with a real human every single day. Now, I talk to people for a living, so it's kind of easy for me. However, for a lot of you, maybe you don't. As you get older, life can quietly get lonelier. Kids grow up, friends move, work changes, and without noticing, you spend most days looking at a screen. And loneliness, when it settles in, can take a heavy toll on how you feel and how you live. So at some point around midday, I want you to have one real conversation. Not a text, not a like, a call, a face-to-face talk, or a long chat with a neighbor, lunch with a friend. Ask a real question and This is key and listen to the answer. Need some ideas, call someone you've been meaning to call. Ask a coworker how their family's doing and mean it. Listen, stop and listen to the person. Stop and talk to the person. On my morning walk. Is there somebody I can talk and have a conversation with? Call an older relative who would love to hear your voice. And you've drifted from people and listen, I've noticed so many people have. Start small. Send a message that says, Hey, I was thinking about you. Wanna catch up this week? You'd be surprised at how many people are waiting for someone else to go first. Connection is one of the most underrated parts of Prospering. It doesn't cost a dime and it pays back in ways a spreadsheet cannot measure. Now let's jump to the evening. Anchor number three. The evening anchor, the shutdown. Evenings matter more than we think because the way you end your day shapes how you sleep. How you sleep shapes how you feel tomorrow. The evening anchor is a 10-minute shutdown and it has three parts. Part one, close the day. If there's something that's continuously going through your head, write it down. Write down tomorrow's one most important thing. Anything spinning in your head, get it on paper. Because when you get it out of your brain and onto a page, you can quite a restless mind. More than you would expect. I'll give you another example. You can even open up if you're using AI, you can go to chat, Claude, whatever you're using, and say, hey, remind me of this tomorrow. This is what we're going to focus on. And then you're setting that up for your next day. Part two, dim the day. All right. Just before you go to bed, well maybe thirty minutes before turn down the lights. Put the screens away. At least turn off the news and social media. Our minds do not settle well when they're being fed worry up until the minute the lights go out. And then part three, be thankful. Now I do this in the morning, but I also know people that do it in the evening. Okay? I want to start my morning with gratitude, want to prime the day. But it's also very, very important at nighttime to name three small things that went right. They can be tiny. A kind word, a good cup of coffee, a bill that you paid, gratitude is not pretending everything is fine, it's training your eyes to notice what is good alongside what is hard. And then on sleep itself, a few simple things. General things. Keep a fairly regular bedtime and wake up time. Keep the room cool, dark, quiet. Be careful with caffeine late in the day and large meals right before bed. But everybody's different. If you struggle with sleep for a long stretch, if you snore loudly, wake up exhausted, see your doctor Now that's the evening. Get your rest, prime yourself with gratitude or remind yourself of the gratitude from the day and plan your next day. Okay, next one's the one that feels different because it happens once a week. This is anchor number four, the Sunday anchor, the ten minute money check in and act of service. On Sunday or whatever day your week turns over, I want you to sit down for 10 minutes. Cup of coffee and do two things. First, the money check-in. Open your accounts. Have a look. Not to panic, not to judge, just to take a look. Ask yourself four simple questions. What came in this week? What went out? Is anything coming out that surprised me? And is there one small thing I can do this week to move forward? paying a little extra on a debt, adding a little savings, or canceling something I really don't use. Why is this so powerful? Because most money stress isn't caused by numbers, it's caused by not looking at the numbers. When you look every week, nothing sneaks up on you. You get a clear picture of where you stand. That clarity alone calms many people down. And listen, everyone's situation is different. So for bigger decisions about retirement, investment, taxes, or debt, talk to a professional. If you want to know more on how to do that, well, tell me in comments. I'll do an episode on it. Second, one act of service. Once a week, do one thing for someone else that costs you nothing or at least very little. Cook a meal for a neighbor, mentor a young person, volunteer for an hour, take someone out for coffee or just pay for someone's coffee. Visit someone who's lonely. So why pair service with money? Because prospering is not only about what you keep. A lot that's only about getting more tends to feel small. A lot that includes giving feels rich, whatever the balance is. So do the check in and do something kind. That is your weekly anchor. All right, so one more. Anchor 5 is the monthly anchor, the stop doing list. Most of us add and add and add and add a new app, a new subscription, a new commitment, a new obligation. But we rarely stop to ask what should we stop? take this in the business world where we do a SWOT analysis and maybe one and once every 90 days, like what should we stop doing? But once a month, take 15 minutes and Make a stop doing list. Ask three questions. What am I paying for that I do not use? Go through your subscriptions, recurring charges. Amazing what kind of sits there quietly. Cancel what does not serve you. What am I committed to that drains me and does not matter? Look at your calendar. Is there something you agreed to out of guilt that you can graciously step away from now? And what am I doing out of habit that I know does not help me? It could be late-night scrolling, an extra sugary drink or habits you know is hurting you. Pick one thing, not 10, make a small change. Listen, saying no is not selfish. It's how you make room for what matters. And when you remove something, replace it with something better or simply relax. Now, when you fall off, and you will, I wouldn't be lying to you if I said you would do all of this perfectly. You will not. I will not either. There'll be weeks when we travel, sickness, a family emergency, or plane, tiredness wipes out every anchor. So here's what to do when that happens. First, never make it about your character. Missing a few days does not mean you're a failure, it it makes you a human being. Second, shrink the habit. If the full anchor feels a lot too much, do the tiniest version. instead of the whole morning anchor, just do your deep breathing. Or maybe just do the walking. Instead of the full money check in, just open the account and look for two minutes. A tiny version keep the habit alive. And third, restart at the next natural anchor. You don't have to wait for Monday or the first of the month. Just start where you're at. Let me give you a quick, totally made up example just to show the idea. Imagine a man named Ray who starts the evening shutdown, does it faithfully for three weeks, and then a family trip, knocks him off a week. Ray comes home and thinks, well, I guess I ruined it. But instead he does the shutdown that very night for just two minutes, writes one thing down for tomorrow and he goes to bed. By the end of next week, he's back in his groove. Ray's not a real person, but he's just a picture of how restarting works. It's never about failing, it's about how fast you get back up. So what does a normal day look like? Let me paint a picture so this does not feel abstract. Again, an illustration only, but you wake up, you turn off the alarm, and before you touch your phone, you sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes. Ask yourself, what's the one thing that matters most today? What's important now? That's your win statement. Then stand, stretch, roll your shoulders, breathe, pray, start the coffee. Around lunchtime, you call your sister or sit down with a coworker instead of eating at your desk. Ask a real question and listen. It's about the other person. In the evening, about 30 minutes before bed, then the lights, right now tomorrow's one thing, and name three good things from the day. Ten minutes, that's it. Sunday, sit down with your coffee, look at your accounts for 10 minutes, and then text a neighbor to ask if they need anything this week. And once a month, you run your stop doing list. Listen, that's not a complicated life. It's a handful of small, steady things, but over a year they change how you feel in your body, how you feel about your money, and how connected you are to the people that you love. So let's put it all together, all right? So I'm gonna leave you this. It's not too late to get stronger, not too late to get clear about your money, not too late to build relationships, friendships, not too late to find peace. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to start small and keep going. If this helped, do me a favor and share this episode with one person who needs it. And subscribe to Prosper with Wayne so you do not miss the next one. And then tell me in comments which anchor you're gonna start with this week. I read every comment. And you can find links and more at prosperwithwayne.com So I'm Wayne Sutton. Until next time, keep it small, keep it steady, and keep prospering in each area of your life. God bless.