For most of my life, I thought I was bulletproof. In 1992, I won a karate tournament, and that feeling of invincibility stuck with me. I was six feet tall, I was fit, and I genuinely believed nothing could touch me. Exercise was my hammer, and every problem—especially every physical one—looked like a nail. But life has a way of teaching you that the order in which you do things matters a whole lot more than just doing them.

The Order I Got Wrong

In my 20s, exercise was my god. I worked out hard, I pushed myself, and it worked. I felt good. But somewhere after 25, I noticed a change. Every time I looked down, there it was—a little more around the waistline. My go-to solution was simple: exercise harder. But for the first time, it wasn't cutting it.

By my 30s, I wised up enough to know I needed to eat better. I knew about calories and diets, but my heart wasn't in it. My true belief was still that a hard workout could fix anything. So, my efforts with diet were always short-lived. I’d make a change, but I couldn't stick with it because my identity was still that of the "bulletproof guy" who could out-train any bad habit.

Then I hit 39. I got sick—really sick—for three weeks. I was in bed, throwing up, miserable. For the first time, I felt fragile. It was a wake-up call, but it was the combination of that low point and a health seminar I attended right after that truly shifted something.

At that seminar, I learned about energy, vitality, and the deep connection between what we eat and how we live. The information hit me differently. I wasn't just hearing it; I was ready for it. For years, my priority list for health looked like this:

1. Exercise
2. Diet
3. Mindset (I barely even considered this)

But after that seminar, I realised that order was completely and utterly backwards. It was like trying to build a house by starting with the roof. The roof (exercise) is important, but it won't stay up without the walls (diet) and a solid foundation (mindset).

I had spent my 20s and 30s living by that flawed order. It was the reason I couldn't be consistent. I couldn't stick to a healthy diet because my mindset—my identity as the guy who could eat what he wanted and just "burn it off"—hadn't changed. Making healthy food choices felt foreign because I hadn't done the foundational work in my head first.

The Correct Order: Mindset, Diet, Exercise

That seminar had such a profound impact on me that I finally flipped the order. My priority list for health is now:

1. Mindset
2. Diet
3. Exercise

The Four Pillars of a Healthy Life

When I think about health now, I focus on four key outcomes: Energy, Longevity, Mobility, and Diet. These aren't separate; they're the result of getting the order right.

• Energy: It's not just about not being tired. It's about having the vitality to engage fully with your life.
• Longevity: This isn't just about living longer, but living better for longer.
• Mobility: It’s about having a body that works for you, with limbs that move the way they should, so you can do the things you love.
• Diet: This is the fuel. What am I consuming that improves my health, and what am I doing that's decreasing it?

You cannot achieve these outcomes with exercise alone. You need the mindset to make the right choices consistently, and the right fuel to power your body.

overview of the 3 elements.

The 4 steps in the healing process.