P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

GETTING PAID OFF AT 15 TO ONE

Okay, here's the scenario. One of your many bosses comes over to your cubicle and lays just a huge pile on it. "Here you go, Jessica," he says. "And I need all that done by next Wednesday."
Well, as you look at it, you can tell that what you have there will take you, full-time, until next Wednesday. You've got a keen eye, and you just know: that's a full week's work right there. If you work straight through, you're going to lose 40 hours of precious time cranking through that pile. And your heart kind of sinks.
That's Act One. Now to Act Two. A minute later, a co-worker comes over and says to you, "Hey, Jess, there's something I've got to show you. Really important. It'll take about an hour." Well, obviously, you say: "Look, Lynn, buzz off. I ain't got the time. The next 40 hours are going to be tied up doing this wonderful pile of work Lonnie Melashenko just gave me, so I can't spare an hour for you. Give me a rain check, okay?"
But then comes the kicker: Lynn explains to you that with what she's going to show you - something which will take an hour to learn - you'll be able to shave two complete DAYS off that one-week pile on the corner of your desk. It won't take five days now; it'll just be three instead. Not 40 hours, but twenty-four or -five.
Question: Would you spend the hour with Lynn now? Well, you'd be a fool not to. We all know that anytime you can spend one hour to save 15, that's a return on your investment any Wall Street genius would envy.
Well, what's the point of this little parable? (Although there are probably days where Jessica, my secretary, doesn't think it IS a parable.) Friend, did you know that there's something you can do - a certain way to spend time - which will give you back that time to the tune of a 15 to 1 payout?
Here's the secret word: EXERCISE. You heard me: EXERCISE. People in this Live-Longer Lifestyle we've been studying in our radio series are finding out that when they put an hour into exercise, they end up getting that hour back 15 times. Which, of course, goes very nicely with the title of our textbook for this four-week radio study: Live 10 Healthy Years Longer, published by Word, and written by two marvelous gentlemen: Jan Kuzma and Cecil Murphey. And the sidebar that just jumped off the page at us, here in chapter eight, entitled "Just Do It!," asks us this question:

"Would it be worthwhile to spend 30 minutes a day for five days a week (about 5,200 hours during 40 years of adult life) EXERCISING . . . in order to live 80,000 hours - 10 healthy years - longer?"

And there you have it. If you follow what these 27,000 men and women did in the Live-Longer Lifestyle health study, and exercise moderately and deliberately for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, you've "lost" or given away, over a lifetime, some 5,200 hours. But ON AVERAGE, the people who do this live 80,000 extra hours. That's a statistical reality. And, by the way, they're good hours. Premium hours . . . because these are basically the most healthy and happy people on the planet. Again I say: put in one hour, get back almost 16. From a time management point of view, it's just about the smartest thing a man or woman could ever do!
Jan and Cecil then come back at us and ask the question this way. What if there was a pill which promised, right on the box, to do the following things for you? Lower your heart disease risk by 50%. Lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Give you protection against cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Give you vastly improved oxygen delivery to your muscle cells. Banish mental anxiety and depression from your life. Increase your energy. And . . . ten extra years - improved years with better quality of life.
Again, the obvious answer is that we would start popping those pills like they were M&Ms. And be willing to pay for those pills like they were miniature Mercedes-Benzes. But what is the pill? EXERCISE. Which can be absolutely free, if you do it the right way.
Now, there are a million great ways to exercise, starting with Archery and going right through the alphabet to jogs through the zoo or driving the Zamboni machine before a hockey game. The writers of this book move down to the W's to describe their clear favorite - and it's one that virtually everyone can do. Here's what they say:

"We advocate WALKING two or three miles, or for 30 or 45 minutes, four or five times a week. This is probably the best exercise that most people can participate in without injury. Walkers comment that they not only get the exercise they need, but they can also study the trees, marvel at nature, listen to the birds, and even converse with friends. Walking to most people is less boring than pedaling the stationary bicycle."

They quote an ancient proverb - kind of cute - which goes like this:
"Every man has two doctors, his right leg and his left."

And when you read their list of positive health benefits - ten extra years notwithstanding - you start to appreciate those two M.D.'s down there. Because that half-hour a day of exercise can do the following for you: improve your cardiovascular system. Prevent disease: cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis. "Exercise improves self-image, tones muscles, and helps maintain an ideal weight." Exercise helps you to relieve stress - but without drugs. Many of you have already experienced the natural high that comes after about half an hour of aerobic exercise, as endorphins flood into your system.
Here's a bit more of the list as described in our textbook for the week. Exercise aids your digestion and promotes intestinal activity. It strengthens your muscles, your bones, your ligaments. It brings a physiological balance to your endocrine system: pituitary, pancreas, adrenals, sex glands. It beautifies your figure and your complexion. Gives you more energy. Increases your endurance and delays the onset of fatigue.
Now, a couple of really practical points. These two writers like to recommend walking as maybe the perfect exercise . . . and perhaps they're right. But they go right on to add that it's vital for you to enjoy whatever exercise you do choose. In fact - this is rather interesting - a study was done at Loma Linda University, here in Southern California involving 50 medical students. They all went on an exercise program and their cholesterol went down. Across the board. Within a single week, you could see the lower numbers on every chart.
Then, in part two of the study, the students kept on exercising, but now in forms that weren't enjoyable for them. Slogging along on treadmills or whatever . . . but an activity they did NOT like. Guess what? There was NO cholesterol drop in Part Two. And the researchers concluded that ATTITUDE is an all-important ingredient if you're going to reap all the positive results of your exercise. If you're so bad at badminton that you want to kill the birdie, then you better switch to something else. Like Bob Hope once observed: "I took up golf for what ails me. Now golf IS what ails me!"
In case you do pick walking as your exercise of choice, Jan and Cecil suggest that you begin slowly. Over-exercise is actually as bad as not doing any at all. But it really doesn't take long before you can be up to that brisk 30-45 minute walk each day. And by the way, if you feel like you simply cannot develop the habit of walking or jogging, let me tell you something: just stick with it, stick with it, stick with it . . . for a few weeks. Soon exercise becomes a habit, and then it can actually become hard NOT to go out for that half hour. I know runners who get up each morning, rain or shine, hot or cold, suit up . . . and they've put in three miles before they even stop to think: "Should I go? Should I not go?" The power of habit takes all the hardness, the indecision, right out of the equation.
Cecil and Jan almost suggest a bit of "sanctified stupidity" as a good way to get extra walking miles under your belt. Do you carefully and in an organized way plan so that when you go upstairs to get a hairbrush, you accomplish four errands on the same trip? Stop being so smart! Go up for the hairbrush! Go up three minutes later for the hairspray! And again five minutes later for a paper towel. Make more trips up and down those stairs, not less. At the grocery store, be dumb enough to park clear across the parking lot. You might put in an extra half mile just walking to and from CostCo. In the store itself, leave your cart, walk the length of the aisle, get what you want, and go back to the cart. When you're waiting for a bus, pace back and forth. If it's 20 minutes late, you've tucked another mile under your belt . . . and remember, you're collecting on those 20 minutes with a 15-1 payoff.

And of course, out there on the track, why not play a cassette of good bouncy Christian music? Do your praying? Don't just walk . . . walk with Jesus. That's the best investment of all - and "all these other things shall be added unto thee."