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.