Financially successful people surely seek physical fitness too. Many hit the gym, and most of them surely eat sensibly. So your greater financial success – or the search for that – might have to start at the local gym and at the local grocer/ veggie shop.

Your weight is a function of what you eat, but your body strength is a function of how much you exercise. Exercise seems to be a must – even if you run, cycle, swim, and trek – muscle building happens at the gym. Having a supportive wife (and cook!) is necessary for healthy eating. It is not easy shopping, and learning to eat healthy. It surely has its benefits. I know one senior executive who has a cook who comes to the executive canteen and makes Tamilian food – which means he gets a meal cooked at 12 noon to be eaten at 1pm. Such luxuries are rare for a businessman, but I know many who work from home or from an office 500m away so dropping at home for lunch is possible.

There is no point in getting up at 80 and “wishing” that you had taken care of your body better. It is nice to have an exercise buddy or exercise group. If it is not your life partner (it seldom is), then he/she should be staying near you and attract as a pull. Saying no to a trainer is easy. Saying no to a buddy is embarrassing. Get into the habit. We have enough data to show the relationship between exercise and cognitive ability. US also has a lot of research on lack of cognitive ability and being cheated. What more nudge do you need to take care of your health – it seems to be the ONLY way to keep your wealth in good shape.

Our body responds well even to small changes. They say the body starts the correction process in 20 minutes of giving up smoking. So make small incremental changes, and see how you cognitive ability improves. Clearly your wealth will improve too….