What if the key to thriving in every area of your life starts with prioritizing your health—before it's too late?
Too often, we wait for a wake-up call—a diagnosis, chronic fatigue, or the realization that we've slowly drifted from vitality—before we start valuing our health. In this inspiring episode, health coach and author Esther Avant unpacks how intentional well-being isn't just about weight loss or gym routines, but about building a sustainable lifestyle that fuels long-term success, happiness, and confidence.
- Learn the powerful mindset shift that helps you view health as an investment in your future self rather than a short-term fix.
- Discover the subtle lifestyle changes that might be silently sabotaging your health—and how to course-correct.
- Get clarity on the six “big rock” habits that offer the most return for your energy, time, and focus—without overwhelm.
Listen now to discover how to reclaim your energy, confidence, and life direction by making health your most powerful success strategy.
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KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:
02:54 - Health as the Catalyst for Life Transformation
05:39 - The Confucius Quote and Health as a Lens for Life
07:18 - Early Signs of Declining Health and Lifestyle Awareness
11:32 - Envisioning Your Future Self to Drive Health Habits
13:57 - Responding to a Health Wake-Up Call
15:21 - Balancing Self-Compassion with Personal Responsibility
19:53 - The Three Pillars: Exercise, Nutrition, and Lifestyle
24:35 - The Power of Small Habits and Sleep’s Ripple Effect
29:48 - Final Reflections, Where to Find Esther, and Parting Advice
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MEMORABLE QUOTE:
"Find a middle ground - it's not about being perfect at any one thing, it's about prioritising the things that are important to you."
˚
VALUABLE RESOURCES:
Esther's website: https://estheravant.com/
Mastery Seekers Tribe: https://masteryseekerstribe.com
˚
🎙️ Want to be a guest?
Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery
˚
Personal development inspiration, insights, and actions to implement for living with purpose.
˚
Personal development, self mastery, and actionable wisdom for personal improvement and living with purpose and fulfilment.
Insights and actionable inspiration to implement for self-mastery, living authentically, living your purpose, cultivating emotional intelligence, building confidence, and living authentically through personal mastery, healthy habits, meditation, mindset shifts, spirituality, wellness, and personal growth - empowering entrepreneurs, leaders, and seekers to embrace happiness and fulfilment.
Join our free community "Mastery Seekers Tribe".
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Agi Keramidas (00:00):
What if the key to thriving in every area of
your life starts withprioritising your health before
it's too late?
Welcome to personal developmentmastery, the podcast that helps
intelligent, busy professionalsdevelop self mastery and
(00:22):
discover their calling so youcan thrive in a fulfilling,
purposeful life. I'm your host,Agi Keramidas, and this is
episode 494 by listening today,you are going to learn the
powerful mindset shift thathelps you view health as an
(00:46):
investment in your future self,rather than a short term fix.
You will also discover thesubtle lifestyle changes that
might be silently sabotage inyour health and how to course
correct before we dive in.
Remember, my fellow masteryseeker, if you want to go deeper
(01:09):
into the episode, join us at ourfree community, the mastery
seekers tribe, for more, go tomastery seekerstribe.com, now
let's get started today. It ismy real pleasure to speak with
Esther avant Esther, you are ahealth industry veteran with
(01:32):
over 20 years of experiencehelping people transform their
lives through fitness, nutritionand personal development. You
are a coach podcast host andauthor, and you are passionate
about empowering individualindividuals to prioritise their
health as the foundation forsuccess in every other aspect of
(01:56):
their life. Esther, I'mdelighted to have this
conversation with you today.
Welcome. Thank
Esther Avant (02:04):
you so much. I'm really happy to be here.
Agi Keramidas (02:08):
I was telling you just before we started recording
out of all the topics health, Imean, what else could be more?
More important, it's one ofthose foundations. So I'm really
excited to have thisconversation, and what I would
like to explore with you todayis exactly this angle of
(02:31):
prioritising us, our health, asthe catalyst for the other life
improvements, rather than seeingit independently or oppositely
or in any other way. I wouldlike to start before we go
there, tell us, was there apivotal moment that made you
(02:53):
realise that health is the keyto success in the other areas of
life?
Esther Avant (02:59):
That's a great question. It happened over the
course of my career helpingpeople lose weight, and my
clients would come to me withvery sort of singular focus and
have their blinders on. All Iwant to do is, have you help me
lose weight. And in the courseof doing that, I would also see
(03:24):
all these other areas of theirlives improving. And this wasn't
a case of, once I've lost theweight, then I'll be happy, etc.
It was more so as they wereseeing the success in their
health, it was spilling overinto the rest of their lives,
and that's when I startedrealising the same, you know,
(03:48):
sort of framework that we use tomake weight loss healthy and
sustainable and long lasting,that can be shaped to apply to
any other type of goal, and itreally felt like this aha moment
where I realised, not only areyou more likely to be happy,
(04:11):
successful, confident in yourjob and in your personal life if
you're healthy, but The pursuitof health will make you more
likely to have all the otherthings that you want as well.
Agi Keramidas (04:27):
This is a great point, absolutely, and the
pursuit of health also. And whenyou were saying that, what came
to me was that you know healthare, or our bodies, are we say,
for, for the, the explanationI'm about to give is the, let's
(04:49):
say, lens, or the vehiclethrough which we experience
life. Therefore, it, it is thevery, it is very essential. Our
experience of life, and if ourbody is unwell, or if it's sick,
can we really experience life inthe way that we are meant to,
(05:14):
and where would be able to? Imean, it's very hard for me to
imagine, you know, living afantastic life while being in
sick. There are exceptions, butI'm talking about, you know, so
it's very important point. I'mglad that we're making it.
Esther Avant (05:34):
Yeah, there's a Confucius quote that I love that
says a healthy person wants 1000things. A sick person only wants
one, and I feel like that justso well summarises exactly how
important health is.
Agi Keramidas (05:50):
And of course, you know very well and with your
course in work that for manypeople, especially, and I will
also share from my own personalexperience. You know, usually
when we are younger, our healthis generally better. When we get
in our 40s or 50s, things startto let's say it doesn't flow as
(06:15):
easily. So if you have a latenight out, then you know, it the
next day. It's not withoutconsequences. So I so many
people pay attention at thattime, but what I would really
like to ask is if we can go backbefore we start noticing things,
(06:40):
or, let's say there are someearly signs that you know the
health is not as it used to be.
What is the I'm not going to askyou about, you know, specific
tactics to do, but I would liketo ask you about, is there a
mindset shift? There thatdifferentiates, you know, the
(07:01):
the value we place on our healthbefore we realise that it's,
it's going, it's going,
Esther Avant (07:13):
my question makes excellent question. Yeah, it
does. And I think part of whatmakes all of this health stuff
hard to prioritise is that it'sso the changes to our health for
the better or the worse, are sogradual that it feels like you
(07:33):
can kind of get away with thingsfor a good long time before you
reach the threshold wherethey're really holding you back,
or whether you get, you know, adiagnosis, or need to go on a
medication or something likethat. So it's this kind of
slippery slope where, yeah, andinitially, we do have kind of
youth on our side, which ishelpful, we also don't tend to
(07:56):
realise the subtle lifestyleshifts that come with becoming a
full fledged adult. And youknow, when you are younger, you
are just generally more active.
Your hobbies are more likely tobe active, especially, you know,
high school, college age. Thenyou get into the workforce, full
time, and suddenly, for mostpeople, you're chained to a desk
40 plus hours a week. There goesa lot of your activity. Then you
add kids into the mix, andyou're no longer really living
(08:19):
for yourself. They're verydemanding on your time, but
also, when they're young, theyforce you to be active. You're
chasing them around and thingslike that. As you get into
middle age now, you are likelymaking more money so you can
afford, you know, kind of thefiner things in life. You can go
to nice restaurants. You canafford the good bottle of wine.
(08:40):
Your kids no longer need as muchof you, so you're not chasing
them around in your downtime.
You've probably progressed inyour career. So the demands on
you know your your time andenergy are greater, and you just
sort of find yourself in a placewhere your lifestyle is much
(09:02):
less healthy than it used to be.
But it wasn't one specific thingthat caused it. It was this sort
of like gradual shift over time,which is part of what makes it
so hard to pick up on before youhave sort of that, that rock
bottom moment of like, whathappened? How did I let this
happen? So I think you know,something that can help is just
having these conversations,listening to conversations like
(09:22):
this, that bring health to theforefront and help you
recognise, I'm not going to bethe exception to that rule. This
is likely what's going to happenin my future, unless I am
intentional about it. But Ithink one thing a mindset that
you can really work onfostering, is spending more time
thinking about the future thatyou want for yourself as we
(09:44):
especially as we have kids, andwe start thinking about our own
mortality. We start thinkingabout our kids being grown and
becoming grandparents andretiring and all these things.
It's really helpful to. Toenvision. What do I want my life
to look like when I'm 60, 7080,and am I living a lifestyle now
(10:07):
that will allow that future formyself? There was a distinct
shift in my own life when Ibecame a mom and I started just
looking at my workoutsdifferently. And instead of it
being kind of this ego based, Iwant to push as hard as I can. I
want to, you know, win or thingslike that. It really became, why
(10:31):
am I doing this? Well, I want tobe able to pick up my son for as
long as he'll let me. I want tobe able to play with him. I want
to be independent when he isolder and I have grandkids. I
want to be able to play withthem. I don't want to get moved
into, you know, an assistedliving facility or feel like I'm
dependent on other people. Iwant to be able to travel when I
(10:53):
retire. I had this whole list ofthings that were about so much
more than that individualworkout and really helped me
learn how to better think longterm. So if something is hurting
during the workout, instead ofpushing through, I'm going to
stop and I'm going to ask, youknow, what does my body actually
need right now? And I thinkmaking that shift from it's not
(11:13):
about what I'm accomplishingtoday or this week, it's not
about how quickly I can loseweight. It's about, where do I
want to see myself in threeyears, in 10 years, in 30 years.
Agi Keramidas (11:27):
This is a fantastic tool to use, so thank
you. Because envision. You usethe word envision and think
about the future. It actuallythe more one does that, the more
they are drawn to it. And when Isay drawn, I mean they will take
the actions that will leadthere, which is, it's something
(11:53):
that you know, for one thatdoesn't always have a
motivation, it serves as a greatreminder of why they're doing
it. The other thing I took noteof what you were saying, and
it's very important, was forpeople to notice the subtle
lifestyle changes that havehappened to them over a long
(12:18):
period of time, years or perhapsdecades. And notice those,
because it is something thatoften it goes unnoticed. I
Esther Avant (12:32):
would touch on, yes, of course, one really quick
thing is there's reallyfascinating research on how we
think about our future selves,and the fact that we tend to
think about our future selvesmore like a stranger than we do
a version of ourselves, and thatdisconnect makes it really hard
(12:54):
to do things that will benefitthat version. Because what do I
care about, you know, doingsomething good for this random
person, right? So exactly whatyou just said, the more time we
spend making those connections,the easier it get. It gets to
then take those actions, andthat benefits you in the short
term as well, because it justhelps you delay gratification
(13:14):
and spend resources in the hereand now that will benefit you
down the road. A simple exampleof that is the night before,
when you're putting away stufffrom dinner, you also portion
out your lunch for the next day.
So many people say, oh, youknow, I just don't have time. I
end up grabbing stuff on the go.
Just that small act. Can thenset your future self up for a
(13:37):
more successful day. And that'sa really great kind of personal
development hack is to startthinking about your future self
as a person that you love andcare about and want to help
succeed.
Agi Keramidas (13:52):
Very nice, absolutely Esther, let's
slightly move them the Agi now,and let's say someone listening
has unfortunately gone past thatprevious stage of realising that
it's time for corrective action,and they find themselves in a
(14:16):
situation that their healthsuddenly is not that great? It
might not be, you know,something devastating. But as
you said, the diagnosis or somekind of need for medication or a
scare, let's say, of some healthcare of some kind. What do you
(14:39):
think are and of course, I willask you right now very
generally, because I know youtalk about the six big rock
habits. So what I wanted to askis, what are the main elements,
or the main aspects one shouldconsider in terms of the.
(15:00):
Health. And you know, there aresome that are very obvious,
like, let's say nutrition wouldcome to most people's mind, but
there are others that are not soobvious. So I would like to hear
your wisdom on this topic. Yeah,
Esther Avant (15:16):
I love this question, and I'll start with
one that I think most peoplereally under recognised, and
that is learning how to balanceself compassion and personal
responsibility, right? So I wantto say to to anyone listening
who is feeling like, like we'redescribing you now, like you
have just sort of let yourhealth go, and it's gotten to a
point that you can't ignore it.
You need to do something, butit's just feeling really
(15:38):
overwhelming. Odds are you'rebeing really hard on yourself,
instead of treating yourselfwith the same compassion you
would give another person.
You're beating yourself up.
You're saying, I can't believe Ilet this happen. I'm so stupid.
I never should have gone solong. I know better being really
mean to yourself, and itsometimes feels like you need
that in order to be motivated tomake a change. But most people
(15:59):
don't. Most people need morekindness and and understanding,
because you will not makelasting change from a place of
hate. So number one, giveyourself compassion. And if
that's hard, it's hard for a lotof us, imagine the situation is
you offering advice to a lovedone and how you would treat
(16:21):
them, and then reflect thosewords back to yourself. The
second piece of that, or kind ofthe flip side of that coin, is
not just focusing on thecompassion, but also deciding
I'm the one who has to dosomething about this. This is my
health, this is my body, this ismy future. I am the only one who
can really make this change. Andit's okay that I am where I am
(16:43):
now, and also it's time to startdoing things differently.
Balancing those two I think, isthe most important thing to
start, because it gets you outof that sort of really black and
white, kind of all or nothingthinking, and just gets you set
forward on don't want to stayhere. Gonna gonna figure out,
you know, what I can do. That'snumber one. Number two, I think
(17:05):
people overlook really often,especially in societies where
they're very individualistic andwe pride ourselves on kind of
being able to be independent, dothings by ourselves, asking for
help is not a sign of weakness.
I consider it a sign of strengthand confidence to say I have a
(17:27):
need. I want to learn something,or I want to change something,
and I'm not exactly sure thebest way to do that. Instead of
spending a lot of time andenergy bumping my head against
the wall and trying to figureout what's what myself who can
help me? Do I want to work witha professional to get guidance
and accountability. Do I want tofind a community of like minded
(17:49):
peers or people who are livingthe lifestyle that I want? How
can Community Help me get to mygoal? So seeking that out,
whether it's in person orvirtually, that can make a huge
difference. And then, to yourpoint, yes, there are also
things that are more impactfulthan others. And I think we
talked about this before we hitrecord, that there's so much
(18:11):
overwhelm out there. We'rebombarded with information, and
because our resources arelimited, we don't want to waste
them on the wrong thing. Andbecause we're getting so much
conflicting information, wedon't know what the right thing
is, so we end up just spinningour wheels. But the reality of
it is, regardless of your goalor exactly what aspect of your
(18:32):
health you're focusing on, thereare a few key behaviours that
are going to generate themajority of your results. And we
don't need to get into specificsnow, but you can think about
your personal goal and kind ofparsing out what's going to be
the most bang for my buck. Iknow from experience that if I
try to do all the things, it'sonly going to last for a little
(18:53):
bit before I drop all the ballsand end up doing nothing again.
So how do I do less, but be havethose things be more impactful,
so that I can get thatconsistency that I need without
it feeling overwhelming, and theresults come from
Agi Keramidas (19:11):
there. I like you know what you just said, that
change is easier to happen whenwe build it gradually, so rather
than changing 10 things in ourroutine. For us, that's not
sustainable, it's recipe fordisaster. And, you know, setting
(19:34):
yourself up for failures. Butwhen you do them one by one, and
you pick up the, you know themomentum in doing it, and you
build on it. You mentioned keybehaviours, and I like very much
the phrase that you use. Can youagain, broadly or like as an
(19:54):
overview? Tell us about them.
Esther Avant (19:59):
I. Yeah, so broadly, I look at sort of three
kind of buckets to exercise,nutrition, lifestyle. I think
lifestyle is the most oftenoverlooked, but can be really,
really impactful, and that thetop priorities there I look at
are sleep, stress management. Iguess this could fall either
into lifestyle or nutrition, butalcohol consumption, and I guess
(20:20):
you could throw smoking in theretoo. Those are things that can
really make a difference. And Ithink that people often don't
really think much about. We tendto wear stress and lack of sleep
almost as badges of honour, whenthe reality is they are really
dangerous in, you know, in achronic term, and they also make
(20:47):
all of the other health stuffharder. So just using sleep as
an example, it has such acascade effect where, if you're
not sleeping enough, or notsleeping well, it's very hard to
get up when you when your alarmgoes off, and that alone has
such a negative impact on yourday that now, from the jump,
from the second your feet hitthe ground, you're scrambling
(21:09):
and you're late and you'refrantic. You're probably not
eating a nutritious breakfast,you're probably not getting any
movement in you're becauseyou're under rested. You're more
likely to rely on caffeineduring the day and then to want
to unwind with alcohol at night,which then impacts your sleep.
The next night, you are morelikely to experience cravings
for hyper palatable, not supernutritious foods. You're less
(21:33):
likely to feel satiated when youdo eat. You're more likely to be
irritable, and, you know, havethat affect your relationships.
It just has this whole cascadeeffect. So if there's, you know,
one thing that would benefit themajority of listeners, it's
sleep, and it's one of thosethings that, like everybody
knows and doesn't want to hear,and that, I think we've talked
(21:53):
about, how people interested inpersonal development will, you
know, read a lot of books andattend seminars. And I think
that's amazing. I do as well.
But you do also need to askyourself, how much of this am I
actually implementing and doingsomething with so if this is
your number one takeaway fromthis episode, and you say
tonight, I am going to bed 30minutes earlier or I am not
going to scroll on my phoneuntil the second I shut my eyes,
(22:16):
that alone could have A hugeimpact on your health. So we've
got lifestyle nutritionallyagain, there's lots of different
schools of thought. There is noone best diet, so I'm not here
to tell you that, generallyspeaking, most people would
benefit from snacking less,eating fewer of those hyper
palatable foods that are so easyto over consume, but don't
provide our body with a lot ofnutrients. If we ate more fibre,
(22:38):
we'd be better off, you know,vegetables, fruits, whole
grains. If we ate more protein,we'd be better off if we drank
more water. Just kind of thosebasic things that, again, we
almost, we almost tell ourselvesit needs to be hard and
complicated or it's not going towork, and then we do nothing
because, Oh, it's too hard andcomplicated. So we got to kind
of that that's the where theresponsibility comes in. We got
(22:59):
to call ourselves out when we'redoing these things and and then
do something differently, andthen exercise wise, again, much
simpler than it might seem. Howoften are you getting up and
walking? Do you have any idea?
You know, how many steps you geta day? Are you sitting or lying
the majority of the day? And howcan you find opportunities, or
create opportunities, to standup and walk more. Are you
(23:23):
getting in a few strengthtraining sessions each week
where you are progressivelyoverloading your muscles to help
yourself get stronger and moremuscular, which is one of the
top priorities as we age. If youwant to be able to open your own
jars and carry your groceriesinto the house and put them away
in the high cupboards. You gotto be strong if you want to be
(23:43):
getting up off the toilet byyourself, which I would say we
all do, then, yeah, you got tobe, got to be doing these things
now and then, one that a lot ofpeople overlook, that ties right
back into the the lifestyle andthe sleep piece is rest and
recovery. A lot of times when wego on like a health kick, we
(24:03):
think, Okay, I'm on Team. Nodays off. I'm doing it. I'm
gonna run every single day, orI'm gonna do this challenge at
the gym, or I'm gonna do a 75hard, and we just run our bodies
into the ground. So it'slearning to challenge yourself
in efficient ways and allow yourbody the time to recover and
(24:24):
actually benefit from the workthat you're doing.
Agi Keramidas (24:30):
That's great. It reminded me now thank you for
the your answer. It reminded meof a book I was reading that was
talking about how to have healthin your latest decades, so your
70s and your 80s to remain likelike in your 50s. And he was
(24:50):
talking, and I will just mentionit, that aerobic exercise, like
running, for example, will helpyou live. Life longer strength
exercise will make that longerlife worth living. And it has
stayed with me, because if youare, you know, extremely frail
(25:12):
and you can't do anything, youcan't walk, and you live into
your 90s, that's many, manyyears of a life that I don't
know it's again, probably takesus back to what you were saying
earlier, about think about whatkind of life you would like to
have, health wise, and envisionit. So I don't know if you
(25:35):
wanted to add something to thisnutrition the way you said, it's
common sense. I like very muchthe approach of common sense in
this. And the other thing, Ilike very much that you gave a
special mention to sleep,because indeed for many people,
(25:58):
that might not be immediatelyrelevant with health. You might
think of other stuff, but notsleep. You gave one nice, simple
advice, go to bed half an hourearlier, which I think it is a
very good beginning. If onedoesn't know where to start in
(26:20):
improving the sleep. It's a verygood first step for me. It has
made a big difference toappreciate my sleep when I
started wearing the hoop device.
And I've been tracking my sleepfor years, and I know very well
what it does and what lack of itdoes, or what disturbance of it
does. So it's it has been veryhelpful for me. I don't know if
(26:43):
there's anything else relevantto all this yesterday, it is.
This topic of health is so broadand we can go through so many
different directions. So I willgive it back to you and see
whether, whether you think thereis something else relevant to
(27:05):
what you were saying that needsto be said now. Yeah,
Esther Avant (27:11):
I think just kind of building on, on what you said
about starting small and andadding things one at a time is,
I know a, I know you've heardthat before, and B, I know you
kind of roll your eyes at it andthink like but I want the
results now. I just want to dowhatever it takes to stop
feeling the way I do now. Andit's so tempting to pile a bunch
(27:35):
of things on and what I want toremind you is you've probably
done that before, and you knowhow it ends. You mentioned, you
know, kind of setting yourselfup for failure by trying to do
all these, you know, these 10things at once. Remind yourself
that repeating the same thingover and over again is unlikely
(27:57):
to get you a different result.
So if you're not happy with thestate of things now and the
results that you've beengetting. What do you have to
lose by by trying to do itdifferently and taking this
slower, more gradual approach?
Worst case, it gets you the samelack of results that you're
getting now. But that's notwhat's going to happen. One of
(28:20):
the most important things isthat you get some confidence
under your belt. Generallyspeaking, the more starts and
stops we have, the more attemptswe make at something that we
then don't follow through on. Itchips away at our self trust and
our belief that it's possiblefor us to be successful. So the
most important thing in thebeginning is that you start
(28:42):
repairing that trust, and youstart developing that belief in
yourself, and that comes fromtaking small actions and not
letting yourself minimise themand say, Oh, it was just going
to bed 30 minutes earlier. Itwas just drinking more water, it
was just a walk. Celebrate thosesmall things, because truly, the
big outcome that you're after isthe byproduct of those small,
(29:05):
day to day actions.
Agi Keramidas (29:08):
Absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more. I
think it is the sum or theculmination of all these little
things are one at another. Theythey add up a little bit. So you
might go to 78% 79% 80 little.
But all of them will create thefinal result, which is, in this
case, your your health, your theway that you enjoy and
(29:33):
appreciate life. Uh, uh, it'ssuch a I'm looking at the time
now Esther, and it's one ofthose conversations that I would
carry on for a few hours. Thereare so many things to explore,
(29:54):
but I find it I've. Found itvery insightful and very useful.
And there were, you know, somethings that I'm very happy that
we mentioned them, because theymight not be immediately obvious
to someone when they think abouttheir health. Two I remember is,
(30:16):
one was the sleep and the otherwas the subtle lifestyle changes
that have happened over theyears, before we start
concluding, where would you liketo direct our listeners that
wants to find out more about youand your work? Thank
Esther Avant (30:37):
you so much for asking. I have a podcast called
to your health. I also wrote abook called to your health, a
lifestyle of health, happinessand confidence that is perfect
for anyone listening who doeshave a health or a weight loss
goal and wants to get into thespecifics of, you know, we
touched on all of like, the thepillars, but who wants to get
into the specifics of, how do Ido these things? What does it
look like? How do I make surethat I'm successful? That's the
(31:00):
place to do it. My website isEsther avant com. You can find
all of the links there. And Ijust wanted to highlight
something you just said aboutthe incremental progress of, you
know, 79% 80% there is athreshold where you start to see
the payoff of what you're doing.
And what's really frustrating isthat most people aren't
operating too far below it. Mostpeople listening aren't, you
(31:22):
know, total total newbies at thehealth stuff. You're probably
making a solid effort to drinkwater and eat well and exercise.
And what's so frustrating isthat we're just below the point
where that starts to pay off.
It's just a little bit moreconsistency with those things
that makes a difference. I liketo think of it as, you know, a
(31:45):
plant that's growing underneaththe dirt and hasn't yet burst
through the surface. It's likeday in and day out, you're
watering that plant, and you'remaking sure it gets the right
amount of sunlight and it's theright temperature, and you're
really caring for it, eventhough you have no idea when and
if it's going to bloom. And thenone day it does. So it's
(32:05):
nothing, nothing, nothing,nothing. Now something is burst
through the surface. And it'ssimilar with our health
progress, that there is a stagewhere you just need to keep
doing the things, even thoughyou don't have any evidence that
they're working yet. And thenthose subtle improvements start
to be noticeable. First you cansort of feel them, and
eventually you can see them, andother people can see them. But
(32:25):
just keep in mind that if youhaven't gotten there yet, it's
not because it's not going tohappen. It's just that you need
to dial in that consistency, andyou need to be in it for in it
for longer.
Agi Keramidas (32:37):
I like the analogy of the plant and yeah,
let's also remember thatdeterioration in health did not
happen immediately. It took along time to get there, so
fixing it might also take it. Itmight be reasonable to expect
that it might not happenovernight. So yes, it might, but
(32:57):
let's not count on it
Esther Avant (32:59):
exactly.
Agi Keramidas (33:02):
A I said, I have two quick questions also to ask
you, and my first one is, whatdoes personal development mean
to you?
Esther Avant (33:14):
That's a great question. I think it means a
commitment to growing as aperson as I live my life, not
getting complacent or thinkingthat the way things are now is
how they will always be or haveto be, and actively choosing to
challenge myself very often getuncomfortable and be intentional
(33:40):
with my thoughts, my time, myenergy, and creating the version
of myself and the future formyself that I want
Agi Keramidas (33:53):
that's great. And let's say, hypothetically
speaking, you could go back intime and meet your 18 year old
self, what's one piece of adviceyou would give her?
Esther Avant (34:07):
Oh, my goodness, that's a great question. It's
funny. There's something similarthat's just gone viral on social
media right now is, you know, Imet my my 18 year old self for
coffee, and here's what I said.
That's really interesting. Okay,my 18 year old self, I would
say, when I was 18, I was newlyexercising, really paying
(34:29):
attention to my nutrition, andwould experience close to a
decade of kind of imbalance,fluctuating from like one
extreme to the other bingeingand restricting over exercising,
under exercising, that sort ofthing. So I think what I would
try to instil in my 18 year oldself is the importance of
(34:51):
moderation and finding a middleground that it's not about.
About being perfect at any onething. It's about prioritising
the things that were importantto me, which goes well beyond
what I look like, what I do, forworkouts, what I eat. And I
(35:12):
think having that little bit ofwisdom as a teenager probably
would have expedited my myprocess of finding that in my
late 20s,
Agi Keramidas (35:26):
that's great.
Esther, I want to thank you verymuch for this wonderful
conversation and very useful Ibelieve. I want to wish you the
very best with your life, bothpersonally and professionally,
with you know, helping yourhelping people with what you do,
which is, as we said, so,foundational. What's more
(35:50):
important than health? I willleave it to you for your parting
words, or any parting wisdom, ifyou want. For the listeners,
Esther Avant (36:04):
I think my my parting wisdom would be to find
something in this episode totake action on. Let this, this
conversation, serve as acatalyst for you, and don't let
it be just something that goesin one ear out the other and
kind of hypes you up for aminute, but actually do
something with it.
Agi Keramidas (36:26):
I hope you have found this episode enlightening.
If you've been resonating withthese conversations and feel
like you are at the crossroadsin your life, I offer Private
one to one coaching to help yougain clarity and step into your
next chapter with confidence. Ifthat sounds interesting, reach
(36:49):
out to me and let's chat anduntil next time, Stand out don't
fit in you.
What if the key to thriving in every area of
your life starts withprioritising your health before
it's too late?
Welcome to personal developmentmastery, the podcast that helps
intelligent, busy professionalsdevelop self mastery and
(00:22):
discover their calling so youcan thrive in a fulfilling,
purposeful life. I'm your host,Agi Keramidas, and this is
episode 494 by listening today,you are going to learn the
powerful mindset shift thathelps you view health as an
(00:46):
investment in your future self,rather than a short term fix.
You will also discover thesubtle lifestyle changes that
might be silently sabotage inyour health and how to course
correct before we dive in.
Remember, my fellow masteryseeker, if you want to go deeper
(01:09):
into the episode, join us at ourfree community, the mastery
seekers tribe, for more, go tomastery seekerstribe.com, now
let's get started today. It ismy real pleasure to speak with
Esther avant Esther, you are ahealth industry veteran with
(01:32):
over 20 years of experiencehelping people transform their
lives through fitness, nutritionand personal development. You
are a coach podcast host andauthor, and you are passionate
about empowering individualindividuals to prioritise their
health as the foundation forsuccess in every other aspect of
(01:56):
their life. Esther, I'mdelighted to have this
conversation with you today.
Welcome. Thank
Esther Avant (02:04):
you so much. I'm really happy to be here.
Agi Keramidas (02:08):
I was telling you just before we started recording
out of all the topics health, Imean, what else could be more?
More important, it's one ofthose foundations. So I'm really
excited to have thisconversation, and what I would
like to explore with you todayis exactly this angle of
(02:31):
prioritising us, our health, asthe catalyst for the other life
improvements, rather than seeingit independently or oppositely
or in any other way. I wouldlike to start before we go
there, tell us, was there apivotal moment that made you
(02:53):
realise that health is the keyto success in the other areas of
life?
Esther Avant (02:59):
That's a great question. It happened over the
course of my career helpingpeople lose weight, and my
clients would come to me withvery sort of singular focus and
have their blinders on. All Iwant to do is, have you help me
lose weight. And in the courseof doing that, I would also see
(03:24):
all these other areas of theirlives improving. And this wasn't
a case of, once I've lost theweight, then I'll be happy, etc.
It was more so as they wereseeing the success in their
health, it was spilling overinto the rest of their lives,
and that's when I startedrealising the same, you know,
(03:48):
sort of framework that we use tomake weight loss healthy and
sustainable and long lasting,that can be shaped to apply to
any other type of goal, and itreally felt like this aha moment
where I realised, not only areyou more likely to be happy,
(04:11):
successful, confident in yourjob and in your personal life if
you're healthy, but The pursuitof health will make you more
likely to have all the otherthings that you want as well.
Agi Keramidas (04:27):
This is a great point, absolutely, and the
pursuit of health also. And whenyou were saying that, what came
to me was that you know healthare, or our bodies, are we say,
for, for the, the explanationI'm about to give is the, let's
(04:49):
say, lens, or the vehiclethrough which we experience
life. Therefore, it, it is thevery, it is very essential. Our
experience of life, and if ourbody is unwell, or if it's sick,
can we really experience life inthe way that we are meant to,
(05:14):
and where would be able to? Imean, it's very hard for me to
imagine, you know, living afantastic life while being in
sick. There are exceptions, butI'm talking about, you know, so
it's very important point. I'mglad that we're making it.
Esther Avant (05:34):
Yeah, there's a Confucius quote that I love that
says a healthy person wants 1000things. A sick person only wants
one, and I feel like that justso well summarises exactly how
important health is.
Agi Keramidas (05:50):
And of course, you know very well and with your
course in work that for manypeople, especially, and I will
also share from my own personalexperience. You know, usually
when we are younger, our healthis generally better. When we get
in our 40s or 50s, things startto let's say it doesn't flow as
(06:15):
easily. So if you have a latenight out, then you know, it the
next day. It's not withoutconsequences. So I so many
people pay attention at thattime, but what I would really
like to ask is if we can go backbefore we start noticing things,
(06:40):
or, let's say there are someearly signs that you know the
health is not as it used to be.
What is the I'm not going to askyou about, you know, specific
tactics to do, but I would liketo ask you about, is there a
mindset shift? There thatdifferentiates, you know, the
(07:01):
the value we place on our healthbefore we realise that it's,
it's going, it's going,
Esther Avant (07:13):
my question makes excellent question. Yeah, it
does. And I think part of whatmakes all of this health stuff
hard to prioritise is that it'sso the changes to our health for
the better or the worse, are sogradual that it feels like you
(07:33):
can kind of get away with thingsfor a good long time before you
reach the threshold wherethey're really holding you back,
or whether you get, you know, adiagnosis, or need to go on a
medication or something likethat. So it's this kind of
slippery slope where, yeah, andinitially, we do have kind of
youth on our side, which ishelpful, we also don't tend to
(07:56):
realise the subtle lifestyleshifts that come with becoming a
full fledged adult. And youknow, when you are younger, you
are just generally more active.
Your hobbies are more likely tobe active, especially, you know,
high school, college age. Thenyou get into the workforce, full
time, and suddenly, for mostpeople, you're chained to a desk
40 plus hours a week. There goesa lot of your activity. Then you
add kids into the mix, andyou're no longer really living
(08:19):
for yourself. They're verydemanding on your time, but
also, when they're young, theyforce you to be active. You're
chasing them around and thingslike that. As you get into
middle age now, you are likelymaking more money so you can
afford, you know, kind of thefiner things in life. You can go
to nice restaurants. You canafford the good bottle of wine.
(08:40):
Your kids no longer need as muchof you, so you're not chasing
them around in your downtime.
You've probably progressed inyour career. So the demands on
you know your your time andenergy are greater, and you just
sort of find yourself in a placewhere your lifestyle is much
(09:02):
less healthy than it used to be.
But it wasn't one specific thingthat caused it. It was this sort
of like gradual shift over time,which is part of what makes it
so hard to pick up on before youhave sort of that, that rock
bottom moment of like, whathappened? How did I let this
happen? So I think you know,something that can help is just
having these conversations,listening to conversations like
(09:22):
this, that bring health to theforefront and help you
recognise, I'm not going to bethe exception to that rule. This
is likely what's going to happenin my future, unless I am
intentional about it. But Ithink one thing a mindset that
you can really work onfostering, is spending more time
thinking about the future thatyou want for yourself as we
(09:44):
especially as we have kids, andwe start thinking about our own
mortality. We start thinkingabout our kids being grown and
becoming grandparents andretiring and all these things.
It's really helpful to. Toenvision. What do I want my life
to look like when I'm 60, 7080,and am I living a lifestyle now
(10:07):
that will allow that future formyself? There was a distinct
shift in my own life when Ibecame a mom and I started just
looking at my workoutsdifferently. And instead of it
being kind of this ego based, Iwant to push as hard as I can. I
want to, you know, win or thingslike that. It really became, why
(10:31):
am I doing this? Well, I want tobe able to pick up my son for as
long as he'll let me. I want tobe able to play with him. I want
to be independent when he isolder and I have grandkids. I
want to be able to play withthem. I don't want to get moved
into, you know, an assistedliving facility or feel like I'm
dependent on other people. Iwant to be able to travel when I
(10:53):
retire. I had this whole list ofthings that were about so much
more than that individualworkout and really helped me
learn how to better think longterm. So if something is hurting
during the workout, instead ofpushing through, I'm going to
stop and I'm going to ask, youknow, what does my body actually
need right now? And I thinkmaking that shift from it's not
(11:13):
about what I'm accomplishingtoday or this week, it's not
about how quickly I can loseweight. It's about, where do I
want to see myself in threeyears, in 10 years, in 30 years.
Agi Keramidas (11:27):
This is a fantastic tool to use, so thank
you. Because envision. You usethe word envision and think
about the future. It actuallythe more one does that, the more
they are drawn to it. And when Isay drawn, I mean they will take
the actions that will leadthere, which is, it's something
(11:53):
that you know, for one thatdoesn't always have a
motivation, it serves as a greatreminder of why they're doing
it. The other thing I took noteof what you were saying, and
it's very important, was forpeople to notice the subtle
lifestyle changes that havehappened to them over a long
(12:18):
period of time, years or perhapsdecades. And notice those,
because it is something thatoften it goes unnoticed. I
Esther Avant (12:32):
would touch on, yes, of course, one really quick
thing is there's reallyfascinating research on how we
think about our future selves,and the fact that we tend to
think about our future selvesmore like a stranger than we do
a version of ourselves, and thatdisconnect makes it really hard
(12:54):
to do things that will benefitthat version. Because what do I
care about, you know, doingsomething good for this random
person, right? So exactly whatyou just said, the more time we
spend making those connections,the easier it get. It gets to
then take those actions, andthat benefits you in the short
term as well, because it justhelps you delay gratification
(13:14):
and spend resources in the hereand now that will benefit you
down the road. A simple exampleof that is the night before,
when you're putting away stufffrom dinner, you also portion
out your lunch for the next day.
So many people say, oh, youknow, I just don't have time. I
end up grabbing stuff on the go.
Just that small act. Can thenset your future self up for a
(13:37):
more successful day. And that'sa really great kind of personal
development hack is to startthinking about your future self
as a person that you love andcare about and want to help
succeed.
Agi Keramidas (13:52):
Very nice, absolutely Esther, let's
slightly move them the Agi now,and let's say someone listening
has unfortunately gone past thatprevious stage of realising that
it's time for corrective action,and they find themselves in a
(14:16):
situation that their healthsuddenly is not that great? It
might not be, you know,something devastating. But as
you said, the diagnosis or somekind of need for medication or a
scare, let's say, of some healthcare of some kind. What do you
(14:39):
think are and of course, I willask you right now very
generally, because I know youtalk about the six big rock
habits. So what I wanted to askis, what are the main elements,
or the main aspects one shouldconsider in terms of the.
(15:00):
Health. And you know, there aresome that are very obvious,
like, let's say nutrition wouldcome to most people's mind, but
there are others that are not soobvious. So I would like to hear
your wisdom on this topic. Yeah,
Esther Avant (15:16):
I love this question, and I'll start with
one that I think most peoplereally under recognised, and
that is learning how to balanceself compassion and personal
responsibility, right? So I wantto say to to anyone listening
who is feeling like, like we'redescribing you now, like you
have just sort of let yourhealth go, and it's gotten to a
point that you can't ignore it.
You need to do something, butit's just feeling really
(15:38):
overwhelming. Odds are you'rebeing really hard on yourself,
instead of treating yourselfwith the same compassion you
would give another person.
You're beating yourself up.
You're saying, I can't believe Ilet this happen. I'm so stupid.
I never should have gone solong. I know better being really
mean to yourself, and itsometimes feels like you need
that in order to be motivated tomake a change. But most people
(15:59):
don't. Most people need morekindness and and understanding,
because you will not makelasting change from a place of
hate. So number one, giveyourself compassion. And if
that's hard, it's hard for a lotof us, imagine the situation is
you offering advice to a lovedone and how you would treat
(16:21):
them, and then reflect thosewords back to yourself. The
second piece of that, or kind ofthe flip side of that coin, is
not just focusing on thecompassion, but also deciding
I'm the one who has to dosomething about this. This is my
health, this is my body, this ismy future. I am the only one who
can really make this change. Andit's okay that I am where I am
(16:43):
now, and also it's time to startdoing things differently.
Balancing those two I think, isthe most important thing to
start, because it gets you outof that sort of really black and
white, kind of all or nothingthinking, and just gets you set
forward on don't want to stayhere. Gonna gonna figure out,
you know, what I can do. That'snumber one. Number two, I think
(17:05):
people overlook really often,especially in societies where
they're very individualistic andwe pride ourselves on kind of
being able to be independent, dothings by ourselves, asking for
help is not a sign of weakness.
I consider it a sign of strengthand confidence to say I have a
(17:27):
need. I want to learn something,or I want to change something,
and I'm not exactly sure thebest way to do that. Instead of
spending a lot of time andenergy bumping my head against
the wall and trying to figureout what's what myself who can
help me? Do I want to work witha professional to get guidance
and accountability. Do I want tofind a community of like minded
(17:49):
peers or people who are livingthe lifestyle that I want? How
can Community Help me get to mygoal? So seeking that out,
whether it's in person orvirtually, that can make a huge
difference. And then, to yourpoint, yes, there are also
things that are more impactfulthan others. And I think we
talked about this before we hitrecord, that there's so much
(18:11):
overwhelm out there. We'rebombarded with information, and
because our resources arelimited, we don't want to waste
them on the wrong thing. Andbecause we're getting so much
conflicting information, wedon't know what the right thing
is, so we end up just spinningour wheels. But the reality of
it is, regardless of your goalor exactly what aspect of your
(18:32):
health you're focusing on, thereare a few key behaviours that
are going to generate themajority of your results. And we
don't need to get into specificsnow, but you can think about
your personal goal and kind ofparsing out what's going to be
the most bang for my buck. Iknow from experience that if I
try to do all the things, it'sonly going to last for a little
(18:53):
bit before I drop all the ballsand end up doing nothing again.
So how do I do less, but be havethose things be more impactful,
so that I can get thatconsistency that I need without
it feeling overwhelming, and theresults come from
Agi Keramidas (19:11):
there. I like you know what you just said, that
change is easier to happen whenwe build it gradually, so rather
than changing 10 things in ourroutine. For us, that's not
sustainable, it's recipe fordisaster. And, you know, setting
(19:34):
yourself up for failures. Butwhen you do them one by one, and
you pick up the, you know themomentum in doing it, and you
build on it. You mentioned keybehaviours, and I like very much
the phrase that you use. Can youagain, broadly or like as an
(19:54):
overview? Tell us about them.
Esther Avant (19:59):
I. Yeah, so broadly, I look at sort of three
kind of buckets to exercise,nutrition, lifestyle. I think
lifestyle is the most oftenoverlooked, but can be really,
really impactful, and that thetop priorities there I look at
are sleep, stress management. Iguess this could fall either
into lifestyle or nutrition, butalcohol consumption, and I guess
(20:20):
you could throw smoking in theretoo. Those are things that can
really make a difference. And Ithink that people often don't
really think much about. We tendto wear stress and lack of sleep
almost as badges of honour, whenthe reality is they are really
dangerous in, you know, in achronic term, and they also make
(20:47):
all of the other health stuffharder. So just using sleep as
an example, it has such acascade effect where, if you're
not sleeping enough, or notsleeping well, it's very hard to
get up when you when your alarmgoes off, and that alone has
such a negative impact on yourday that now, from the jump,
from the second your feet hitthe ground, you're scrambling
(21:09):
and you're late and you'refrantic. You're probably not
eating a nutritious breakfast,you're probably not getting any
movement in you're becauseyou're under rested. You're more
likely to rely on caffeineduring the day and then to want
to unwind with alcohol at night,which then impacts your sleep.
The next night, you are morelikely to experience cravings
for hyper palatable, not supernutritious foods. You're less
(21:33):
likely to feel satiated when youdo eat. You're more likely to be
irritable, and, you know, havethat affect your relationships.
It just has this whole cascadeeffect. So if there's, you know,
one thing that would benefit themajority of listeners, it's
sleep, and it's one of thosethings that, like everybody
knows and doesn't want to hear,and that, I think we've talked
(21:53):
about, how people interested inpersonal development will, you
know, read a lot of books andattend seminars. And I think
that's amazing. I do as well.
But you do also need to askyourself, how much of this am I
actually implementing and doingsomething with so if this is
your number one takeaway fromthis episode, and you say
tonight, I am going to bed 30minutes earlier or I am not
going to scroll on my phoneuntil the second I shut my eyes,
(22:16):
that alone could have A hugeimpact on your health. So we've
got lifestyle nutritionallyagain, there's lots of different
schools of thought. There is noone best diet, so I'm not here
to tell you that, generallyspeaking, most people would
benefit from snacking less,eating fewer of those hyper
palatable foods that are so easyto over consume, but don't
provide our body with a lot ofnutrients. If we ate more fibre,
(22:38):
we'd be better off, you know,vegetables, fruits, whole
grains. If we ate more protein,we'd be better off if we drank
more water. Just kind of thosebasic things that, again, we
almost, we almost tell ourselvesit needs to be hard and
complicated or it's not going towork, and then we do nothing
because, Oh, it's too hard andcomplicated. So we got to kind
of that that's the where theresponsibility comes in. We got
(22:59):
to call ourselves out when we'redoing these things and and then
do something differently, andthen exercise wise, again, much
simpler than it might seem. Howoften are you getting up and
walking? Do you have any idea?
You know, how many steps you geta day? Are you sitting or lying
the majority of the day? And howcan you find opportunities, or
create opportunities, to standup and walk more. Are you
(23:23):
getting in a few strengthtraining sessions each week
where you are progressivelyoverloading your muscles to help
yourself get stronger and moremuscular, which is one of the
top priorities as we age. If youwant to be able to open your own
jars and carry your groceriesinto the house and put them away
in the high cupboards. You gotto be strong if you want to be
(23:43):
getting up off the toilet byyourself, which I would say we
all do, then, yeah, you got tobe, got to be doing these things
now and then, one that a lot ofpeople overlook, that ties right
back into the the lifestyle andthe sleep piece is rest and
recovery. A lot of times when wego on like a health kick, we
(24:03):
think, Okay, I'm on Team. Nodays off. I'm doing it. I'm
gonna run every single day, orI'm gonna do this challenge at
the gym, or I'm gonna do a 75hard, and we just run our bodies
into the ground. So it'slearning to challenge yourself
in efficient ways and allow yourbody the time to recover and
(24:24):
actually benefit from the workthat you're doing.
Agi Keramidas (24:30):
That's great. It reminded me now thank you for
the your answer. It reminded meof a book I was reading that was
talking about how to have healthin your latest decades, so your
70s and your 80s to remain likelike in your 50s. And he was
(24:50):
talking, and I will just mentionit, that aerobic exercise, like
running, for example, will helpyou live. Life longer strength
exercise will make that longerlife worth living. And it has
stayed with me, because if youare, you know, extremely frail
(25:12):
and you can't do anything, youcan't walk, and you live into
your 90s, that's many, manyyears of a life that I don't
know it's again, probably takesus back to what you were saying
earlier, about think about whatkind of life you would like to
have, health wise, and envisionit. So I don't know if you
(25:35):
wanted to add something to thisnutrition the way you said, it's
common sense. I like very muchthe approach of common sense in
this. And the other thing, Ilike very much that you gave a
special mention to sleep,because indeed for many people,
(25:58):
that might not be immediatelyrelevant with health. You might
think of other stuff, but notsleep. You gave one nice, simple
advice, go to bed half an hourearlier, which I think it is a
very good beginning. If onedoesn't know where to start in
(26:20):
improving the sleep. It's a verygood first step for me. It has
made a big difference toappreciate my sleep when I
started wearing the hoop device.
And I've been tracking my sleepfor years, and I know very well
what it does and what lack of itdoes, or what disturbance of it
does. So it's it has been veryhelpful for me. I don't know if
(26:43):
there's anything else relevantto all this yesterday, it is.
This topic of health is so broadand we can go through so many
different directions. So I willgive it back to you and see
whether, whether you think thereis something else relevant to
(27:05):
what you were saying that needsto be said now. Yeah,
Esther Avant (27:11):
I think just kind of building on, on what you said
about starting small and andadding things one at a time is,
I know a, I know you've heardthat before, and B, I know you
kind of roll your eyes at it andthink like but I want the
results now. I just want to dowhatever it takes to stop
feeling the way I do now. Andit's so tempting to pile a bunch
(27:35):
of things on and what I want toremind you is you've probably
done that before, and you knowhow it ends. You mentioned, you
know, kind of setting yourselfup for failure by trying to do
all these, you know, these 10things at once. Remind yourself
that repeating the same thingover and over again is unlikely
(27:57):
to get you a different result.
So if you're not happy with thestate of things now and the
results that you've beengetting. What do you have to
lose by by trying to do itdifferently and taking this
slower, more gradual approach?
Worst case, it gets you the samelack of results that you're
getting now. But that's notwhat's going to happen. One of
(28:20):
the most important things isthat you get some confidence
under your belt. Generallyspeaking, the more starts and
stops we have, the more attemptswe make at something that we
then don't follow through on. Itchips away at our self trust and
our belief that it's possiblefor us to be successful. So the
most important thing in thebeginning is that you start
(28:42):
repairing that trust, and youstart developing that belief in
yourself, and that comes fromtaking small actions and not
letting yourself minimise themand say, Oh, it was just going
to bed 30 minutes earlier. Itwas just drinking more water, it
was just a walk. Celebrate thosesmall things, because truly, the
big outcome that you're after isthe byproduct of those small,
(29:05):
day to day actions.
Agi Keramidas (29:08):
Absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more. I
think it is the sum or theculmination of all these little
things are one at another. Theythey add up a little bit. So you
might go to 78% 79% 80 little.
But all of them will create thefinal result, which is, in this
case, your your health, your theway that you enjoy and
(29:33):
appreciate life. Uh, uh, it'ssuch a I'm looking at the time
now Esther, and it's one ofthose conversations that I would
carry on for a few hours. Thereare so many things to explore,
(29:54):
but I find it I've. Found itvery insightful and very useful.
And there were, you know, somethings that I'm very happy that
we mentioned them, because theymight not be immediately obvious
to someone when they think abouttheir health. Two I remember is,
(30:16):
one was the sleep and the otherwas the subtle lifestyle changes
that have happened over theyears, before we start
concluding, where would you liketo direct our listeners that
wants to find out more about youand your work? Thank
Esther Avant (30:37):
you so much for asking. I have a podcast called
to your health. I also wrote abook called to your health, a
lifestyle of health, happinessand confidence that is perfect
for anyone listening who doeshave a health or a weight loss
goal and wants to get into thespecifics of, you know, we
touched on all of like, the thepillars, but who wants to get
into the specifics of, how do Ido these things? What does it
look like? How do I make surethat I'm successful? That's the
(31:00):
place to do it. My website isEsther avant com. You can find
all of the links there. And Ijust wanted to highlight
something you just said aboutthe incremental progress of, you
know, 79% 80% there is athreshold where you start to see
the payoff of what you're doing.
And what's really frustrating isthat most people aren't
operating too far below it. Mostpeople listening aren't, you
(31:22):
know, total total newbies at thehealth stuff. You're probably
making a solid effort to drinkwater and eat well and exercise.
And what's so frustrating isthat we're just below the point
where that starts to pay off.
It's just a little bit moreconsistency with those things
that makes a difference. I liketo think of it as, you know, a
(31:45):
plant that's growing underneaththe dirt and hasn't yet burst
through the surface. It's likeday in and day out, you're
watering that plant, and you'remaking sure it gets the right
amount of sunlight and it's theright temperature, and you're
really caring for it, eventhough you have no idea when and
if it's going to bloom. And thenone day it does. So it's
(32:05):
nothing, nothing, nothing,nothing. Now something is burst
through the surface. And it'ssimilar with our health
progress, that there is a stagewhere you just need to keep
doing the things, even thoughyou don't have any evidence that
they're working yet. And thenthose subtle improvements start
to be noticeable. First you cansort of feel them, and
eventually you can see them, andother people can see them. But
(32:25):
just keep in mind that if youhaven't gotten there yet, it's
not because it's not going tohappen. It's just that you need
to dial in that consistency, andyou need to be in it for in it
for longer.
Agi Keramidas (32:37):
I like the analogy of the plant and yeah,
let's also remember thatdeterioration in health did not
happen immediately. It took along time to get there, so
fixing it might also take it. Itmight be reasonable to expect
that it might not happenovernight. So yes, it might, but
(32:57):
let's not count on it
Esther Avant (32:59):
exactly.
Agi Keramidas (33:02):
A I said, I have two quick questions also to ask
you, and my first one is, whatdoes personal development mean
to you?
Esther Avant (33:14):
That's a great question. I think it means a
commitment to growing as aperson as I live my life, not
getting complacent or thinkingthat the way things are now is
how they will always be or haveto be, and actively choosing to
challenge myself very often getuncomfortable and be intentional
(33:40):
with my thoughts, my time, myenergy, and creating the version
of myself and the future formyself that I want
Agi Keramidas (33:53):
that's great. And let's say, hypothetically
speaking, you could go back intime and meet your 18 year old
self, what's one piece of adviceyou would give her?
Esther Avant (34:07):
Oh, my goodness, that's a great question. It's
funny. There's something similarthat's just gone viral on social
media right now is, you know, Imet my my 18 year old self for
coffee, and here's what I said.
That's really interesting. Okay,my 18 year old self, I would
say, when I was 18, I was newlyexercising, really paying
(34:29):
attention to my nutrition, andwould experience close to a
decade of kind of imbalance,fluctuating from like one
extreme to the other bingeingand restricting over exercising,
under exercising, that sort ofthing. So I think what I would
try to instil in my 18 year oldself is the importance of
(34:51):
moderation and finding a middleground that it's not about.
About being perfect at any onething. It's about prioritising
the things that were importantto me, which goes well beyond
what I look like, what I do, forworkouts, what I eat. And I
(35:12):
think having that little bit ofwisdom as a teenager probably
would have expedited my myprocess of finding that in my
late 20s,
Agi Keramidas (35:26):
that's great.
Esther, I want to thank you verymuch for this wonderful
conversation and very useful Ibelieve. I want to wish you the
very best with your life, bothpersonally and professionally,
with you know, helping yourhelping people with what you do,
which is, as we said, so,foundational. What's more
(35:50):
important than health? I willleave it to you for your parting
words, or any parting wisdom, ifyou want. For the listeners,
Esther Avant (36:04):
I think my my parting wisdom would be to find
something in this episode totake action on. Let this, this
conversation, serve as acatalyst for you, and don't let
it be just something that goesin one ear out the other and
kind of hypes you up for aminute, but actually do
something with it.
Agi Keramidas (36:26):
I hope you have found this episode enlightening.
If you've been resonating withthese conversations and feel
like you are at the crossroadsin your life, I offer Private
one to one coaching to help yougain clarity and step into your
next chapter with confidence. Ifthat sounds interesting, reach
(36:49):
out to me and let's chat anduntil next time, Stand out don't
fit in you.
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