[00:00:00] Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or however you are, or wherever you are. I want to introduce myself. My name is Paul Hamilton, one of the founders of Validus Health, and today I wanna briefly share with you my perspective and some hopeful encouragement that anybody at any time can make small incremental changes.

[00:00:33] They're gonna have long term effects that really make you feel good, have vitality and using the term that sometimes can be overblown, but to have longevity in your life. A little background for me. I am not a doctor. I'm not a scientist. I actually went to business school, but I have a background of almost everyone in my family has some sort of medical experience.

[00:01:00] I have a father that is an emergency room physician. I have a stepmother that's a surgeon. I have an uncle that's a neurosurgeon. I have a stepfather that is a doctor of Oriental medicine, and I'm married to a physician assistant. So basically what I have known is that I don't know anything, but I have people that know what they're talking about.

[00:01:21] That's my joke. But part of it is actually what's given me the ability to look and observe as really many of you are as patient. And who is giving me advice. How do they give advice and what are the nuances? To that advice that will help people and hopefully help you make the right choices and understand and navigate sometimes the crazy world that healthcare and wellness can present itself.

[00:01:49] So one of the ways that I like to talk about things is starting at the basics from the beginning is do you know what it's like to feel good? And when is the last time you have felt good? This is a question that I ask myself often, and what's surprising is when I ask other people, it's of course oh yeah, I know it feels good, but when they really think about it, they have a hard time.

[00:02:18] Knowing what that is or when was the last time they felt it. And one of the, one of the ways observationally and even motivationally is to help people feel good because I have, the belief is if you feel good, you will be good. And I like. The utopian idea that if we are doing good, we're gonna have a better world.

[00:02:43] And we're gonna be better neighbors and we're gonna have a better life. And so I don't want people to continue to feel bad. 'cause when you feel bad, you're not a very good person. I know I'm not, but I don't feel good. I'm short. I'm not very kind. I don't have the motivation to push through and do hard things.

[00:03:03] So I just know that for myself and I believe that in other people. So really, let's start with that question. Do you know how it's like to feel good? And if you don't pay attention. To how you start to feel when you start implementing some of these habits or some of these protocols or some of these ideas that you're probably gathering in this summit.

[00:03:26] And when you do that, you're gonna have this kind of addictive quality of feeling good. And remember what those things are. So when you're feeling good and you're doing these habits that work for you. You'll also recognize when you don't do those and how they affect you. And just being an a, a, an observer of yourself will make a massive impact in how you live your life.

[00:03:55] So how do you feel Good if you don't know how to feel good or you haven't felt good in a long time? Many of us on these summits all generally are gonna be saying foundationally the same things. A little bit of marketing background for me, and so I like to make things that I can remember, but, validus, we have these pillars that we talk about. Validus is vitality. It's awareness of who you are and what's going on. Longevity in a way that it's not that I've foundationally believe that I'm gonna make people live forever. It's that I hope that people will live as long as they can, as well as they can.

[00:04:32] So having a long life is one that's a life well lived. That's our definition of longevity. I do believe that everyone needs to have an individualized plan. We are all unique individuals. Foundational principles are good for the majority, but you need to know a little bit more about yourself. You need to know what makes you click, and you need to be able to then have a plan that matches you.

[00:04:54] I do believe diet is a very important part, not diet to lose weight, not diet, to do this, not, I'm not even a fan of even using the word. Do this diet, but we believe, and you gotta fuel your body with nutrition and diet is the way that you do that. You have to feel fuel, excuse me with things that are appropriate and beneficial for you.

[00:05:17] I do think it's important to have an understanding. I don't think that you have to have a medical degree or a science background to understand a lot of the stuff that's being talked about out in the world of wellness. But you do need to have at least a general understanding what's out there and then how do you interpret this, and then who do you trust so you can have some filters that can help you navigate choices and decisions and who you trust in the world out there. And all of this, the very foundation, if you do all these things, we believe that you want to have a focus of strength.

[00:05:57] That's physical strength, that's mental strength, that's relational strength, and that spiritual strength. By having these pillars in your life, you will have the foundation to feel good. To live a life well lived. And that's an important part for us at Validus and for many of the speakers and many of you on this, you wanna have that foundation and you wanna have a long and good and fulfilling life.

[00:06:26] So what are some of the key components? I briefly touched on this, but one of the things I'm gonna encourage each one of you to do is starting off foundationally, what is your why? You've got to understand why you do the things you do and why you do them. And this cannot be the why that I went to school for this.

[00:06:46] It has to be, I feel at the core, at my ethos as this is what I'm supposed to be doing and why I do the things I do at the core ethos of my life. And what is foundational for me and the motivations for me are my children. I have four young children. I've had amazing life with them so far. We've had amazing adventures.

[00:07:08] It's my greatest gift I. And I can't imagine not wanting to be there for them in all those different aspects, relationally. Spiritually. Physically. So one thing I like to say is if one of my kids asked me to do something in the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years, I want to the best of my ability to be able to say yes.

[00:07:29] That's something that is my motivational why. So therefore, because that's easy for me to filter, why I do the things, it's easy for me to invest in the things that are important, that will help me get there. Know your why. After you know your why, you gotta know who you are. You have to do the deep inventory.

[00:07:49] That's your motivations. And also, I don't think you have to spend a lot of money, but you do need to understand who you are. I'm a big fan of getting some there's some amazing genetics tests out there. We have some at Validus. Many of you have genetics tests, and there's other great companies.

[00:08:07] That's just who you are. You can't really change it. It's good to know that because even though most of us are going to make the greatest impact on our lifestyle, it's really nice when you're making those lifestyle choices based off of who you are. So you can have maximum benefit. It's amazing. When I was running an emergency room in urgent care, when someone would come in and have something wrong, we would ask when's the last time you saw a doctor?

[00:08:30] When's the last time you got some blood work done? And it might've been five, 10 years ago. It's good to get some touch base understanding of where you're at so you have some understanding who you are. Why you do the things you do and then go out and get some of these biomarker tests. I'm a big fan.

[00:08:49] You do it two to four times a year. That way you know the direction you're going, you know where you are, and if there's anything off and that you need to focus on, it gives you an ability to make probably less evasive choices. To address that issue before it becomes a big deal. I do think the next real important factor for many of you is you need a community.

[00:09:12] I think you're here at this summit. This is a community that, that's like-minded, wants row in the same direction. I think it's important for you to have a community that's that locally, whether that is. Locally online a small community online, whether that's you've hired a coach or a physician or a group to help you on your journey, or whether you bring some friends and family into this life that you are trying to cultivate.

[00:09:39] It's hard to do things alone when you're always going against the stream. Have those community members around you once you're going down these pathways, how do you keep it up? You've gotta have moments of celebration. Celebration can be, done for you, however that is. But you need to celebrate the successes.

[00:10:00] And sometimes it doesn't even have to be something you, succ you had a success on. It could just be life is worth celebrating having that a long family dinner where you guys are just laughing and enjoying each other's company. It could be for my family. We love to go on hikes and go on go out to nature.

[00:10:19] Celebrate just the beauty and the ability to do a hike in nature. We were in Colorado last week and got to hike through some beautiful canyons and just very enjoyable time. That was a celebration of life. It was a I encourage you to do it. And the last part of this foundational on how do you start to feel good, how do you start practicing and how do you keep it?

[00:10:46] Sustainable is you have to give yourself some grace. None of us are perfect. There is not a perfect human that can do everything perfect every single day. I do believe there's this 80 20 principle. If you're making the right choices, rowing in the same direction 80% of the time, you likely are going to be one of those people that will be looked on and you can reflect that had a vibrant, healthy, and well lived life. The ones that are have the pain, they never can feel good. It's usually opposite. 80% of their choices are probably not good. They're probably detrimental and they're gonna feel relatively blah. And that's something where I would say it's okay.

[00:11:37] To have days that are just not perfect. You didn't eat perfect. You didn't have the best sleep. You didn't get your right exercise program, but you wanna do it most of the time. Don't beat yourself up if you miss a day. Just start back up the next day. Have some grace for yourself. So I'm trying to keep this nice and short for you 'cause there's so many people that are probably well more applicable and you're excited to listen to.

[00:12:03] But I wanna give you some really clear next steps. How can you start this journey? So really going to that, why write a personal mission statement? Businesses do this all the time. They put it on their walls. Do you have one for yourself? Do you have one where you can tape it on the mirror, put it on your screen on your computer at work?

[00:12:24] So you are always reminded why you do the things you do. I would say do that. Make sure you know why you're doing what you're doing. Then once you know your why, don't overthink the plan. Get started. Momentum is huge. Compounding interest is real. It works in all aspects of life and including your health.

[00:12:46] You want to eliminate, start to eliminate the things that are not healthy for you and start implementing the things that are it will stack. And don't overthink this plan. Make it simple. Start today. I do think whatever that is you need to have some positive momentum. So whatever your, whatever that simple plan is, take that step once you have that step, you're moving. Get some information. I'm a big fan. Get some genetics, get some blood work. We will put a link in there. If you would like it from us we've vetted our stuff. We think it's really good. We'll give a hundred dollars off our genetics tests, our labs that are all done at home so you can get some good information.

[00:13:28] After you get that good information, you can then go back to your plan and start making it a little bit more personal for you. Go get that plan in action. Find some local support, whether that's joining a gym, hiring a coach visiting a doctor. Get that support. And continue to invest. Compounding interest, like I said, is real.

[00:13:51] It's amazing when you look, when you get started on this journey, you'll look back and you're like, I can't believe I'm doing what I'm doing. I was able to run my first a hundred mile race last year, and I had to start with three miles at a time. And many of you have to start just walking around the block.

[00:14:08] You'll get there. All of that said. Enjoy life. Invest fully. Know your why and have a great day.