For Men—Is health and fitness the new currency?

Ok readers, stay with me on this one until the end, I promise I will get to the point.  A somewhat popular social game/experiment people play now is, “who did better?”  For those not familiar, this is where you see a couple and decide which one you think got the better deal with their spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend.    Some of you may think this is shallow, immature, unkind, etc.  However, society DOES judge people, there are winners and losers at everything in life, and life IS a competition.  So this is our reality and if you want to win, you better understand it.

Anyway, one would think that people would look to see who is tall, skinny, good looking etc.  However, on many occasions in the past, I’ve heard people make comments to support their judgment and evaluation of the guy by saying:  he has a Rolex on, look at the ROCK on her finger—winning!, he looks well off, or check out the car!   Basically many of the comments focus on assessment of the guy’s monetary status.  Most have agreed that the ability to support someone and provide for a family is an issue on the mind when thinking about the future.  Women are more advanced than men in this manner and assess far more about a potential mate in making their decisions.  Most men pretty much make the scientific caveman assessment, “girl pretty, smell good,…<grunt>”.  Sadly we are that simple sometimes.

I’ve more recently heard many people talk about others in very physical and health related terms.  I don’t mean that they talked about how “hot” someone is, but rather that they are in good shape (note: good shape is not what Hollywood defines), look like they take care of themselves, obviously work out, are athletic etc.  They believe that if their “prospect” isn’t healthy or fit, that they have a reduced capacity for earning, a reduced capacity for contributing to them or their kids one day, how long they may live, and a variety of other things.  To me it’s a GOOD THING to start putting more value on health and fitness and what it represents as an asset when looking at others.  If more people would do this, we would see a huge change in our medical costs, disease, and many other issues.

So why am I rambling about all of this?  Is health and fitness the new currency?  Do some people still look at wealth or monetary assets as being a judgment of their appeal or worth to the other person?…. yep.  Do some people just review “looks”?…..fewer and less people are actually.  Instead, they look at the bigger picture.  The real surprise for some and the real “growth area” is in people increasingly looking at someone’s health and fitness.  If we think about it, it makes sense and not just for evaluating a “prospect” in regards to a new relationship or when looking at a couple and trying to figure out “who did better?” but also when evaluating new employees, new partners, service providers, business ventures etc.  How you take care of yourself and your health and fitness is now perceived as a representation of how you approach everything else in life too.   If a person can’t even take care of your own health and fitness, then how can we trust them with our money, our family or our business?  So today, more than ever, health and fitness IS the new currency…. it is the new consideration for being “well off”, it is an image or sign of what and who you are, and it’s a symbol that you are likely competitive and are prone to winning at what you do by taking control of it!  So, guys if you haven’t already, it’s time to wake up and do something to keep up.  If you want to compete and win in the marketplace…. not just with women’s assessments of you, but also for business, you better focus on your health and fitness.  Good Luck!

For more information on Health, Fitness and Safety, please email Jeff Dousharm at JDousharm@windstream.net.