Walk (or Run) 8 sets of Stairs per Day

I work in a three storey building. To get to the front door, one has to go up two sets of stairs. Inside is an elevator for those less mobile.

To get to my office on the top floor, I need to climb another six sets of stairs. That means, yep, you guessed it, I have to go up a total of 8 sets of stairs to get to my office every morning.

Still nursing a badly torn hamstring (end-of-ball-season injury), I have to take the first few sets carefully but I've got enough spring in my step to get up there at a good clip. Every now and then I succumb to the temptation of taking the elevator and I regret it almost as quickly as the doors shut. It's a waste of electricity and it does me no good at all.

On the grand scale, 8 sets of stairs per day really isn't that much. But for some less mobile folks, it's nearly (or completely) impossible to negotiate. If you're not one of those people, go on... try a set. Go slow at first. Careful not to pull anything or go too fast. Get up and get climbing. You'll feel a whole lot better.

Lose the elevator... Lose the escalator... Bring a bottle of water and take an extra set every day. You'll be surprised how wonderful an exercise it really is.

Always eat breakfast before 8 AM and eat dinner before 8 PM.

Again here this is entirely governed by the career you have. If you work the night shift, well, I guess you should switch the AM with the PM.

And if you're the type that likes steak for breakfast and breakfast for dinner, then march to the beat of that drum.

The point of this is to spread out your meals. It's easy get "too busy to eat" and then try to stuff three meals into one to compensate. And, on days when you get home late, eating a full meal just before bed.

Why spread out our meals? Our bodies don't work like cars. You can't fill up once and not eat for a week. We're more like those solar powered calculators. The second the power source is gone, it starts to fade... quickly.

Have 8 great people in your life.

Always have 8 people in your life that you can call "close" (friends or family, doesn't matter). If you don't have anyone, then my challenging you to find 8 people should be a relief cause, really, when people say "You should go out and meet people... make some friends." they don't specify a number, do they?

Having 8 people in your life gives you pretty good odds one of them will be by the phone when you need them. (Edit: In reading this 7 years after I first wrote it, I giggled. Tell me... who isn't by their phone any more? Let's change this to be "...pretty good odds one of them will spot your text among their social media feeds." Yup, that sounds more appropriate.)

If you have "way more" than 8, ask yourself, how many of those are truly close. If your answer is higher than 8, you are rich beyond your dreams.

I hope you know that.