Category: Uncategorized

• What is the best way to stay fit?

  

  I used to be a personal trainer, and I’ve been a fitness enthusiast for around 10 years.

  I’ve learned that most people’s version of “Fit” is not fit at all.

  For example, if you’ve ever been to a commercial gym, you’d have seen the meat heads clearly on a boatload of steroids.

  The common misperception is that having more muscle means being healthier.

  It doesn’t. And trying to gain muscle to no end resulted in me having to undergo 2 wrist surgeries in a year.

  

  From experience, to stay fit, you must do the following:

  Lift weights but stay injury-free

  When you’re injured, life isn’t fun. Chronic pain is debilitating; I know I’ve been there.

  Stay fit by working out 2 or 3 times per week with weights, but make sure your form is perfect and don’t lift too heavy.

  I would hate for you to get injured.

  To avoid injury, always make sure you can control the weights you lift.

  I tore my wrist ligament from descending too fast while doing weighted pull-ups.

  I’ve been in pain for 2 years, but I’m recovering from my second surgery now.

  Don’t neglect cardio

  Lifting weights is essential for maintaining strength and reducing the risk of osteoporosis later in life.

  But it’s also just as essential to maintain good cardiovascular health.

  On the days I don’t lift, I go for a 30- to 45-minute brisk walk.

  Maintain a healthy body weight

  Don’t be overweight or underweight; both are bad for your health.

  To understand what a healthy body weight is for you, search “Body mass index calculator ” on Google, and you’ll be able to determine if you’re over or underweight.

  Sleep well

  Get at least 7 hours of high-quality sleep each night. This is the bare minimum, but 8 hours of sleep per night is optimal.

  Stay hydrated

  I drink around 3 litres of water per day.

  Your body is mostly water.

  And every physiological process in your body works better when you’re hydrated.

  Eat a healthy diet

  Eat the majority of your diet through whole foods. Limit fast food and junk food to no more than 10-20% of your diet.

  Your body will thank you.

  Limit alcohol consumption

  The odd glass or two of wine with your meal is fine.

  Binge drinking is not okay and increases the risk of you getting several different cancers.

  I’ve done my fair share of binge drinking in my earlier years, but that life is behind me now.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  exercise, fitness, muscle, Nutrition, sleep, strength

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• Do people who work hard really succeed in life?

  There are 4 types of people in life:

  People who don’t work rely on benefits and social security.

  Next, there are people who work. They collect a paycheck and then go home. They don’t work too hard and are content in their jobs.

  Then you get the hard workers. These are the types of people who succeed in organisations and climb the corporate ladder.

  The person at the top of the ladder is the person who works hard and smart. He chooses his career based on what he finds personally fulfilling, builds his competence to a level of mastery, and because he’s the best at what he does, his services are in high demand.

  Because his abilities are scarce, few people can do what he does, so he can choose whenever he works and command a handsome fee for his services.

  I think becoming a hard yet smart worker is the ultimate goal.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  goals, improvement, life, purpose

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• How do I let go of someone I love?

  1. Don’t text them.

  2. Block them if you have to.

  3. Work on yourself to become the best version of yourself possible.

  4. Put your time into your hobbies and passions.

  5. Accept your complicated feelings of loss and grief. It’s normal and will get better with time.

  6. Don’t get back into a relationship straight away. You’ll probably only get with them out of neediness and infatuation, not love.

  7. Realise that the relationship has ended for a reason. If one person doesn’t want to be in a relationship with the other, it’s unfair for both parties because no one wants to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with them, and no one should feel forced to be in an unhappy relationship.

  8. Cry if you have to.

  9. Learn from it. This experience will make you stronger. Like the hydra, one of your heads has been cut off (figuratively speaking), and many more will grow back, so you’re even stronger.

  10. Go to talking therapy if you feel it will help. I’m currently going through therapy now. And I find it’s helping.

  11. Spend time with friends and family.

  12. Do things you enjoy. When you’re engaged in something you enjoy, negative feelings will disappear for some time. It’s impossible to feel depressed when you’re fully engaged and enjoy what you’re doing.

  13. Get out of the house, go for walks, work out at the gym, and run if you like.

  14. Get out of your comfort zone, try new experiences, etc. I broke up with my ex-girlfriend in September, and I’m thinking about going on a solo holiday soon.

  15. Remember, nothing can happen that isn’t natural.

  17. Many people have gotten through tough times like this and if we can you can to.

  16. This is all part of God’s plan. You’re built to get through it.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  dating, mental-health, relationship, relationships, self improvement

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• What makes people charming?

  1. They listen twice as much as they speak. They know when to speak and when to listen, and they try not to interrupt.
  2. They smell good. If you smell like a bin, put on some deodorant. It will instantly make you more charming.
  3. They have topics to discuss, a wide array of interests, and can have conversations with anyone. This is why it’s good to read books and have genuine interests. Speaking to someone who is passionate about something is much better than speaking to someone who fails to find joy in anything.
  4. Be precise with your speech. If it takes you 10 minutes to say something that someone else could say in 1 minute, then you need to work on your reading, writing and speaking skills. If you can be precise with your speech, you save time, can have better conversations, and can easily get your point across.
  5. Don’t insult people. If the only thing you say to others is badmouthing people in general, you’ll not charm them; you’ll repel them. Benjamin Franklin said, “Speak ill of no man,” partly because it’s useless to talk bad about someone. It’s different if someone breaks the law or something of that nature because you wouldn’t necessarily badmouth them; you’d just see that justice is served.
  6. Work on your looks and style. More aesthetic and appealing people are generally nicer to look at than ugly people. Sorry to say it, but it is the truth. Research shows that more attractive people get better jobs with higher salaries. Working on your looks and style will inevitably add to your charm.
  7. Be as successful as you can be. Generally, people would rather spend time with successful, responsible people than with people who blame the world for their lack of results in life.
  8. Be as authentic as possible. People would rather spend time with someone who is genuine and themselves than someone who tries to be someone else. Ultimately, the latter isn’t sustainable, and the real person will emerge in the end. If you show your real side, then people can either like you for who you are or they can’t. Never try to make someone like you. It always backfires. Never try to curry favour.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  goals, improvement, inspiration, wisdom

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• 6 QUALITIES OF GOOD HEALTH

  1. Sleep 8 hours per night. To do this, have a consistent sleep-wake cycle so your body naturally knows when to get up and when to sleep.
  2. Reduce stress levels. High stress levels are correlated with heart attacks. Chill out. Breathe slowly and deeply or go for a walk. Life is no fun when you’re stressed. If certain people or situations stress you out, remove yourself from them if you can, or limit how much time you spend in them.
  3. Stay hydrated. 65% of your body is made of water, and you need to hydrate to replenish. Don’t become chronically dehydrated like so many people nowadays. When I started drinking enough water (about 3 litres a day is enough for me), my chronic headaches vanished.
  4. Stay active. For 99% of the time humans have been around, we’ve been active. We have an upright posture and long limbs because we are built for endurance; we’re not built for sedentary living. Our bodies haven’t adapted to that yet. A 30-minute brisk walk per day is enough.
  5. Strengthen your muscles. I like to lift weights. You don’t have to lift super heavy; get a bit stronger than when you started.
  6. A good diet. Eat mainly whole foods, i.e., foods like lean meats, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, nuts, grains, fish, legumes, etc.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  mental-health, workout

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• Why people age faster than you?

  If you pay attention to what most people do, then it’s pretty obvious why you might notice that people age faster than you.

  My motto is, “Whatever 99% of people are doing, do the opposite.”

  Unfortunately, many people have no idea how to stay in good health.

  It’s very easy.

  You should ensure that you get 8 hours of sleep per night, eat a healthy diet, work out several hours per week, and stay hydrated.

  Unfortunately, many people are still destroying their health by engaging in unhelpful habits, i.e. smoking, drinking in excess, eating too much sugar, not staying hydrated, etc.

  I’ve noticed that the people who look the worst are the ones who neglect their health the longest.

  Just like good healthy habits compound and pay dividends in the years to come, like continued vitality, lack of disease and overall higher energy levels.

  Practicing unhealthy habits will compound, and sooner or later, you’ll wonder why you’ve ended up in the Emergency room after having a severe heart attack.

  Staying healthy is simple but not easy.

  It’s 90% behaviour and 10% knowledge.

  If you’re reading this now, ensure you’re not harming your future self and start practising healthy habits as soon as possible.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  fitness, Health, health-advice, lifestyle, mental-health, self-care, wellness, wellness-tips

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• “What habits kill a human slowly?”

  1. Not exercising: if you don’t move it, you lose it.
  2. Not eating healthily. Your body is built for eating whole foods.
  3. Being alone. Loneliness kills. Spend time with friends and family.
  4. Being in a job you hate. This will destroy your soul.
  5. Having friends who aren’t good for you. It’s better to have no friends than the wrong ones. But no one’s perfect.
  6. Drugs. Be drug-free and stay in control of your life. If you can stay in control of your life, you can make it a good one.
  7. Having the same old boring routine will make your life feel like Groundhog Day. Get out of your routine and mix it up. It’s the moments that we least expect that turn out to be the greatest. Be spontaneous.
  8. Chronically being dehydrated. This will leave you with no energy, and you’ll feel awful. Drink at least 2–3 litres of water per day.
  9. Consuming too much sugar. I used to get chronic migraines from this. I stopped eating lots of sugar, and they went away.
  10. Drinking too much alcohol. Don’t become an alcoholic; life never turns out well for alchoholics.

  If you like my content, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

  29th Mar 2026

  goals, Health, improvement, inspiration, life, mental-health, wisdom

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• Save More: Buy a Home You Can Actually Afford

  

  One of the best pieces of advice that has helped me save a lot of money was:

  Don’t buy a house that you can’t afford.

  Nowadays, people are getting ultra-long mortgages, with some even lasting 50 years.

  I’m sorry, but if you need to get a mortgage on a house that will last several decades, you can’t afford that house.

  Because the longer and bigger your mortgage is, the more interest you need to pay on it. 

  The shorter and smaller your mortgage is, the less you’ll have to pay in interest.

  What I did

  In 2022, I bought my first house and took out a 15-year mortgage. My deposit was large enough that my mortgage costs me less than 25% of my take-home pay every month.

  Although my house is nothing luxurious, it could be more accurately described as a shoe box.

  It’s a meagre 2-bedroom terrace house. And I’m happy with it because it costs me hardly anything, and instead of wasting money on a bigger mortgage on a bigger house, I use the money I save to invest in myself.

  I invest in myself by:

  • Having more experiences (like travelling to Rome, which I did last year).
  • Buying and reading good books that stand the test of time. When we improve our erudition, we are more effective in the world and can more easily achieve our goals.
  • Investing in index funds like the S&P 500 (so my money makes money) and putting more money in high-interest savings accounts, so I’ve always got money when I need it (you can’t put a price on this).
  • Invest in courses. I paid for a content marketing course a few years ago, and it’s served me very well for my online writing.

  Don’t keep up with the Joneses

  On the outside, the Joneses look like they’re doing well; they have a nice property, nice cars, and their garden looks pristine.

  But you don’t see the stress of having hardly any money left over at the end of the month and the thousands of pounds in mortgage interest they have to pay every year.

  By keeping up with the Joneses, you relinquish control over your life, and your finances start controlling you instead of the other way around.

  If you’re someone who makes a decent living but is constantly short of cash, then I’m sorry, but you need to have a long, hard look at how you manage your finances.

  For every expensive thing you’re thinking about buying, think “Is this necessary?”

  Benjamin Franklin, one of the most erudite men to live, said:

  “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”

  And I agree with this advice.

  Do we really need the most expensive house money can buy?

  Do we really need the most expensive car?

  Even if we did have these, would they improve us or help others?

  The answer is a big fat no.

  Happiness isn’t found in what we buy but instead comes from how we think.

  If you can drive your Fiat Panda as you would a Ferrari, and drive a Ferrari as you would a Fiat Panda, then you are close to being indifferent to wealth.

  I recommend you consider practising becoming indifferent to wealth because, yes, money does make our lives easier, but it doesn’t make us happy.

  We can only be happy by living virtuously and helping ourselves and others.

  We will never be happy if we look for our happiness in expensive trinkets.

  You don’t need to buy a house above your means to be happy

  Buying a house worth £500,000 or £100,000 doesn’t matter. If you have a house you can afford, it’s the best thing you can do for your sanity (when you’re thinking about buying a house).

  In the United Kingdom, a bigger house means you pay higher bills, higher council tax, more costs in maintenance and if you have a huge mortgage, remember you’ll be paying a fortune in interest rates over the term of the mortgage.

  Remember, it’s better to have no mortgage if you can, but unfortunately, this isn’t feasible for most people. So if you do get a mortgage, I recommend paying no more than 25% of your take-home pay per month over 15 years. That way, you’ll be living within your means.

  Why buying a house is better than renting (for most people)

  When you rent a house, you’re literally throwing money down the drain that could be put toward a house deposit.

  The only exception to this rule is if you’re only going to be in a location for a short period of time. In that case, renting is fine because you wouldn’t buy a house somewhere you’re staying temporarily.

  This post is the 26/03/2026 edition of my newsletter.

  28th Mar 2026

  money, save money, save, finances, money tips, save more

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• No one gives a f*ck what you do, so make decisions for you

  

  Before I started writing online, one of the main things holding me back was the question, “What will people think of me?” This left me paralysed for so long that I didn’t start writing until way later in my life than I should have.

  Now that I write consistently, I’ve learnt that some people like my writing, some people don’t, and some people are indifferent to it, a bit like how people are to me in real life.

  And even when people don’t like my writing and comment negative things on my posts it really isn’t that bad in fact if you’re not p*issing a few people off with your writing your not doing it properly.

  When I annoy people, I know I stand for something that is normally the opposite of what they value.

  But these people who comment negative things on my posts don’t realise they’re helping me. Because the maxim “any publicity is good publicity” is true up to a certain extent.

  Because at least if you’re getting negative comments on your posts, your writing isn’t boring and getting ignored. And there’s nothing worse than boring writing.

  But the fact is, as a writer (and anyone posting content online), you’ll probably have to write a lot of boring stuff to write something good. It’s the natural progression you sign up for as a writer; you don’t become Montaigne overnight.

  Anyway, that brings me back to the point of making decisions for you because in reality no one really cares, everyone is all in there little worlds and focused on themselves I mean I am 99% of the time and honestly I can’t remember a time when I was so offended by someone that I tried to stop them doing what they wanted to do.

  The benefit of living in a Western country (I live in the UK) is that you can do what you want for the most part. But the fear of people’s opinions can stop us from exercising this freedom (as it has for me in the past).

  This reminds me of two quotes by Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius:  

  “We should listen only to those whose lives conform to nature. And the others? He bears in mind what sort of people they are—both at home and abroad, by night as well as day—and who they spend their time with. And he cares nothing for their praise—men who can’t even meet their own standards.”

  I love this quote and come back to it time and time again because it’s so true. The fact is, we love ourselves more than others, but why do we care more about other people’s opinions than our own?

  As a personal heuristic, I try to only listen to people whom I respect and who are virtuous, the type of people who can meet their own high standards.

  “Then what is to be prized? An audience clapping? No. No more than the clacking of their tongues. Which is all that public praise amounts to—a clacking of tongues.”

  I also come back to this piece of wisdom time and time again because we shouldn’t do things solely to get external praise; we should do things that we’re proud of for their own sake.

  For example, when I write, I always try to post things I’m happy with. Of course, external praise is nice in the sense that it’s good to help people and have a positive impact on their lives.

  But we shouldn’t crave other people’s praise so much that we lose a sense of why we’re really pursuing something. For example, I write because I’m learning as I go through life (I don’t claim to have everything figured out), and every post I write is a way for me to learn more about myself and the world, and as a side effect, I help others, and I also enjoy the flow state writing gets me into.

  So I’ll drive the point home:

  I promise no one cares what you’re doing. So start making decisions for you before your life is all used up. Start today because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.

  Carpe Diem.

  God bless.

  This post was the 19/03/2026 edition of my newsletter.

  21st Mar 2026

  goals, improvement, inspiration, newsletter, wisdom, writing

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• The strangest thing happened

  

  Photo by 卡晨 on Unsplash

  I wasn’t initially going to write this article. I had something else in mind. But I felt so compelled to write this that I couldn’t stop myself from doing so.

  But before I get into the meat and potatoes of this article, I want to say thank you to my two paid subscribers, who give me so much encouragement and motivation to continue writing, and as a whole, thank you to all my subscribers, you are all, as we say in North East England, “Legends”.

  Recently, I’ve been getting stressed about finding the right partner

  Two weeks ago, I matched with this amazing Catholic woman on the dating app Hinge, and she seemed perfect. She was exactly what I was looking for in a partner.

  We spoke on the phone for maybe 4 or 5 hours across the week, then we went for a meal together.

  And I had a nice time, but I was talking way too much and rambling on about myself. I went against my own advice: I have two ears and one mouth, so I should listen twice as much as I speak.

  I knew I was breaking my own rules of social conduct, but I couldn’t control my tongue, and I knew I ended up rambling on about silly things.

  But anyway, a couple of days after our date, I was meant to be calling her, but she texted me saying that she wasn’t attracted to me spiritually and as a whole, so the phone call never happened.

  This hurt because no one likes rejection, and I thought I found a unicorn because out of all the people I’ve dated and been in relationships with, I’ve never come across anyone like her.

  But I respect her boundaries and wishes, and I actually appreciate her honesty, which tells me where I need to improve.

  Because truth be told, I’m in the process of becoming Catholic, and spiritually, I have been feeling better going to church every Saturday, but the woman I went on a date with has been Catholic her whole life and is deeply involved in the church.

  So even though I have grown spiritually, what I learned from meeting her was that I have a lot of spiritual growth yet to be realised before I can attract someone like her. Which is fine because embarking on this spiritual journey will only make me happier and a better person.

  I’ve started going to church mass as much as possible

  Every time I go to church mass, I feel better for it spiritually, so by only going to mass once per week, I’m leaving a lot of spiritual gains on the table.

  So now I’m trying to go to mass daily (my current streak is 4 days in a row).

  And I’m feeling much better, and I’ve stopped being so focused on finding a partner. I know that if I work on my spiritual health, everything else will fall in place, even my romantic relationships.

  The strange thing that happened

  I recently joined a new gym, and I looked up and in front of me was one of my ex-girlfriends, in fact, the first ever girlfriend I had when I was 16 years old, and the relationship ended really badly.

  She said “Hi”, and I said, “Hi back”. I felt like I saw a ghost. I was lost for words and left the gym shortly after (I finished my workout anyway).

  I will say I wish my ex-girlfriend, whom I saw all the best, if she ever reads this.

  But I think seeing her is God’s or the universe’s way of telling me something.

  I think I bumped into my ex-girlfriend to make me realise how badly that relationship went, and to remember not to worry about relationships because when you rush into them, they never end well, as I’ve experienced.

  I think God was telling me, “Henry, don’t worry about finding a partner. Remember how bad your relationship with your ex-girlfriend went? I will see to it that you meet the right person when the time is right. Be patient.”

  And this is how I make sense of the encounter.

  The reason why it was strange was that I hadn’t seen this ex-girlfriend in around 10 years.

  But I do believe in God/ some universal force and that everything happens for a reason, because what’s the alternative? To believe everything is meaningless? I’d rather try to make sense of it all as best I can.

  So to drive the point home, I’ve learned from being rejected that I need to grow spiritually if I really want to make the most out of my life/ attract the right people into my life. And I’ll try my best to grow spiritually by going to Catholic mass as much as possible and putting into practice what I learn from Biblical teachings. And I won’t rush into finding a partner because I know that doing that in the past has only got me into trouble.

  Thank you for reading, dear subscriber.

  If you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out.

  Toodle-oo for now

  -Henry

  Get my best essays delivered every Thursday. Join 212+ readers for free:henrypaget.substack.com

  This post was the 12/03/2026 edition of my newsletter.

  14th Mar 2026

  faith, life, love, spirituality, writing

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