WEBVTT - Live Your Dream Through Financial Knowledge (How-To Monday) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.800 Ba fam, we have another how to throw back for you, 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.320 of course we do. We're looking back at some of 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.600 our favorite episodes from days past for memorable guests, too, 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.600 unforgettable moments. There's still so much to learn from the 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.759 be A Vault. Take a listen, willya. 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:32.879 Hey, hey hey, we're back. We're black, We're brown. Ambition ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition. 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.159 Hey y'all, we are a different kind of brown on, 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:37.720 brown and bishon. Today. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.440 Mandra unfortunately is not feeling well, but we wish her well, 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.120 you know, with the new baby and things. But instead 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.159 we have my very good, awesome, amazing friend and I'll 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.680 go for this yer leader Jason Vitag and welcome. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.840 Jason, Tiffany. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. 0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:01.600 So Jason is also a Jersey in like myself and Jason. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:02.680 How long have we been friends? 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:04.559 Close to ten years? 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:05.040 Yeah? 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:05.760 Ten years? 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:06.360 Ten years? 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.600 Yes, right, So we've been in this game for years. 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.680 It's made me. I don't even know the hip hop song, 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:14.840 but anyway, but Jason and I have been friends for 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.640 a long time. I met him because he too is 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:22.080 a financial educator. Jason honestly is one of the inspirations 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.600 for my recent slow down and you'll hear why, like 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.440 how awesome he is. But I don't want to just 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.480 be like Jason's my friend. He's more than that. He's dope. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.399 Jason is a wellness advocate and best selling New York 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.760 Times reviewed author of two books Right. He is the 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:42.399 founder of Frugal phrog a l and is an award 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.679 winning creator of the Road to Financial Wellness product project. 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.280 Jason is also a certified Diversity, Equity and Inclusion expert. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:54.400 He holds the Psychology of Financial Planning certification and is 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.680 also a certified yoga instructor and breathwork specialist. We go 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:59.559 get him to do a breath exercise with us, y'all. 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:05.080 Jason focuses on a holistic approach where money isn't the goal, 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.880 money is the tool to help achieve the goals. He's 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.000 also been featured on the ted X Stage, y'all, FU, 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.079 Finance Forms, Business Insider, and we already say New York 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.600 Times to name a few. All in all, Jason is incredible, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:22.000 and he has a new book called Happy Money, Happy Life, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.120 which is like literally Jason in a book. You know, 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.120 so one of things Jason that I admire about you 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.800 that I admired and still admire about you. Is that 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.400 a long time ago? So Jason used to be on 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.160 the grind like me. You know, we were all working 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.960 really hard. This is like, you know, like ten eight 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:41.440 years ago, personal finance in the way that it is 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.600 now was just coming to be a thing. You know. 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.240 It was like people like me and Jason and Sandy 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.760 and also other people, we were kind of like, you know, 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.040 starting this kind of personal finance journey and brand and 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.160 bringing y'all in. But while most of us kept grinding 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.960 until we have we were nothing but little nubs. I know. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.440 Notice about halfway through that Jason didn't seem to be 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.040 grinded yet he was still making you know, good money. 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.040 You know that I saw that he was posting pictures 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.200 of his walks. I remember when Jason, he became a 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.200 certified yoga instructor. You would be posting your yoga like 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:16.920 you know, you would like during pandemic. You were doing 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.480 yoga so people can do it along with you. I 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.600 just remember being like, what is going on with Jason? 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.639 Because I know you still have frugal I know you're 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.360 still a financial educator. But then there's this other part 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:30.240 of you, the zen chill, like I'm not doing all 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:31.920 that part of you. Like what happened? 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.520 It's fascinating, right because I think when I disappeared out 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.920 of the personal finance space and I was I was 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.400 honing into the wellness space a bit more. So everyone 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.680 was wondering what happened to my business or did I 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:46.960 just go totally broke? And I was like, no, I 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:50.040 need to focus on my physical, mental, and spiritual health. 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:55.680 And I built a business that was running like with itself, 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:57.920 so I just didn't need to participate as much as 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:02.960 I needed to. What really happened was I think you 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.320 put it in there like we're in the grind, we're 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.320 in the hustle, and I am a big believer that 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.440 gears that grind for too long get worn out and 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:12.320 then thrown out. 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:14.600 Oh say again, I put the people to bad Jason 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:14.880 say it. 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:19.440 Again, Gears that grind for too long get worn out 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.160 and then thrown out. I certainly didn't want to be 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.720 thrown out, and so I know this is something that 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.880 I believe in. Like the work that we do, This 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.720 is purposeful work for me, but it's also grueling. I mean, 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.320 there's a lot of demands. There's a lot of things 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.680 that we have to do to get the things going. 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.120 And so especially when we are driven with our own 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.160 personal ambition and we're driven with passion and purpose, we 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.800 can get worn out doing those things. And I felt 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.720 myself getting worn out. And when we get worn out, 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.200 we start making all these decisions, ill decisions, and then 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.359 all of a sudden, it's just like it's a compounding 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.160 effect and it's going to affect our mental health, our 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.200 emotion well being, and then I'm going to start feeling 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.960 tired and lethargic. And so that's exactly what happened. I mean, 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.719 I became a bestseller, became the sought after speaker going 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.000 all around the country, and it was great, but all 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:12.000 of a sudden, I just started feeling like I was 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.640 being pulled away from the work I wanted to do 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.760 to just appear. And the one thing that really hit 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.080 home was when someone said to me, I was chasing 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.000 influence over affluence, and influence is this, Oh you got 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.160 to be like on stage every single time, I have 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.640 to be on social media every single time, versus like 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.479 really working on affluence and affluence isn't just the financial 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.440 wealth it's about how my feeling like in other parts 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.240 of my life. And so I know this that there 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.359 were areas of my life I needed to work on. 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.360 And yeah, like I think just like you, we're like 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.359 we're grinding away and then other things in our lives 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.680 start happening, and so I needed to listen and take 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.479 a step back. And that's exactly what happened. And so 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.000 when all this stuff's happened, I took a step back. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.919 I can go. I need to reassess, readjust and revaluate 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:03.720 where I'm walking. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.159 I love that. And you, you really you started to 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.040 make those changes long before it became like now people 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.200 are like, I don't want to overwork, But you made 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:13.960 them when it was really scared to make those changes 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.880 because no one was doing that. Back then. It was like, uh, Jason, 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.400 the money is getting good. What you know with Jason 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:21.599 sitting down a little bit. So one of the things, 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.240 you know, one of the reasons why I wanted Jason 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.480 to come on is because in his book, his new book, 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.040 Happy Money, Happy Life, which is available at Happy Money, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.000 Happy Life book dot com. Don't you like that? I 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.960 told Jason, I'm like, go get that domain, Happy Money, 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:39.720 Happy lifebook dot com. Okay, it's the name of his book. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:41.719 So one of the things that really blew me away 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.720 about your book is this, it is a multiple multiple 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.440 what is it? Multi dimensional approach? Right? And I had 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.760 never really heard of that before. I mean, you know, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:55.920 like in passing. But I didn't realize that there were 0:06:55.920 --> 0:07:02.719 these eight dimensions that you know, really help really compose 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.360 what full wellness and holistic wellness? Can you tell us 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.760 what these dimensional, multi dimensional approaches are and how does 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.280 money play a role in this? In that and in 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:13.840 your book? 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.400 Yeah, So it's interesting, right because I thought I came 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.160 up with this brilliant idea that there are eight dimensions 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.280 of wellness. And so I remember in twenty sixteen going, okay, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.080 everything is connected. So it's not just financial, it's not 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:30.160 just professional, there's mental and emotional. Everything's connected. And then 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.960 eventually I started doing the research and finding all these studies. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:37.840 For decades, people have talked about the multidimensionality of human beings, 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:41.320 and so for me, I chose the eight wellness dimensions 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.440 because I think that encompasses who we are, and they 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:53.840 are mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, environmental, occupational, and financial. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.400 Those are the eight dimensions that make you you. We 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:04.200 are multifaceted, dimensional, multi layered individuals. And the reason why 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.120 when things seem to be working out in one area 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.120 of our life and we don't feel happy or we 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.040 don't feel well, chances are there is a dimension that 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.559 needs your attention. And so for me, in this book, 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.400 what I do is I talk about these dimensions through 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.920 the lens of money. I show how money weaves itself 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.880 through these dimensions and how it impacts us positively or negatively. 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:28.920 And most of the time too, it could be our 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.600 own decision making when it comes to money, and also 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.000 the external factors that we have no control over the economy, 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.160 the job market, and other decisions around us. And so 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.959 what I want people to understand when we are focused 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:42.679 so much, and this is what happened to me. I 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.000 was so focused for period of my life on professional success, 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.120 that is occupational health, which I call happy work. What 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.720 we do, we take our identity and we base it 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:59.040 solely on salary and the title we hold at this job, 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.280 and so all these achieved. Well if we solely focus 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.880 on occupational health and we excel to the detriment of 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.880 our mental and physical health, well guess what happens. It's 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.200 going to affect our finances, It's going to affect every 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.560 other aspects of our well being. And so for this instance, 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.400 when I was at a point when I was like 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.560 grinding away climbing up the corporate ladder and it became 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.720 VP of Marketing and business development for this financial institution, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.480 while I was suffering mentally, I was emotionally drained, and 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:36.240 that psychological distress was manifesting itself physically. So I was 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.600 getting sick, I developed vertigo, I had like pink eye 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.280 or red eyes for two weeks. My eyes were bleeding 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.600 for two weeks, and I couldn't get out of bed. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:46.960 And then when I couldn't get out of bed, I 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.160 felt useless and it started affecting my social wellbeing because 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.240 I didn't want to hang out with friends or family. 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.080 And then I felt this void in my life because 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.760 something that I was passionate about at that time, climbing 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.720 up to career ladder, was affecting spiritually. And so for me, 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.800 I want people to understand, like these dimensions are interconnected, 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:10.280 they're overlapping, and so once you understand these eight dimensions 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.400 and how they there's there intersectionality of them. It is 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.160 a powerful life changing way of looking at yourself. 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.440 Honestly, Jaysa. I was just telling her a friend of mine, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.520 like literally, I was like super excited. I was telling 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.400 her a friend of mine, about your book, and I 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.360 was telling him that, like, yo, I you know, you 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.400 kind of you understand that obviously there are components to 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.280 your life, but I could never understand why to your point, 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:34.960 when I was making the most amount of money I've 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.480 ever made, I was so miserable. My blood pressure had spiked. 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.320 It was like, and now I have to honestly say, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.800 you know that, despite all that's happened, you know, I 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.120 am in a space of grief, grace and gratitude, you know, 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.240 and I'm actually happy. And I'm like how And I 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.040 was literally I pulled up the eight dimensions and I said, oh, 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.120 I'm happy because every aspect of these dimensions I am 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.760 present in. You know, because before I wasn't hanging out 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.800 that it was just budgets them, there was no tiffany, 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.000 so the social out the window. I had gained thirty pounds, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.760 my blood pressure had spiked, so physical was not being 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.360 looked after financial. I mean, I was good as far 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.560 as money, but that was about it. Every other part 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.200 of my life was out of alignment. And so I 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:20.959 thought like, well, I thought, if I work really hard 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.240 and I'm make really good money and I'm helping people, 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.960 that it should be enough. It wasn't because I was 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.680 not looking at myself holistically. And so that's why I 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:32.640 love because you know, one of the things, that's one 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:34.679 of the things I love about you as a person, 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:36.880 but also the fact that you wrote this book to 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.760 talk about that. You know, we talk about money, but 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.680 I always say it's really not money. You know that 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.120 I want people to use money to live. Well, now 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.120 how do you do that? And I feel like with 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.640 Happy Money, Happy Life, you know, that's what you that's 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.600 what you talk about, like how do you use your 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.480 money as a tool, you know, not the goal itself. 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:57.400 So thank you for that. So we're actually going to 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.280 jump to a quick break because you know, we all 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.760 to we get to Falcon right. So we've got Jason 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.400 v tug a frugal but this new book, Happy Money, 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:10.480 Happy Life, will be right back black and Brown. And 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.440 we're back in Black and Brown, super excited. We have 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.160 Jason in the studio in this stew with us talking 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:22.840 about multi dimensionality. We're talking about Happy Money, Happy Life, 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.440 his new book. So, Jason, while we're back, you did 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.320 something with my dream catches the other day that was amazing. 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:31.600 So I'm going to put you on the spot. You 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.559 did just a really quick breathing activity, and I'd like 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.120 for you to just walk us through this like two 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.760 or three minute breathing activity, even if you're driving, you 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:41.319 have the kids or whatever. If you can't do it, now, 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.959 that's okay. Look at the time stamp. You know of 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.559 this activity on the video or the audio that you're watching, 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:49.800 so you can come back to it. And I want 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:51.679 Jason to lead us through because when I tell you 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.040 it chilled me, y'all know I'm hyper. It chilled me 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.480 all the way out. So Jason, the floor is yours. 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:57.800 Thank you so much. 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:59.560 So I want to preface this because I think it's 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.440 important for people to understand why I am a breathwork 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.160 specialist and why this is part of my daily routine. 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.680 Because there are just so many things happening in this world. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.559 There's so many things that cause us stress in our lives, 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:12.840 and so it's not just financial and so for me, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.640 discovering breath work was a life changing kind of force, 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.960 and what I've been doing is incorporating it in these 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.440 talks is it's such a powerful way for us to 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.920 address our nervous system, because our nervous system is like 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.680 it's all hyped up. And so what I do want 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:33.080 to say is that when you get an opportunity, go 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.880 back to this timestamp, and so you could do this 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:40.000 in a safe space, because when we're working with breath 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.320 it will change how you feel in your body. And 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.240 so if you're in a safe space right now, I 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.960 want you to gently kind of lift up your body, 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:53.760 feel that energy flowing from from your core all the 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.479 way up to your head, nice and tall back, Relax 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:02.520 your shoulders, allow your to drop gently towards your chest. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.160 You can close your eyes if you want to, if 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:10.720 you feel comfortable, and just be present in this moment. 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:16.000 And I want you to start noticing where your breath 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:22.720 enters your body through the nose, perhaps through your mouth, 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:30.160 and feeling that sensation of air through your nostrils, through 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:35.160 your body and filling up your lungs, and just being 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:42.720 present with that force. Now as you get in touch 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.080 and feel this pull of gravity in any parts of 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.360 your body that's touching the floor. We're gonna work with 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.480 manipulating your breath. We're gonna go and take a nice 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.600 deep inhale through your nose, filling your lungs up with 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:06.200 air and releasing through your mouth with a sigh. And 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:11.640 let's do that in hell through your nose, filling your 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.960 lungs up with air and releasing through your mouth with 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:21.520 a sigh. And allow yourself to do this a few 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.560 more times. And the power of this is that we 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:31.000 hold so much tension around our jawline, around our mouth, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.400 so you're probably noticing there's that tension there. And by 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.080 simply breathing in through our nose and intentionally and mindfully 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:43.080 exhaling through our mouth with that sigh, we're allowing our 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:49.840 body to remain still, to be present, to relax. And 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.840 let's take one more deep inhale through the nose, and 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.200 I want you to hold it at the top for 0:15:55.280 --> 0:16:04.600 three seconds one, two, three, and then release allow yourself. 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:09.200 And now as you get in and are in your body, 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.920 I want you to start gently wiggling your fingers, wingling 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.480 your toes, allow yourself to come back into the room 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.680 and welcome back into this three D physical world. 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.960 That was so amazing, Jason. Honestly, it just it just 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:28.520 this is one of the things that like I appreciate 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.600 most about you, that this is what you bring to 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.840 the financial space in a special way that I don't 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:35.880 know that there's anybody, you know, no one on that 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:37.560 I know, no one that I followed, no one that 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.720 I've read up about that approaches personal finance from this space. 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:47.000 You know, this fully grounded, this fully like you know, 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.160 just breath work and personal finance. It just doesn't seem 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.440 like it matches, but it does. Imagine doing a breathwork 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.000 exercise before you sit down and budget with your partner, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.960 you know, imagine doing yoga moves every Saturday, and you know, 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:05.280 before you do your budget for the week. You know, Like, 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.440 I just love that, Like this is the space, This 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.359 is the unique beauty that you bring to this, this 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.040 personal finance space. And I just you know, I hope 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.119 you all, you know you're listening, if you got a 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.000 chance to do a little bit that's short, a little 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.639 bit of breath work that you know you're feeling as 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:24.280 calm as I am, that you can tell my voice 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.959 is totally changed. I'm like, Yeah, I'm so chill, you know, 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.560 but like, but I know it hasn't always been easy, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.440 you know, for you, Jason, and I think it would 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:35.840 be good for people to hear. I know you shared 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.320 a little bit of like how you got here, you know, 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.879 but you know, just maybe diving deeper into how you 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.320 got here and why did you write this book so 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:45.240 we can go on the journey with you? 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.840 Yeah, well, thank you for that. I want people to 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.639 understand that we all have personal journeys, and our journey 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:57.080 isn't this straight linear upward trajectory, and it isn't just 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.880 a downward trend either. And for me, I've had ups 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.560 and downs, twists and turns. I thought I had it 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.600 all figured out. Well, I thought I had it all 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.880 figured out when I quit my corporate job and went 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:13.280 backpacking around the world discovering my purpose. And discovering my 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.720 purpose wasn't the end to my story. When I started 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.120 frugal and I started on this mission becoming me financial 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:24.320 educator and incorporating health and wealth, that wasn't really the 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.520 case because I got pulled into the entrepreneurial hustle. So 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.800 when I was hustling in corporate America and then I 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.600 was hustling in the entrepreneurial world. I was experiencing the 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:40.840 same burnout. I was experiencing the same issues. The physical 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.840 manifestations of all the mental gymnastics that I was doing 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:47.880 was causing me a great deal of distress and now 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:52.440 affecting me professionally in the work that I absolutely loved doing, 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.119 and then impacting my finances. And so there was a 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.320 point in my life, tiffany where, just like you, I 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.080 reached this level financial success and I'm like, I'm at 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.679 the top of my game. I'm getting paid tens of 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:08.919 thousands of dollars to speak for one hour, and coming 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.840 from a city like Elizabeth, New Jersey, the fourth largest city, 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.840 growing up where we lived in seventeen different houses, where 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.359 we didn't talk about money. I didn't have luxury goods, 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.080 we didn't go on fancy vacations, and like growing up 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.400 with just the essentials and not knowing about the how 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.880 the other half lives did impact me. And so when 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.680 I achieved these financial success and I thought, that's how, 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:35.959 that's what's going to make me happy. And when I 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:40.320 achieve that level of professional and financial success, there were 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.479 still all these other things I needed to work on. 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.760 And so for me, just getting the becoming mentally drained, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:54.960 emotionally exhausted, physically ill just affected my professional and financial success. 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:58.440 So I started making bad financial decisions and I was 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.440 actually really ashamed of that. And that has a lot 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.680 to do with like, Okay, well you are a money expert. 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.960 How could you make financial mistakes as a money expert? 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.880 And I was making those mistakes at the height of 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:16.720 my quote unquote financial influence. And for me, it's realizing 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.280 that this is a journey of ups and downs and 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.680 twists and turns, and I have the opportunity, as long 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.679 as there's air in my lungs, as long as I 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.520 am motivated to get up and do the work, that 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.280 I can have a different path. I can take a 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:37.119 different path, I can choose, I make different choices. And 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.359 so for me, I've no longer have the shame, the guilt, 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:44.359 the embarrassment of my financial mistakes. And I certainly know 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.320 that as I continue on this journey, I'll probably make 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.480 a few more financial mistakes. But the message I want 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.040 people to understand is that money is just one aspect 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:58.320 of who we are, and if we can remove the 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:03.160 small little stress of our financial life, we can then 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.640 focus on other aspects of our well being. And so 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:08.720 for that little short thing is I just want people 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.240 to know I still don't have it all figured out, 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:18.400 but getting my money right, understanding where work takes presidents 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.439 in my well being and everything else. Like I'm working 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.359 towards that holistic wellness that I want everyone else to 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:26.520 be on in this journey. 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.040 If you follow him Jason Vita j A s O 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:35.239 n v I t ug fanatic, Okay, you'll see like 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.240 you'll get to You're not just gonna get money stuff, 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:38.439 You're going to get him. I just saw you were 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.040 walking your dog in the park for your daily walk. 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.199 I love that. One of the things I like. So 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:45.560 there's like chapter I think it's like chapter five to ten. 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:47.520 Can you read some of the chapter titles. I love that, 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.359 Like how you weaved it. It's like happy soul happy, 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:51.359 What is it? Yeah? 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.399 Yeah, So I want people to understand, like there is 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.640 these wellness dimensions and I call them happy dimensions. How 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.320 we can incorporate the happy dimensions into our life. So 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:06.040 mental health is happy mind, emotional health is happy heart, 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.040