Four Pillar Friday
Your weekly guide to thriving in every aspect of life—Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Financial Wellness.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu

This quote feels like a good reminder right now. We’ve been in a stretch of weather in Ohio that doesn’t feel like fall, but more like Southern California. I’m looking out at trees that are still green, holding onto summer a little longer. This season hasn’t rushed to change colors. Maybe next year it will.

It’s a good metaphor for life. We all move through seasons at different paces. Some arrive quickly; others take their time. Growth doesn’t always announce itself with bright color or big change. Sometimes it’s quiet and slow. And that’s ok.

Wherever you are this week; growing, resting, or just holding steady remember nature doesn’t hurry and neither should you.

Physical Wellness

We love to measure effort…miles logged, weights lifted, hours worked. But recovery? That’s where real progress can happen. The irony is that in a culture obsessed with optimization, we treat rest like a luxury when it’s a critical part of the productivity equation.

Elite athletes have known this for years. LeBron James, now in his 23^rd NBA season, reportedly sleeps 8–10 hours a night and often naps between practices. Roger Federer and Usain Bolt do the same. Even Kobe Bryant, who built his legend on the “Mamba Mentality,” later admitted that recovery, not reps, was the key to longevity.

And it’s not just athletes. Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman has popularized the concept of NSDR, Non-Sleep Deep Rest,  short intentional periods of rest that restore energy, focus, and cognitive performance. These sessions, which can be as simple as a 10-minute guided protocol or meditation, help reset your nervous system and mimic some of the restorative effects of sleep. In other words, recovery isn’t just physical; it’s neurological.

The truth is slowing down isn’t weakness. It’s how you create capacity for the next push. Recovery is the remedy for burnout. And sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop trying to be productive.

Mental Wellness

When was the last time you were truly bored? Not scrolling through Instagram, searching Netflix longer than the show you pick, or just constantly checking your phone. It’s not often that we boredom anymore. The kind where your mind starts wandering, connecting dots you didn’t know were there.

We’ve built a world that doesn’t seem to want to allow up. The moment there’s a pause, we fill it with a text, an article, or a tik-tok video.  But boredom isn’t a bad thing. It’s the birthplace of creativity. Research from the Academy of Management Discoveries found that boredom can actually spark divergent thinking.  The kind of insights and ideas that lead to creative breakthroughs. When we stop consuming, our minds start creating.

That was even more evident this week with what may have been my favorite headline of 2025.

So this week try, if you can hold off, to give yourself ten minutes of nothing. No phone, no podcast, no soundtrack. Just space. At first, it’ll feel awkward…almost like withdrawal. But give it time, and you’ll start to notice what’s been waiting to surface.

Financial Wellness

It’s one of the oldest clichés in finance.  The idea of keeping up with the Jones’s.

But behind the humor is something deeply human we do every day: we compare, we measure, we quietly ask, “How are we doing?”

In 2024, nearly 40% of Americans earning over $100,000 still live paycheck to paycheck, according to LendingClub’s Financial Health Report. That comparison used to come from our neighbors and from what we saw in our own community. Now it comes from the world. Social media has turned comparison into a full-time job. Research shows that people who frequently compare themselves online report lower financial satisfaction, even when their actual wealth is higher.

It’s a reminder that progress isn’t about catching up. It’s not about the new iPhone, the car upgrade, or the toy of the year. It’s about clarifying what enough really looks like for you.

Your financial wellness isn’t measured by comparison. It’s measured by alignment and by how well your money supports the life you want to live, not the one someone else is posting about.

Spiritual Wellness

Most of our days are built around routines. Repetition of what needs to get done. But ritual is what gives it meaning. The coffee that becomes the quiet moment that starts our day. The walk that becomes reflection. The dinner that becomes connection.

Rituals turn repetition into something more meaningful. They’re how we slow time down and how we make the ordinary sacred. Harvard research has found that rituals help reduce anxiety and increase focus because they signal to our brains that something matters. They help us mark transitions and become the bridge from nothing to something.

But rituals also give us something deeper: purpose in the present tense. Not the grand, once-in-a-lifetime kind of purpose we chase in careers, achievements, or five-year plans, but the kind that grounds us each day. The small acts that anchor meaning to our moments.

Because most of life isn’t lived in the huge milestones. It’s lived in the space between them, all things come back to that wonderful Frankl quote. They come in our commute, the first sip of coffee, the conversations before bed. When we turn those into rituals, we remind ourselves that purpose doesn’t have to be found; it can be practiced.

So maybe it’s those 5 minutes at night where we wind down and read a few pages. Or writing one line in a journal each morning. Or pausing for a quiet breath before entering the house after work. The act is small, but the meaning compounds. Over time, these moments become your quiet compass that not only tells you where to go, but how to move through the day with intention.

And In The End

From all of us at The 9:03 Collective: thanks for reading. Keep showing up. Stay curious. And never forget that the clock is running, so make it count.

If you’ve been enjoying Four Pillar Friday, the best way to support is simple: share it with a friend, forward it to someone who might need it, or subscribe if you haven’t already. The more people we reach, the more conversations we can spark about living with intention.

Until next week — keep building your moments.

The Journey Team & The 9:03