The most obvious reason to stay healthy is: if you're too sick to work, you can't make money.
Money invested wisely eventually leads to wealth.
Investing in your health is pretty smart.
So, how do you stay (or become) healthy so that you can get wealthy? Your mind and body need to work together to keep your entire self healthy.
Lifestyle Mentally, you need to embrace the idea that staying healthy is a process you incorporate into your lifestyle.
It's not easy - if it were, everyone would automatically do it and there'd be no reason to read (or even write) this chapter.
It takes self-discipline, the mental strength to both resist unhealthy influences and to make yourself do the healthy things.
It's easy to find excuses not to do them.
You should begin by eliminating and avoiding negative influences.
Illicit and illegal drug use not only damages your body, it erodes your self-discipline and judgment, making bad choices seem good.
A positive mental attitude is essential as well.
Not only do you need to grow a "Yes I can" mind set, you need to quit listening to Negative Nellies.
You know these people - they don't have a positive thing to say about you, themselves, or anyone else.
Psychological studies show that we are influenced by the attitudes around us.
Eliminating bad influences from your life is a good start.
You also need to add positive things back in.
Exercise programs not only help keep your body healthy, they increase blood flow through the brain, allowing you to think better.
Continued learning strengthens your mental abilities, helping develop self-esteem from overcoming challenges and learning objectives.
Physical Some things are okay for your body in moderation: rest, calories and alcohol, for instance.
Other things like tobacco and recreational drug use should be eliminated.
Once you eliminate the negative habits, you need to replace them with positive ones.
Make a habit of taking a good quality multi-vitamin each day.
Replace eating excess food with making it - spend time preparing your own healthy meals.
Can't boil water? An evening cooking class is better for you than Seinfeld re-runs anyway.
Snacking on fruit gives lots of benefits at once: water, fiber, sugars for energy.
Much better than the empty calories from chips and candy.
Drinking water helps fill you up, and is beneficial for flushing waste out of your body's cells.
Since our bodies are made up mostly of water, drinking plenty of liquids each day will also keep you feeling better.
A well rounded exercise program will keep your muscles strong, and your limbs and joints flexible.
You'll find this helpful when called upon to contort yourself into unnatural positions, like having your head and butt point the same direction, and then staying there while they get just the right shot.
Building up your strength will also help when you're forced to carry a fifty-pound bag of clothes and make-up up three flights of stairs in an unused warehouse for a shoot.
I know several models who practice one or more of the martial arts, although pilates and yoga are beneficial as well.
Side benefits of learning a martial art include better balance, more self confidence, and the self determination to walk away from a situation where you might get assaulted before it happens.
Also, if somebody makes unwanted physical advances, you can kick their ass.
Physical training can also lead to muscular definition, or "cuts.
" Definition plus lights equals shadow, and shadows make for more interesting and dramatic photos.
You don't have to look like a weight lifter for the definition to become apparent.
Being physically fit allows you to see, do and learn more as well.
Imagine being able to help carry equipment to the top of a cliff and watching a spectacular sunrise or sunset as the producer shoots you against it.
Being in shape has many, many benefits.
Mental Slumped on your sofa watching re-runs is not only bad for you physically, it stunts your ability to think.
Like physical exercise, mental exercise is beneficial as well.
Taking classes on various subjects will make you more desirable to producers, since you'll be able to more easily fit into various situations (knowing how to handle chemistry equipment, or being able to speak French, for instance).
It also keeps your mind nimble, helps you think on your feet.
Also, in our increasingly information-centric society, the more you know, the more power and influence you have.
Many women who get into the darker aspects of adult Internet modeling have issues they need to work out.
To be fair, we all do.
But my point is that you can take control of your life only by having mental strength, and you can move from an attitude of "I can't do anything but this," to one of "I'll do what I want to do, and make money at it" only with self determination and resolve.
Your success or failure at this or any other career is completely within your own power.
Mental strength allows you to negotiate better, make better choices, help give positive advice to others, and in general have a better life.
Literally thousands of books have been written on developing mental and emotional strength.
If books don't work for you, there are many psychologists and therapists around the country that might be able to help you out.
If you've followed the advice in the earlier chapters, you've set yourself up with insurance.
With that, and the fact that you should be making a good income, should allow you to afford the best therapist for you, if you decide you need one.
There's no longer any social stigma associated with seeing a therapist, so don't let the thought your friends will find out keep you from going.
Mental strength is essential, because your mind controls your body.
With mental strength, you can make your body do what you need it to.
Mental strength also allows you to put aside money in a savings account when you'd rather buy a new car stereo, or spend it on something else.
Wealth Wealth is not entirely the same as "riches.
" You can be rich without being wealthy.
Being rich is having a lot of money in your pocket.
Wealth is money, along with the will power and wisdom to invest it, to keep it growing itself, and to keep it working for you instead of the other way around.
Most people in America are within two paychecks of losing their lives.
If they were to lose their jobs, most families would be on the streets in weeks.
Think about how many times you've heard (or thought) "I need that money so I can pay my rent this month.
" Money - cash, coin, moolah - is just a tool.
You need a hammer to drive a nail, and you need cash to pay your rent.
Being wealthy is having a different mind set, as well as having money.
Most of the people around you are working for today.
Rich people blow money on stuff, like houses, watches, and sports cars.
How many celebrities have you read about that used to be famous, and are now broke? Sure, sometimes their money was embezzled by former associates, but a lot of their bankruptcy is both monetary and mental.
If you put another several million dollars in their hands, it would be gone again in no time.
There are three deceptively simple keys to wealth.

• Working for the future, instead of for today
• Investing your money, instead of spending or saving it
• Caring and acting for others

At first, you're just scrambling to make money.
That's understandable.
But you need to develop the wealth mindset fairly quickly.
Working for the future means setting personal and financial goals and working toward them.
It means forgoing expensive dinners every night now so that in the future, when you can't - or have decided not to - work, you can eat then.
It's spending money on a dependable car now so that you can make more money and buy a flashy one later on, when you can enjoy it more.
It's putting money into a retirement account, even though you really want those new shoes.
Investing is taking money, and putting it to work.
There are as many books on investing as there are on mental health.
You can buy into a business, or buy property, or build your own business doing something else.
Investing is putting your money back into a money-making venture and taking a risk that it will succeed.
Saving is putting your money in a bank, or under your mattress.
Returns from investments are based on risk - the more you risk, the greater the reward you want there to be.
However, investing and managing risk is not the same as gambling! Again, this subject is too involved for a book on modeling, but it is important.
Do your own research, and talk to your financial advisors.
A very important key to being wealthy is thinking about others, and acting on their behalf.
That can be as simple as making donations to charities.
You can spend time and money building houses for the homeless.
You can take your knowledge and experience and teach people a skill or craft.
The idea is to give back to the less fortunate in some way.
Make sure your efforts and money benefit them more physically than they do you, and you'll become very wealthy both mentally and emotionally.
Wealth is having money, your health, and time enough to enjoy both.