Yes, that’s right, you need to make sure you have time to focus on yourself. Something we surely hear all the time, but why? In this context I don’t mean personal development time in the knowledge and business sense either. In this particular context I’m talking about health and fitness and how it affects your overall capacity to be successful.
You might think that health and fitness have no impact on your work life, but you’re wrong. Important factors like your diet, exercise, and sleep all play HUGE factors on your work life. How you ask? Read on to find out.
Let’s start with the obvious one, Sleep. The average Adult needs 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but let’s be honest, we don’t always get 7-8 hours of sleep, I know I didn’t used to. I used to do what many of you do, survive on 5-6, maybe 6 1/2 hours of sleep if I was lucky. Then we spend the day drinking coffee and other caffeinated drinks to keep us going at our best, or what we believe is our best. First of all, you probably aren’t performing at your true best if you’re jacked up on caffeine and sleep deprived, but this also mkaes us substantially more likely to burn out. Since I started getting 7-8 hours of sleep at night, I feel substantially more productive all day! I definitely didn’t give up the coffee as a pick me up in the morning, but with the extra sleep, I’m not crashing mid day and finding myself exhausted by the time I get home from work. I have the energy to cook a healthy dinner and even say, read a book or some business news to keep myself learning new things everyday.
Diet is another important factor that contributes to your energy levels and overall feeling of wellbeing. Have you ever gone out to have a double cheeseburger and fries with a milkshake and NOT felt weighed down and lethargic after? Probably not, these foods release chemicals in our brains that make us feel good while we eat them, thus making them comfort foods. These comfort foods may help make a rough day a little easier while you’re eating your lunch, but you probably feel rundown and lethargic by the time you’re midway through your afternoon. So tell me this, does that comfort food really help you feel better?
Lastly exercise, whether it be strength training in a gym, a group class, some yoga, or a brisk walk around the block at night, exercise is important to the way you feel day to day. Not only does it release chemicals in the brain that promote a feeling of happiness, but it also helps you both relieve stress and feel like you’ve accomplished something with your time! We all know that feeling of accomplishment after a workout, whether the last time we experienced it was yesterday or a decade ago, it’s a good feeling.
The moral of the story is all 3 of these factors have an impact on your life at home, in the office, and in everything else you do. If you choose to make healthier decisions, you’ll be more capable of peak performance.
Until Next Time…
AM
Climb to Success 