The most important person in your business is……you!

Yes your customers, employees, colleagues are important too but your business or team won’t function quite as good if you’re not at your best, run down or off sick. Before lockdown, many people I worked with found it hard to try and fit workouts into their schedule.

As restrictions continue to ease and we return to what could pass as normal, do you really want to go back to the way things were before? Would you like something better?

How would you like to get more quality work done in less time and not have to think about trying to fit exercise into your busy schedule?

It’s time to start with you.

We’re in a position where we’re redesigning how we do business as a result of covid. More of us are working from home and will be for some time to come. I think as we go forward, our mental health is going to be as important as our physical health.

If you put yourself first, you can perform at your best, have more time and energy to do things you love.

Sound good? Here’s how you can achieve it.

Move better

I think the way we approach exercise is going to change and I think going to the gym to sweat for an hour is going to become a thing of the past. As a result of working from home, we’re moving considerably less than we used to and so an early morning blast or a big workout after work is going to have limited benefits if we spend the rest of the day sitting down and only moving from one room to another at home.

I’m already seeing people lose a lot of fitness and range of movement from sitting in one position for long periods. In a recent post with Andrew and Becca Ferguson at Vero Recruitment, I recommended incorporating being active into our daily routine, moving little and often and doing shorter workouts, focusing on how we feel, at either end of the day.

This ensures our metabolism keeps ticking over, we keep our joints moving to avoid stiffening up and maintain a good level of fitness.

What if exercise became the driving force behind the great work you do rather than something you need to do? Try this:

Get up earlier in the morning and go for a run, walk or cycle. It doesn’t have to be far or for too long, get out and enjoy the fresh air and also plan the first thing you’re going to do that day. What’s the most critical thing on your to do list? Think of WHAT, specifically, you need to do to complete the task, HOW you’re going to do it and in what order.

By the time you get home, you know exactly what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. Write it down, have a shower, get changed, have a healthy breakfast then go do it. The chances are, you’ll have it done in a fraction of the time it might have taken you otherwise. You could repeat these steps throughout the day each time you stop for a coffee or after lunch.

Eat better

Most people have been through the banana bread making phase and are noticing their weight creep up. The natural reaction is to go on a diet but there’s an easier way to address the problem. First of all, our brains haven’t quite worked out that we’re moving less and confused at gaining weight while still eating the same things as we normally do.

The solution isn’t to cut down on WHAT you eat but improve HOW you eat. Try these steps:

1. Eat away from your work station, even if that happens to be the kitchen table. Go sit outside or at least switch your computer off.
2. Put your fork down with each mouthful, chew each mouthful at least 10 times before swallowing.
3. Take a sip of cold, still water as you swallow each mouthful.
4. Stop eating when you begin to feel full.

I suspect you will naturally eat less, maybe not even finish what you had made and that’s ok. The key thing is to stay away from work or devices while you’re eating. These can often cause you to eat quicker and end up feeling sluggish, or hungry, a short while later.

Take that time for you, get up and move about after you’ve finished eating and plan your next task. 

Feel Better

It should never be about getting up, working solid all day, eating, trying to shoehorn in a workout, try to sleep and get up to do it all again the next day. This is about you. What helps you perform at your best? 

It’s unlikely you’re going to achieve your best work sitting staring at a screen for 8 hours or more. How do you feel when you’re standing outside, up a hill or in a park and you become aware of nature around you?

What if I told you that by standing outside for a minute or two every hour, enjoying your surroundings, stretch, drinking a glass of water (not at the same time!) you’d get more quality work done in the next 58 minutes?

All your ideas, and ability to solve problems, come when you’re away from what you’re doing.

Instead of trying to force things, take a break, get some fresh air, stretch, listen to the birds sing and all your best ideas will come to the fore. This is a good time to plan your next task on your to do list. That’s why I recommend that early morning run/walk/cycle.

Double that up with a late evening walk, reflect on the day gone by, what did you do well? What didn’t go so well? What can you do tomorrow to get a better outcome? Make some notes when you get home and like the early morning session, you’ll improve your health and fitness without even thinking about it.

It will also allow you to get a better night’s sleep so you can wake up feeling energised and ready to do it all again. When was the last time you felt like that?

Are you ready to make that a reality? Would you like to feel fitter, stronger and healthier all day, every day? Get in touch and let’s have a chat. I can help you