Whether or not you choose to be a workaholic or simply work long and hard because of the demands of your job, it’s vitally important that you look after yourself. As somebody once said, ‘If you haven’t got your health you haven’t got anything’. So by all means crack on with the task at hand but always, repeat always take care of your health.
There are a number of practical steps you can take which will improve your health or maintain your good health and thus enable you to work as hard as you like. Practical steps are easy to understand and, if well planned, are easy to perform.
Be prepared
This rule applies to all aspects of life including the way you run your business but certainly in the way you look after your health. Take time to plan your meals. Make sure that you are taking advice from a nutritionist who knows what they’re talking about, or at a credible source – avoid those fad ‘lifestyle’ diets, they aren’t sustainable and could do more damage long term!
There are heaps of articles online which give you sensible and solid advice about eating well. In your plan-ahead activity make sure that you are not rushing around at the last minute looking for something worthwhile to eat. Just as you would have a diary and a timetable to help run your working activities, you need the equivalent plan for what you eat and drink.
It’s not necessarily no pain no gain
Some people believe that their optimum fitness can only be achieved by driving themselves seriously hard. They believe that there will be no gain unless there is pain. Again, like seeking advice from qualified nutritionists, taking advice from expert fitness gurus has many benefits. The secret is to reach a level of fitness which enables you to work on your fitness and then simply to maintain that fitness. This does not require you to run up the 52 flights of stairs to your office every day. There are simple and effective ways to maintain a good level of fitness. Find what these ways are for you and put them into practice. Some people are gym regulars, others participate in regular sports. Even being committed to a daily walk will have beneficial results.
Work on your self-control
The most successful people, not just in business but in life, are those who are self- disciplined and who practice self-control. If you have been sloppy in your meal preparation for example, the temptation may be to sneak out and find the most convenient food. If this is not healthy food then self-control is required. There may be times when even the best laid plans go astray and you find yourself having to find food from a source you have not checked out beforehand. Always look for the healthy option. If salads, nuts or fruit are available go for these.
Habits are catching
Just as people get themselves into a rut with a bad habit and find themselves repeating the folly over and over again, you can become addicted to good habits. If you become a regular practitioner of healthy eating and sensible exercise and do so on a daily basis, you find it much easier to maintain that lifestyle. It’s like a rolling snowball. The more you perform your good habits, the easier it is to keep performing. Set yourself up with the ideal routine and allow it to enable you to work hard and maintain good health.
Expect the unexpected
Life can from time to time throw up an activity or event for which you are not prepared. It might mean that you have to work late and what you plan to do that evening has to be cancelled. It might mean that somebody you are relying upon lets you down and you are thrown in at the deep end and need to work two jobs at the same time. This sort of thing happens from time to time. As crazy as it may seem, you need to expect the unexpected. Have some tools in your kit bag to cope with an emergency. Do you know how to meditate? Do you have some simple exercises you can perform in a confined space? Do you have emergency rations? Think ahead and be prepared.
Something is better than nothing
If you have a health and fitness regime and something crops up to interrupt your normal lifestyle, don’t drop your bundle. It is possible to do a reduced program of exercises and always remember that something is better than nothing. When designing your workout schedule, always have a plan B. Always have a fall back situation in case something makes your plan A impossible.