Written by: Ryan Hodgson, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Truth is, a lot of the time achieving great success within any area of your life comes with a lot of hard work, dedication and ultimately sacrifice.
I’ve worked with many who are extremely successful within their professional field, from CEOs of large corporations, or politicians, to surgeons, all giving up/sacrificing things that can impact other areas of their life, whether that be.
Their family relationships
Their social ties
Their body shape and health (physically and emotional)
Now, it’s not for me to judge anyone who has fallen party to the extreme levels of focus that are often required to climb to the top l, as i've been there myself, however as an executive lifestyle coach who’s helped thousands of busy professionals. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way.
Fact is, you can actually be fit and healthy, have great social ties, a budding family and still be successful with your career, it’s about setting boundaries in life. Think of them like non-negotiables in your life that you’ll get done without fail.
We often find this easy with work, or family, but when it comes to our health and fitness, not so easy for the majority.
Things that you simply must do, and setting some that are important to each area of your life is a good idea. However, for today, let’s talk about the health and fitness side of things, because that’s one that I believe trickles down to your family, your social ties and those around you at work.
So basically when you’re fitter and healthier everyone benefits.
So many of my clients will start with basic non-negotiables each day (which they get a lot of accountability from me and my team for) like.
Hit 6000 steps a day (could even be less if you’re currently not moving anywhere near that much)
Drink 2 litres of water a day
Get 3 servings of protein a day
Take a multivitamin
Get minimum 6 hours of sleep (ideally more)
Small things that don’t seem like much on the surface, however they do add up. Then with time these non-negotiables advance to things like, it could be carving out time to workout a few times a week.
The secret here is about instilling habits within these non-negotiables before you progress them. We’ve seen top execs go from 2000 steps a day to hitting 10000 a day (with time) as part of a lifestyle, the impact it’s had on them, their health and their performance is tenfold.
However the first and most important thing to remember with this is it needs to be sustainable, and it needs to have minimal impact on the other areas of your life.
Now, I know when you’re successful in one area of your life, the temptation is to jump all in with the health bandwagon, which may offer instant gratification, however, you rarely get the long term fruits for your labour. Think marginal gains, small bits of progress. These little non-negotiables are things that your future self will thank you for.
As we head toward January, we know that most gyms will become overwhelmingly busy with people who have gone from no exercise to hitting the gym five or more times a week, then they wonder why by March they’ve given up.
This happens every year in the fitness industry, similarly in April (pre summer) and September (back to school). I don’t want that for you. I want you to create healthy habits that will be with you long after the January New Year’s resolution mob has dropped out.
Now, I know you may be thinking, but I’m too busy even to make these small changes and set some non-negotiables, which is why I heed to question.
What happens if you do nothing?
What happens is you decide to carry on prioritising your career over the other areas of your life?
Only you can truly answer this, I’m sure you’ll agree that actually being fitter and healthier could benefit your career with improved focus, increased productivity, less sick days, and much more that will have a positive impact on your workplace performance.
Ryan Hodgson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Ryan Hodgson, is an executive health coach who helps busy professionals outsource their health and fitness with his 6 month coaching program. Having been in the fitness industry 13 years and having worked with over 10,000 people he’s become an industry leader. Having won several awards, and become a best selling author too. Ryan is a family man and has 2 daughters, which drive his passion to have a holistic approach to health and performance. He is the CEO of Team HH online and runs it with his wife and business partner Elly Hodgson.
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