If you plan to stand on your own feet, your legs better be strong enough! While fitness needs to be on the priority list of everyone alike, it holds a crucial key to success for startup founders and independent workers.
Health has only recently begun to get the attention it always deserved. And if you have been anything like me- neglecting exercise on the pretext of work load, traffic or plain laziness- time to pause and learn a few tricks.
1. Kill the ‘I don’t have time’ excuse: This is the biggest lie that we tell to everyone and unfortunately to ourselves. The issue is, we don’t take working out seriously enough to take time out for it. Instead of being a mandate, time for exercise is a choice which we don’t often pick. If you really care about yourself, stop giving yourself a choice. Decide on a time duration- it could range anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. And instead of trying to squeeze out time from your schedule, make this a part of your schedule as your daily necessary appointment with yourself. Choose on rough a time of day when you are most likely to be free of any obligations and go for it guilt-free.
Quick tip: Trying to wake up early in order to begin one’s exercise regimen can be a dampener for many. Instead fit the activity anywhere in your existing routine to begin with to ensure that you don’t make the task anymore difficult for you.
2. Go for the most feasible and most appealing solution: Most career-oriented professionals like the idea of learning something new. So here’s a chance for you to decide on what it should be. Take time to decide what you would really like to learn. There are numerous activities one could choose from- Yoga, Taekwondo, Mixed Martial Arts, Crossfit, Taichi or any form of dancing. Now, whether you have the time to go to a proper class for the same (which has to be in the proximity of your residence or workplace) or whether you are open to following online training videos is up to you to decide. I personally enjoy mixing styles and learning different things and hence Youtube works best for me. With the added convenience of anytime, anywhere, I get robbed of any excuses from my kitty. However, for many of you enrolling into a class may ensure that you really follow through.
Quick tip:Take your call based on which excuses you make the most! You would naturally commit yourself to something that you enjoy doing.
3. Breaking the inertia: The body can be a real sloth- not wanting to move an inch until it’s required to. Identify when you are starting to act like a sloth and shake yourself up- that’s the most difficult thing, really! Because most of us have made it so in our heads! However, for once try to push yourself to stand- think of how good a workout can make you feel. Think of all the times you’ve exercised in the past and how you felt after that.
Quick tip:The day you don’t feel like doing anything, just coax yourself to get up and do something as simple as taking a walk or stretching your arms and legs for a very short time and you might be pleasantly surprised by your desire to continue once you’ve kick-started the activity.
4. Convince yourself to help your brain: Physical activities help in bringing a balance to your life. When planning to launch a business, some days are bound to be frustrating and stressful and only a form of physical activity may be able to de-stress you and cheer you up for the road ahead. When you stretch yourself to achieve a fitness goal, you train your mind to push similarly when it comes to your business goals. From mood boosting to memory enhancement to better decision-making skills, this article is much too short to sum up the psychological benefits of exercising in one form or the other.
Quick tip: Every time you go for a physical activity just tell yourself that this will also make your brain smarter and sharper at everything else that you do.
5. Get addicted to water: Make water your favourite drink! You’ve heard it already from various sources and at the risk of being unoriginal I can still not exclude this point when I write about fitness. When you are into the process of building a business from scratch, you may end up forgetting things as obvious as drinking water. Keep your favourite bottle handy and ensure you drink at least 3 litres of water everyday (and more depending on how intense your workout sessions are).
Quick tip: Try drinking at least 3 glasses of water immediately after you get up- you might feel a bit too full, but trust me, it’s one of the best habits you would have cultivated in a short while.
If you are already on track, good for you! If not, just begin with a one-week trial for yourself while keeping in mind the above mentioned mantras and embrace the new you. You will look better, feel better and do better. What more do you need!
Bhavana Pandey
The author of this article is the founder and chief content strategist at Wytti- a Bangalore based content marketing firm which takes pride in creating witty content for businesses.
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