Looking after number One
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If someone said to you that their business was hugely reliant on a highly complex and sensitive machine that could break down at any time, blasting the heart out of their enterprise, your first response would probably be “I bet you take good care of it”. You’d expect to hear that the machine was closely monitored, well maintained, and regularly and expensively serviced in a way befitting such a crucial component…wouldn’t you?
So how is it that we, as business owners, subject our bodies – the finest and most complex piece of engineering created – to such neglect? After all, regardless of what type of business you have, your presence and drive is almost certainly the one factor that not only guarantees the success of your enterprise, but actually ensures the business is viable. If your health breaks down and you’re unable to work, or your capacity for work is reduced, that could be the end of your business, particularly if you’re a one or two person concern.
Yet, research and experience show that as a general rule business owners work too hard, worry too much, eat the wrong foods, often drink and smoke too much, and don’t get enough exercise. A recipe for disaster if ever there was one! Of course, if you’re relatively young, most of the ill-effects will bounce off you or remain hidden – for now. But if you’re one of the huge number of later life entrepreneurs you could, quite literally, be dicing with death. In either case, it’s shortsighted and foolish to neglect your health when presumably you’re in business for the long term. ‘Killer ambition’ isn’t supposed to be a literal phrase.
In talking to business owners about why they don’t do more to look after themselves, the response is always the same. “Yes, I know I ought to do things differently, but I haven’t got time.” What they’re saying is that they believe that making changes to their lifestyle will require a lot of effort. Wrong. In fact, consistently introducing a few small changes and sticking with them takes little time and is relatively easy, producing remarkable improvements in your wellbeing, short- and long-term. Here’s how it works:
The 3F Plan
First, you have to ditch the idea that the whole issue of health and fitness is complex. It’s not. You just have to keep an eye on three things: Food Fitness Fatigue
Let’s call it your 3Fplan (like the F Plan, but three times better!). Okay, so now where do you start?
Ideally, as all the best advice will tell you, you should start with a medical check up. This will establish your current level of fitness and any specific problems you may need to address or work round. Blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol level, Body Mass Index – all are useful indicators of the shape you’re in and where you may need to make some changes. No doubt your GP will have some useful advice on what to do, or stop doing in order to avoid the most common ailments of heart disease, diabetes, and various types of cancer. But, if you haven’t got time for a check up right now don’t let it be an obstacle (or excuse) for not taking action – any improvements you can make are bound to be beneficial.
Next, assuming no major problems have been uncovered, write down one area under each of our 3F headings that you feel you most need to change. For example, Food – stop eating so much fast food Fitness – start taking regular exercise Fatigue – stop working at weekends
Now translate those three issues into small achievable actions, for example:
Food – stop eating chips Fitness – take a twenty minute walk 5 days a week Fatigue – speak to my partner and book a couple of weekends away.
You’ll note the emphasis on the word ‘achievable’ in relation to these goals. There’s no point in setting yourself really challenging tasks e.g. ‘go to the gym for an hour every day’, because we both know that after the first few days, you probably won’t keep it up. But small tasks that you know you could do quite easily if you just applied yourself are a different matter.
However, you do still have to do what you’ve decided. But it’s just those three things for now although you must do them consistently for the next month until they become a habit. Keep a daily journal of progress, write down whether or not you succeeded and what helped or hindered you. If you fail, don’t beat yourself up and certainly don’t give up. Just put it behind you and start again.
Then at the end of the month review your overall progress and see whether or not your behaviour has now changed. If it has, congratulations you’ve now developed new habits and can look at introducing some more changes. If not, ask yourself what went wrong. Why did you choose not to do the things that you’d decided you wanted and needed to do? Do you need to set some even simpler targets to get you going?
Rules for life
Hopefully from the above example you can see how making big changes to your lifestyle starts with small acts. As they become habitual you’ll be able to introduce and achieve more ambitious goals because you’ll not only find you have more energy, you’ll also be motivated by the very fact that you’ve proved you can take steps to change the way things are without having to radically alter the way you do things.
But this simple plan only provides a system - what should you be aiming for in order to ensure your long term wellbeing? These days there’s a huge and confusing amount of information available about what we should and shouldn’t eat and do in order to stay healthy and fit. In terms of diet there’s low fat, low carb, high fibre, GI, Atkins, the list is endless. And then there’s the issue of what sort of exercise, and how much. And how hard should we work?
If you’re getting bogged down in conflicting evidence just aim to follow these simple rules and you won’t go far wrong:
Food
Fitness
We tend to associate ‘fitness’ with playing sport or going to the gym but the good news is that research has shown we can all attain a good level of fitness just by going for a regular brisk walk every day. Okay, so it may not be massively exciting, but there can be no excuse not to – you don’t need any equipment or to go anywhere special and you can do it at any time of day, by yourself or with company. How easy is that?
Walking aside, there’s loads of other physical activities that are easy to take up such as swimming, yoga, and cycling. Take time to try a few different things before you commit. Ideally find someone else to do it with (this helps keep up your commitment on days when you’re feeling less than enthusiastic), and make sure that you actually like what you’re doing (any sort of activity that you enjoy will have the added benefit of refreshing your mind as well as your body).
And don’t overlook the fitness benefits of doing regular chores. Cleaning the house and car and gardening are great for fitness – and someone has to do them. Even regular shopping trips can be good if you park some distance away and have to carry those bags back to the car!
If you’re in any doubt about the danger to your health of exercising, check with your doctor. They also may have some good suggestions for a daily exercise routine that would be exactly right for you.
Fatigue
One of the greatest benefits of introducing improvements to your Food and Fitness is that you will certainly feel less fatigued as a result. But you still need to ensure that you:
Ultimately, whatever you choose to do, improving your wellbeing simply involves taking control of your life and introducing a few simple, beneficial routines to replace the bad habits you’ve slipped into. Perseverance and commitment are all that’s required and in a matter of days you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel and how much more energy you have to devote to your business. Particularly if you’re just starting up, good habits introduced now will stand you in good stead for many profitable years to come.
[Published in Start Your Business magazine October 2007]
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