Your career puts a toll on your body. If staying healthy is not a good enough reason to get your booty of your chair, then maybe one of the points below will be. Since May 2016 I have put over 12kg(nearly 1.9 stones) of lean body mass. This equals to nearly daily visits to a gym, lots of sweat, pain, sacrifices and rewards so I think I am a legitimate example. Find out what connections between the gym and my career I have noticed and how they can benefit you in your career.
Long Term Goal
Many people just live day by day. It might be a nice way of spending your time but if you don’t have a vision, how are you supposed to know what you really want from life? Tony Robbins said that “setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible“. The gym might help you understand how important your long term goal is.
Before you start working out, ask yourself, what is the end result you would like to achieve. Is it improving your stamina, endurance, increasing size, getting shredded or feeling healthier in your body? Whatever it is, once you know it, you will be able to measure your results on your way to success. You need to accept though that whatever your goal is, it will take time and involve significant effort, same as your career.
Patience is your friend at the gym and in your career. By patience, I don’t mean that you shouldn’t be hungry for more because you definitely should, but you need to understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day. This way of thinking will help you take some pressure off you when the things are not working out as you wish.
Like in your career, if you go the extra mile, the results will come sooner or later.
Progress
How to make sure you won’t get discouraged from reaching your goals? It’s progress. My personal favorite on this list.
When things are though even small progress is better than none. Progress is what will keep you going. Gym teaches you that whatever your goal is if you put your mind to it, you will be getting closer and closer to your goal.
You know that if you work hard enough, you will progress. If there is no progress, you simply know that you need to change something, try new ideas, challenge your mind and body, and measure the results again.
These little adaptations will allow you to stay on track to reaching your goals. As soon as you get too comfortable with what you do, you are taking a step back. Get out of your comfort zone.
Overcoming failures
Things can become difficult as you try to reach your goal. If it was easy, everybody would have the beach body or the dream job. Workout teaches you discipline. When things get tough, you lack energy, feel exhausted, it is your character that decides if you are going to carry on.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the former manager of Manchester United who won 38 trophies during his 26 years career, used to urge his players to never give up, on the pitch and outside. He believed that if you give up on little things, you are more likely to give up on the big ones too. I have followed this advice since I heard it.
When I started increasing the intensity of exercises, the feeling of my muscles burning was unbearable. Squatting weights much heavier than my body made me wonder if I break my back. As I was working out I realized that working out is much more a mental game than physical. You brain tries to trick you into thinking that you failed before you really have.
When Muhammed Ali was asked how many sit-ups he usually does, he replied “I don’t count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. That is when I start counting because then it really counts. That’s what makes you a champion.”
I remember very well one of my aha moments at the gym. During a really tough workout, a strong burning pain caused me to finish a set early. I then started asking myself, did I finish too early, why did I finish, did my muscles fail or it’s my brain that gave up? In the next set, I managed to do 4 reps more than I was supposed to do. As you might be guessing now, this was the last day I finished my set early, unless my muscle literally failed.
Failure is good because it means you are pushing your limits.
The stronger character you have at the gym, the stronger your are going to be outside of it, especially in your career.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
Routine
Nowadays there are plenty of distractions bouncing off of our brains every single day. As our lives become more complex, a simple set of routines could allow us to be much more efficient with our time. Reading through the latest Tim Ferris’s book, Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers, routine seems to be a common characteristic of nearly every successful person. What else they’ve got in common with autistic geniuses?
Working out allows you to follow a strict plan every day. You know when you are going to the gym, what training plan you follow, what meals you are having and at what time you have them or prepare them. It also makes it easier to plan other projects in your day making you feel like you are jogging through your day.
Following a routine allows you to go through your tasks without too much thinking, let your unconscious mind guide you and you will accomplish more in less time.
The gym teaches your discipline and importance of long term goals. Progress is what will carry you through your struggles but you need to develop not giving up attitude. A healthy body equals a healthy mind.
If you exercise regularly, what have you learned from it that is useful in your career? If you don’t exercise, when are you starting?!