I Succeeded In Business But Failed At Health
I built a successful business but I failed at being healthy.
It was like building a beautiful house on a crumbling foundation.
The good news:
- Fixing your health foundation is simple.
The bad news:
- Simple does not mean easy.
I’ve made some dumb decisions and learned some pretty hard lessons.
- The DUMBEST and most embarrassing thing I ever did was gain 55 lbs of fat.
- The HARDEST thing I ever did in my life was lose those 55 lbs. I’ve been sued, divorced, ran a wilderness Death Race, and nearly died on my boat in a hurricane. Losing my excess fat was harder than all of those.
- The SMARTEST thing I ever did was learn how to get lean and fit. My energy and productivity went through the roof as a result.
- Now I find it SIMPLE to maintain 10% body fat and I’m twice as strong as I was in college.
Health is very simple. But it’s not necessarily easy.
The Simple Part
- Eat for the body you want
- Move for the body you want
Eating for the body you want is a simple matter of calculating the daily nutrition required to support your ideal body composition (ie weight & strength).
- It requires only 3 simple habit changes and is 100% sustainable.
- This approach can take a little longer than dieting.
- But clinical research clearly shows that slower is better.
- My approach allows for social occasions and “cheat days” and eliminates the “rebound” and “yo-yo” effects commonly associated with diets.
Moving for the body you want can be achieved in as little as 10 minutes a week (study).
The Not Easy Part
You are possibly your own worst enemy when it comes to your health.
The battle for health is won or lost in our minds long before those decisions accumulate in our bodies.
I too rationalized all the executive bullshit reasons and realized at 40 years old I wasn’t going to make it age 60.
If spend all your attention and energy on building a roof (your business), you will neglect to maintain the foundation (your health).
- A pyramid can’t rise higher than its foundation.
- A leader can’t be more productive than his health allows.
How To Change In Five Steps
We are creatures of habit.
That could be a good thing (or a bad thing) depending on whether our habits are healthy (or not).
As a health coach my experience is that habits have ‘momentum’ or ‘reinforcing patterns’ resulting from many repetitions and deeply-held subconscious values. This is the main reason why I became certificated in health psychology.
Our rational minds tend to be undermined by our subconscious . It’s a bit like an ant trying to steer an elephant.
We can rationally conceptualize unconscious incompetence moving towards conscious competence. But sometimes it’s helpful to bypass our rational mind and speak directly to our intuition as this poem eloquently does:
There Is a Hole in My Sidewalk (by Portia Nelson)
Chapter One
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost…I am helpless. It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend that I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in this same place. But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three
I walk down the same street. There is a deep whole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in…it’s a habit…but, My eyes are open I know where I am It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter Four
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter Five
I walk down another street.
Originally published at thehealthyexec.com on March 31, 2019.
I am a leading online health & fitness coach to top executives, entrepreneurs, and business owners around the world. https://thehealthyexec.com