Three things your fitness journey can teach you, which an MBA can't...

After I was diagnosed with the rare disease acromegaly, I decided to pursue a healthy lifestyle by venturing into endurance sports - swim, bike and run. After being an active athlete for more than three years now, I have realized that endurance sports has taught me things which came not only handy at the workplace, but without this journey, there was more probability of me not learning these critically important life and leadership skills.

Resilience, not talent what makes you achieve big goals

Sports is a lot about discipline than talent. You have to keep doing it for a long period of time - whether on some specific days you like it or not. On an average, I run more than 1000 KM in a year. This is in addition to the time spent in the gym for strength training, on my bike, in the pool, at my workplace and with family. While this number may look stagggering, it actually isn't. It is just the sum of various small bits. Sometimes at work, we get overwhelmed by a big goal (or projects). What you will realize that the goal is eventually a combination of multiple steps. You just focus on that one step which you need to do now.

Build a community of like-minded people around you

Be it life or career, you can never achieve anything alone. So, if you are planning a long fitness or career journey, you have to build a community of friends and believers around you. Trust me, it won't be easy. The relationships will be about give and take. You have to be selfless in helping your community members with a genuine intent, And on a day, when you are not in the mood to run or ride or swim, your community will come to your rescue. Also, like it happens in the case of bad habits, good habits too are formed by good company. Look around in your office and ask yourself, Have you built a community of like-minded believers? If the answer is no, you got to get moving.

Fix small things for positive change

If you want to improve at work or in your fitness journey, start fixing small things. In fitness, it can be that addition for a food which is not good for you. At work it can be a habit which is pulling you back. For a long time in life, I was never the morning guy thanks to the odd timings at work. I used to feel that I was more efficient during evenings. But soon I realized that by not getting up early, I am wasting a few precious hours in the day which I could have dedicated to fitness and work. I started pushing my morning by 15-20 minutes every month. Same applies to my running too. I am fond of 10K as a distance. But, in order to do a half marathon better than what I am currently doing, I needed to increase my load. Now I run beyond 10 in my training runs easily and that needed small changes in my habit. Aim big but start small. Rome was not built in a day.