What value do you place on health and wellness?

Great leaders encourage their teams to look after their health and wellness, because without it, lasting success is not sustainable. In order to be a consistently strong leader they first need to look after their own health. Health and Wellness is so heavily intertwined with financial greatness, many of the most successful people out there will tell you this, and I am not just talking about the super models who rely on a lean figure for their incomes.

Lewis Howes has referenced a simple change that he found very powerful was in investing the extra moment to make his bed of a morning, lifting his mindset around the value of the little things you can do to look after yourself. He gained this piece of advice from Admiral William McRaven, you can watch his quick youtube clip here.

Richard Branson is another who preaches the value of having a good routine and investing time in exercise daily, and how that has had a profound impact on his ability to think clearly.

It is difficult to have true mental wellness if you are stressed about finances, and in turn, it is difficult to perform at your best if your health and wellness is not supporting the energy required to achieve the tasks for outstanding financial success.

Health and well-being isn’t just about exercise, it’s also about what you are putting into your body, considering both nutrition as well as toxins, and your mental well-being. Addressing all of the categories is not as difficult as you may first think. It can start with something as simple as designing a new routine that works best for you, and includes exercise, a healthy eating program, and some time for relaxation. I challenge you to invest just 15 minutes on each of these areas per day, and see the results for yourselves. If you are finding these commitments hard to stick to, find yourself an accountability partner, reach out to me if need be. 

There have been many links associated with employee health and wellness, ranging from retention and productivity through to profitability. Some may consider you can have either a productive environment, where you are dedicating all of your time to working, or the alternate where you devote less time in the physical activity of work in order to invest in exercise and wellness activities, being considered a compromise, at the sacrifice of work. The two are not mutually exclusive, but rather a symbiotic relationship, of which you want the right balance of both. Working less hours, and investing time in your health and well-being through exercise, having awareness of your nutritional needs, and choosing a healthy eating plan that supports this has been proven to actually improve your productivity, not be at the sacrifice of it. PWC research indicates that employees with poor well-being cost Australian organisations almost $11 billion annually, and that a single employee with dismal well-being loses, on average, 50 working days a year due to decreased productivity. What if it is you that is losing 50 working days of productivity within your own performance, how is that affecting your bottom line?

Mental clarity allows you to have focus and think innovatively. 

If designing a healthy eating plan sounds difficult, there are many out there that have already been developed by dieticians to choose from, it’s just about finding the right one for you. My 5 quick tips are

1.      Have a healthy routine, and put it down on paper, you are more likely to stick to it if you put it in writing. Include what items you will put into your body to support your nutritional needs, and help your liver to rid your body of any toxins it has taken in.

2.      Have genuine conversations around health and wellbeing, this can be with friends, co workers, or health professionals, just having the conversation will help lift your belief in the value of your own actions towards your health. There are many options you can consider that will be of benefit for you personally, look into what is out there, it could be acupuncture, pilates, yoga, hiring a personal trainer, whatever your jam is, find something new and give it a go!

3.      Find an accountability partner, ask them to remind you of the benefits, and continue to motivate you to stick to your plan when you are tempted to go back to your 12 to 16 hour days, of no sunlight, no exercise, and working yourself to the grave. Tell them what it is that made you seek this new path in the first place, and remember the benefits you have had along the way.

4.      Set yourself a reward. Get real around your commitment to yourself to take your health and wellbeing seriously. Do this by recognising your efforts and commending them with a reward at the end of the first 30 days. Remembering it takes 30 days to create a new habit.

5.      Finally, record your journey. You will be so proud of how far you have come, and having notes to look back on will not only remind you of why you did this, and help you to be grateful for your new found health, it will also be a great story for any others you come across who are seeking a better way, your story can help inspire them to do great things as well! 

How motivated are you to make a change in this area? What strategies will you employ to see the results you are looking for this summer? What challenges may present themselves that could prevent you from sticking to your plan, and what ideas can you come up with to keep at it with consistency? This is where your accountability partner will really come in handy! For more tips, or any other assistance you are seeking, contact us at Passionate Sales Consulting.