I admit, this topic may surprise you but it’s so important and so overlooked that I had to include it. You will be surprised at how career advancement spreads into other areas of your life.
So what would you say is the one thing that would keep you motivated in any kind of job?
In an earlier strategy, we talked about staying motivated in your corporate job by doing certain things at work. Now I want to help you connect the dots to what else you can do anywhere in your life in order to stay motivated and get happier at work no matter what your job situation.
Personal embarrassing story: I’ve let this giant source of motivation lapse a lot too, both in my corporate job and in my busy entrepreneurship journey. And every single time, I’ve come up with brilliant excuses to just let it go for a while, put it on the back-burner, and convince myself that I will get back into it after this phase, after this project, and after this season. Etc. Etc. (You know how that conversation goes!)
Guess what happened every time I did that to myself?
I was filled with regrets and anger at my own sheer stupidity!
How can I give up the one thing that is a non-negotiable and keeps me sane? How can anyone?
Well, we do even when we can scarcely afford to do that.
Let Exercise Be Your Top Career Advancement Secret
I am talking about physical and mental exercise both. I am talking about getting regular, consistent physical and mental activity for your system to operate at its optimum. Then you can face your job with clarity and focus and you can outdo your stressed peers and co-workers. Let this be your secret for career advancement.
Staying healthy is the key to staying motivated in the right and the not-so-right job and this strategy will give you compelling reasons to put health back on your schedule if you want to go places in your career.
Taking care of your health has a lot of benefits besides the obvious, but the specific benefits that help you succeed at work has little to do with fitness or weight-loss benefits.
It has to do with your energy level, clarity of mind and positive empowerment.
Natural High Energy: Exercise gives you energy so you can tackle your work and your stress with plenty of ammunition. Even though it takes effort to exercise, the right amount of exercise will then fuel you with energy and vitality and you will fight fatigue and be well ahead of your team members thanks to the natural benefits of exercise.
Clarity of Mind: Exercise gives you clarity when you get all foggy and cloudy up there and then feel de-motivated and depressed even. You can also exercise higher levels of mental clarity with Positive Affirmations.
Positive Empowerment: Exercise gives you a sense of empowerment and being in charge. It reminds you that you are running your own show. You feel empowered about your time, your efforts, your decisions and your actions if you exercise regularly than if you don’t.
See, when you fall off the exercise habit, your body goes into a different mode altogether and getting back into it becomes a herculean effort the longer you wait, but that’s not all.
You start to get more stressed, and you may be working harder but you are getting further from your full capacity .
Instead, use exercise to get closer to your full capacity, which you can reach when your lungs have pumped air in and out of them and your body has had a chance to move and shake and replenish itself.
You don’t have to run a marathon.
You don’t have to do hot yoga.
You don’t even have to sign up for one of those ridiculous triathlon competitions.
No. You simply have to take care of your body in a way that suits you best every single day.
I can hear you saying how hard it is to make time for exercise. All I can say is that some investments pay about as much as you put into it, some pay double. Exercise pays exponentially. In other words, it pays you back A LOT. And as we go deeper into our work together, I’ll connect the dots between your health and your upward mobility and career advancement even more clearly. I daresay that some of it may even shock you. Suffice it to say, they want you nice and healthy at the top, so take good care of yourself now!
Exercise is going to be your savior as you navigate your professional (and personal) life, so make friends and let it energize you to deal with the rest of your days with clarity and power.
For the next week, I just want you to start adding regular exercise onto your calendar and make time for it as a regular meeting. Would you that for yourself?
