“Take Care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
As a certified Precision Nutrition Coach, I get many questions regarding health, nutrition, and well-being. More so when it comes to the high paced rat race of working long hours and trying to keep a balance in life while still maintaining high productivity, performance, succeeding in their career, and good health.
Many people equate success with sacrificing many things to achieve some level of success as defined by them. These sacrifices could include health, family, relationships, sleep, and in general, an imbalance in life.
When career success is your main priority, most other things in life fall through the cracks. I am here to tell you that that isn’t true. You can be extremely successful and have excellent health, well-being, and healthy relationships while maintaining high performance and productive achievers in your career.
High Productivity and Performance
“If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents-start charging for it” – Kim Gars
Many people, especially in my industry, work long hours, have several working priorities competing with one another, a big proposal, a client deadline, emails, general work disruptions that hinder deep work and flow. These lead to an overburdened to-do list, calendar, and just overall stress, which hinders productivity and performance. Working long hours and constantly going from one meeting to another doesn’t equate to high performance. But there are ways to manage all that. When you put all that together, you end up with poor cognitive performance, tend to eat poorly, increase your stress levels, and in some cases succumb to increased alcohol to wind down. Many people end up working more hours to get their to-dos completed after staff have gone home, but what they don’t realize is that their productivity has stalled. They are no longer performing at their peak.
In my own experience, I have seen people who have died on the job (desk job), nearly die of a heart attack, many have diabetes, high cholesterol, out of shape, and over-weight. You name it, all for the price of their definition of success because they aren’t taking care of themselves, their temple, or having goals and priorities in their life.
Nutrition and Life Balance
The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel, and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.” – Anthony Robbins
When I speak to a potential client, I have many questions I ask, I have them provide me a three-day journal of what they have eaten and ask them what their goals are. “My doctor says I should lose weight; my wife says I need to spend more time at home with the kids and interact with them, increase my energy level to come home and play with my kids and just be present.” Then the next question is, why? Then why aren’t you achieving them? “Well, my biggest priority is earning money and taking care of my family and to provide what they need and want “ I respond with all at the expense of your health and mental well-being? Interesting… If you aren’t well and can’t perform, you can’t provide for your family and be an active participant as you could be confined to a bed or a hospital, in which case you aren’t providing any benefit to your family.
From there, we start looking into their nutrition, seeing what they usually eat, the pace they eat, and the type of foods they are consuming. Let’s look at your diet for the last three days, tell me what you have eaten, be honest, and then let’s take a look at that. Next, what are your objectives? I get again, work fewer hours, reduce my commute (that seems to be changing these days with COVID), eat healthier, have more energy with my kids, sleep better, etc. So what’s stopping you?
So after reviewing the journal I requested, we assess the nutrition component, let’s work on that first. Eat clean and mindfully, meal prep and plan, and take mental breaks throughout the day. We will start with small steps to increase your success slowly. Going in all at once with many different new habits and routines could be a disaster waiting to happen. The goal as a coach for my clients is to have them start slow and gradually incorporate new practices. Exercise, it could be as little as 10-15 minute a day, or a 30-minute walk on your lunch break. Let’s see how you feel after a week? Gradually, their health goals become a habit or ritual (autopilot). Work performance increases, and energy levels are high, so you can spend more time at home with family without stimulating your mind or numbing yourself.
Things change. They have less mental fog, are more productive, and in flow states, hours reduce significantly, and they have more time to experience other fun areas of their life. Their health is improving, and performance is improving as well, all by changing a few things in their lifestyle diet, moving, sleeping, relationships, etc; things open up. Health increases, mental fog decreases, you become more effective and efficient, and you end up performing at your peak. They aren’t working as many hours because their cognitive state is much better, and they accomplish more work efficiently and effectively in less time.
Something to ponder, ask yourself, what if you were told you would die in one week, or six months? What would be your priorities then? What would you do every day to ensure your success and happiness? I guess working crazy hours isn’t one of them, most likely having experiences, not the money, because you sure can’t take that with you. And who knows, many your new found habit of eating clean and healthy would increase your chances of survival.
With all that said, nutrition plays a crucial role in many aspects of life. In the specifics of being a high performer and an executive or a goal to be one, taking care of your body is a convenient and necessary thing. It amazes me how it has changed many people I know. This allows them to pursue other goals because they are effectively performing, say no to things that aren’t a priority to enjoy, and partake in other aspects of their lives.
Call To Action
All comments welcome. Let me know what you think you want more information or ways to improve.