Are You a Laptop Athlete? Regular Exercise = Productivity
How much more could you accomplish if your energy levels were as high at the end of the day as at the start?
How much would your productivity at work improve if you had better mental focus, with more fluid “thought-flow”, more effective use of time, and higher energy levels on a consistent basis throughout the day?
Regular Exercise = More Productivity
It is thought that exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning, and there was a study done that showed even 10 minutes of physical activity enhances your brain function.
Exercise promotes greater and more sustained energy than a cup of coffee or by taking a nap, thus allowing for overall higher performance – both mentally & physically.
People who exercised during their workday were 23 percent more productive on those days than they were when they didn’t exercise, says a recent study from the International Journal of Workplace Health Management.
It has also been found that the endorphins (or your body’s “feel-good” hormones) released after exercise can actually give people a buzz and regular activity (e.g. 3-5 times a week) can also help keep the brain “plugged in” and on-task.
Exercise and productivity at work truly go hand in hand!
What is Entrepreneur Fitness? (aka, Laptop Athlete!)
In my view, this term refers to conditioning one’s body (& mind) for the purposes of not only being able to perform well in our weekend warrior-type activities with adequate physical strength & stamina, but to also be able to perform well physically, and especially mentally in our everyday lives – namely in our jobs because that’s where we spend most of our time!
More and more in our fast-paced lives, we’re being demanded of and pushed to our mental limits, which often intersects with our physical limits and vice versa.
Entrepreneurs and even work-at-home Moms (hola Mompreneurs!) may have an even greater need to be fit and healthy, due to the extreme pressures for their time and energy.
The key is to learn how to maximize your very limited time and irregular, demanding schedules to get the highest return from your workouts. In other words, ensure you are getting the best ROI, or return on investment for your workouts – minimal time for maximal results.
Therefore to achieve good “entrepreneur fitness”, we have to think outside the box a little in the way we view what it means to be fit or to get fit.
By the way, you do NOT need to spend hours hammering it out in the gym to gain a certain level of fitness.
Remember that study I mentioned that showed just 10 minutes of physical activity can boost brain function?
Get productively fit! Fitting exercise into your day – and around your work schedule
We really don’t have many good excuses anymore not to move our bodies daily, with so many options out there, but remember PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION!
Here are a few ways to squeeze some exercise into your day, and ultimately increase your productivity:
1 | Consider exercising early in the day
However well-intentioned people are, if you don’t do some form of exercise in the morning, you just end up doing other things that will squeeze exercise out altogether.
This is my personal strategy, otherwise, my workout would only ever consist of strolling around the park with my kids…which is better than nothing, but I like to really sweat – daily!!
Exercise is also a very important part of my self-care routine, and as I’ve written about many times in past articles – self-care isn’t selfish, it’s critical to your overall well-being as well as to your success in business.
2 | Build bullet-proof systems
Make it easier to succeed at your exercise goal (whatever that may be) by building bullet-proof systems into your lifestyle.
For example, if you’re an early morning runner or gym-goer, the night before you go running lay your whole kit out and prepare some breakfast to grab on the go post-run or post-gym – like a smoothie or homemade breakfast bar.
3 | Partner up for accountability & motivation
Connect with a friend or colleague to run with, do a bootcamp program, or exercise class with as you’ll keep each other motivated and enjoy the social benefits of exercise with someone else.
4 | Tap into the power of nature
Again, if you’re a runner, bootcamper, or the like, running in a natural environment is proven to offer more mental health benefits than running on a treadmill at the gym so make sure you take your exercise outdoors as often as possible.
5 | Don’t let ‘lack of time’ be an excuse anymore
Time (or lack thereof) is usually the top excuse as to why people can’t seem to “fit” fitness into their day.
SOLUTION: Functional training and HIIT workouts – high-intensity interval training in as little as 15 minutes a day!
This is pretty much the hottest trend in fitness right now (and it isn’t going anywhere soon), because elements of it can work for anyone.
Turbulence training, blast or burst training, Tabata, Little Method… plenty of types but all the same concept: minimal time for maximal results.
If you haven’t incorporated HIIT training into your routine, I urge you to explore it.
If you’re going to take time away from your kids, your work, and all the other parts of your jammed schedule – work your ass off for those 15-30 minutes!
What have you been doing to increase your fitness as an entrepreneur?
You’ve got to think, eat & exercise like an athlete if you want to perform like an entrepreneurial rockstar!
#LaptopAthlete