What I’ve learnt in 20 years of Business
I can’t believe that I’ve just started my 20th year in Business. Where has that gone?
People say that time flies and it certainly does! So that got me thinking about what I’ve learnt in the last 20 years and how things change as well.
I thought I would give you a ‘run down’ of my 5 most important tips to help maintain a healthy body and future.
1) Exercise – Something is better than nothing!
We seem to live super-fast lives now, and finding time to exercise is difficult. We all know we need to do it, but life, work, families all take priority. We can all find 10 to 15 minutes every day to exercise though. You only need a few bits of equipment if you don’t have access to a gym or don’t like outdoor exercise.
Just concentrating on one thing: e.g. abs & core for 10 mins, 3 to 4 times a week, soon brings results. Obviously if you have more time to spare that’s great, but a minimum of 10 minutes a day will ensure change.
2) Mobility & Flexibility – Keep Moving!
As human beings we were designed to run away from dinosaurs. In today’s life most people sit on average for nearly 8 hours per day. This means that slowly, over time, our joints and muscles begin to seize up. In Winter the effects of this are especially highlighted.
Best time to stretch is late afternoon/ early evening. So when you get back from work spend 10 minutes stretching out your muscles, before you start getting involved in other things. Foam rollers are great for helping keep your muscles in better shape.
3) Strength – We all need it
Putting a small amount of strength work into our bodies is really important and here is the reason why. If you walk 1 mile at a steady pace,and you weigh for example 12st, for a man that would be approximately 2,225 steps. Then you multiply each of those steps by double your body weight, so this means that you put through your body 53,400 stones or 339 tonnes of mass per mile. This increases considerably when running.
This huge amount of force that we put through our bodies means that doing some form of strength or resistance training is critical to keep the body from falling apart.
4) Posture – Do you slouch at your desk?
If you do, then your back gets rounded and your shoulders lift. Over time this will give you neck ache, shoulder problems and back ache, and that’s just for starters! Good posture is a combination of thinking about how you stand and sit, plus working on the 3 subject areas mentioned above.
If you are ‘desk bound’ get up every 30 minutes; don’t email the person opposite you; get up, walk over and talk to them.
5) Diet – Eat smaller portions and drink plenty of water
If you are looking to lose some weight, then use this simple formula. It certainly works for me and my clients. Eat 500 calories less per day and burn 500 calories extra per day. This will lose you 1lb a week. This is the recommended amount of weight loss, and eating smaller portions will help with that.
Lots of illness is due to lack of water in the body. We need at least 2 litres of fresh water per day. There are plenty of ‘apps’ that can help remind you to drink and track how much you drink.
Hope you have found these tips useful and that you’ll take action and find a way of fitting some of them into your daily routine.
I’d love to hear your thoughts after you’ve had time to try out my tips. It’s always great to hear about the successes people have had when changing habits of a life time! The best place to add your thoughts is my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stressfreeonline/