Making an exercise plan.

Matrix Key - Health & WellBeing - Exercise and Fitness - Exercise Plan

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch."
Anonymous

One of my most basic coaching rules is that any result demands an intention, a period of time and some kind of action.  You can see this rule is key to any section of the WholeLife Matrix.  

Intentions must be specific and measurable.  Once you define what you want, you start to create it.  This is a logical process with itemized action steps.  The results from the actions do not always show up the way we envision, but they show progress on our intentions all the same. Unlike goals which require a specific outcome, we only fail our intentions if we quit trying.

You may set fitness intentions of any kind: changes in body mass or size, strength or endurance levels, weight loss, flexibility, improved emotional health...your list will be unique to you and your situation.  

In the WholeLife Matrix, we identify four key criteria for your exercise plan:

1.   Intentions

2.   Variety

3.   Keeping it Fun

4.   Support: Coach/Trainer/Friend

Having set your intentions, consider the other three criteria:  incorporating variety will keep your mind and body alert and aware; keeping it fun makes it so much easier to continue on the days you encounter resistance (and remember that skipping one day makes it easier to skips days 2, 3,4 and so on).

Finally enlisting a second and ideally a third person into the plan will also increase your wins at follow through.  Our mind can be our enemy when we challenge ourselves, and you have a 50/50 shot at talking your partner out of follow through on a particular day.  But when you bring a third person into the mix and form a triad, you have exponentially increased your ability to keep time and action focused on your intentions.

Are you ready to win?

Vacation Plans

Matrix Key:  Health and Well-Being - Vacation/Time Off

"Vacations are necessities, not luxuries." - Linda Bloom

This probably isn't the first time that you've read about the importance of vacation and time off.  No one can function at a peak performance level without occasional rest and relaxation.  Time away from your business gives you the chance to adjust your perspective, to refocus on the big picture and less on the details that come up every day. The most important thing about vacation, however, is how it impacts your physical health, and your ability to contribute in all areas of your life - relationships, business and community. 

So why is it so hard to take vacation?  Remember our model of the table...each quadrant of the matrix is a table leg.  If we neglect our well-being, our table will fall.  If you're still not convinced, let's look at some of the key components, and outcomes, of time off:

1. Opportunity to Decompress
2. Beautification
3. Absence of Pressure
4. Time Away from the Daily Environment

So how do you make those vacation plans a reality?  You have to schedule them in your calendar and treat them as being as important as any board meeting. When you show up for vacation you'll get more than souvenirs to bring home...you'll get a fresh perspective that will help you to stay in the game of business and life.

Are you ready to win?     

Health and Well Being

Matrix Key:  WholeLife Matrix - Health and Well-Being

"The greatest wealth is health." - Virgil

What could be more important in life than Health and Well-Being? Health and Well-Being is one of the four primary quadrants of the WholeLife Matrix. If we cannot get out of bed in the morning and feel well enough to function, how are we ever going to accomplish everything we have to do and handle in the day?  Our bodies and minds are high performance machines, and they need care and maintenance if they are to last.  If you put time and effort into maintaining your car, shouldn't you put at least that much effort into maintaining you?  Yet many of us put ourselves last, running ourselves into the ground until we are sick, tired, and worst of all, depressed and depleted.

The WholeLife Matrix breaks Health and WellBeing into four key components:

1. Vacation and Time Off
2. Having Fun
3. Nutrition and Weight
4. Exercise and Fitness

We all know that we should be working on all four of these components, but haven't we all put off at least one of them?  It's easy to skip that day at the gym, to work through the weekend, and to eat that slice of pie.  In order to have a balanced life however, we must be proactive about Health and WellBeing, and schedule time for it into our calendars.  If we want to keep the engine running, we must maintain it!

Are you ready to win?  

The WholeLife Matrix

The WholeLife Matrix

The WholeLife Matrix is a system for creating happiness and success in business.  It’s a guide to achieving balance in your life. I put everything together in a picture so you can step back and look at it.

The Matrix started with a concept I call the Table of Life.  I realized that there were four basic components of life and business:  financial viability, relationships,  health and well-being and personal awareness. I looked at it and thought that it was like the four legs of a table.  I noticed that where you spent your time and attention, that leg of the table got longer.  So those people who spent all their time on making money, that leg of the table got longer and the other legs suffered.  I recognized that people who were in balance focused equally on all of life's components.  This balance allowed them to maintain an abundant life without dropping anything off the table!  

Everything in this matrix happens in time.  Everything in life happens in time.  The only way to impact each quadrant of the WholeLife Matrix is to schedule time in your calendar for each activity.  You will see that time is the central thread that runs through the entire matrix.

As we drill down into the matrix, there are several groups of sub quadrants guiding you through 272 specific actions.  Through this blog I will lead you through the different quadrants and examine how these specific actions will lead you to achieving balance in your life.

Health and Fitness - The Business Connection

"The first wealth is health" Ralph Waldo Emerson

Busy entrepreneurs tend to be very focused on the vital signs of their businesses, often neglecting their own health and the connection between personal and professional fitness. Without a clean bill of health, many entrepreneurs cannot secure the necessary insurance to back their business. Further, if employees are unfit, it becomes more expensive to provide health care coverage. Productivity decreases and absenteeism increases. All this contributes negatively to the bottom line.

The nation's workforce is becoming increasingly unhealthy. Root causes range from influences at the workplace to the home: sedentary jobs, lack of activity, too much time driving and sitting, smoking, oversized food portions, increased computer, TV and electronic game time, just to name a few. These unhealthy lifestyles raise the risk for Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol, stress, heart disease, and a myriad of other health problems.

If your employees engage in unhealthy behaviors, your costs of doing business will increase. Health care and worker's compensation premiums will increase as overall productivity declines. Other costs that employers often bear include prescription drugs, surgeries, therapies, and other medical treatments. Absenteeism adds to the hidden costs of unhealthy lifestyles. Employees take more and more time off to deal with these potentially debilitating illnesses leaving companies stretched to meet productivity targets.

How can a business owner make a difference? Lead by example. Begin by getting a full physical. Determine your current fitness level, and work with a primary care physician and fitness coach to help you develop a program to help you reach your goals. For your employees, use a health risk assessment (HRA), which is a systematic approach to collecting information from individuals that identifies risk factors. You can then provide individualized feedback and link the person with programs to help promote a healthier lifestyle to help prevent disease. Increase employees' awareness and take action. Provide educational programs, use your buying power to get discounted group memberships at a gym, or create team building opportunities with healthy group competitions for reaching certain fitness milestones per team.

For example, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) developed the Workforce Health Promotion (WHP) for its own employees, focused on these four pillars: physical activity, nutritious eating, preventive health, and making healthy choices. They’ve developed walking trails, discount fitness center membership programs for employees, and food policies which suggest healthier foods at company-sponsored meetings and events. The CDC even provides tips on program design, toolkits, policies and quick resources.

Your Consulting2Win coach can help you choose the right solution for you to be on your way to a more productive, fit workforce, improved productivity and reduced overall costs - moving your business toward physical, and fiscal, fitness.

Are you ready to win?

Breakfast of Champions!

"If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health". - Hippocrates

It's a good idea as an employer to promote healthy balanced lifestyle habits among your employees. There's a lot you can do to encourage and support employees to follow such a lifestyle. Having a physically fit workforce has the potential to enhance performance, reduce the number of trips to the doctors' office, and helps motivate creativity. This benefits both the employee and the company!

Many people complain about feeling low energy, having headaches, and lower productivity around 2:00 to 3:00 pm each day. These feelings are tied to the fact that they do not eat often enough and don't eat the right nutrients. One key to eating well is to avoid getting too hungry. Studies show that eating small meals spaced a few hours apart offers the best balance to your metabolism to keep your body using fuel efficiently. Encourage your employees to have a healthy "breakfast of champions" and a "power lunch" and snacks to keep from hitting those low blood sugar levels that effect mood and performance.

How can employers create an energized work environment? You can provide education on the subject, a refrigerator to store their meals and snacks, a microwave to heat foods, a blender to make healthy shakes, vending machine with healthy snacks, and bottled water to prevent dehydration. These easy steps will go a long way toward keeping employees more productive while at work. By keeping them from getting too hungry you help maintain a happier, healthier workforce.

Are you ready to win?

The Physical Fitness Plan

"You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there." -- Edwin Louis Cole

In addition to fiscal fitness, business owners have to be concerned with physical fitness as well. Their own as well as that of their workers. Healthy, fit individuals are more effective at work, have more energy, take fewer sick days and reduce health care costs. Many people have trouble managing personal stress and business stress. Soon they become intertwined and the business suffers.

Lead by example. Take care of your whole body, mind and spirit and it will take care of you. Essentials to fitness include:

Make your health and well-being the number one priority in your life. When you tend to your own body, mind and spirit, you are better able to care for your family, employees and your clients.

Set short- and long-term goals. If you have health problems, speak with your doctor about things you can do in the short term to prepare your body for exercise and other activities that will reduce your stress.

Incorporate activities in your every day life that get you closer to achieving your fitness goals. Make taking a walk, riding a bike, or going to the gym an every day routine, just as you do with brushing your teeth, etc.

Keep balance in your life. It’s not all or nothing; downtime is also part of fitness. Find time to be alone with your thoughts and keep a perspective and focus on all things important to you in your life.

Get plenty of sleep. For most days of the week try to get 8 hours of sleep a night to allow your body to renew itself so you can function more optimally the next day.

Commit to making permanent lifestyle changes that improve and elongate your life. Determine to stay on course so you can life to be 100….

You wouldn't run your business without a business plan. Why not have a plan for your physical fitness and well-being? If you want to win in business and life, you need to be healthy for the long haul.

Are you ready to win?