Is 2019 the year you want to be more successful at work?
Whether your goal is to receive a promotion, crush your performance objectives or simply be more satisfied in your day-to-day work, the answer may not be to work more hours, view more webinars or expand your network. While those things indeed help career success, the answer may lie in fitness. That’s right! You may be able to improve your career success by becoming more fit and working out with some regularity.
There is a plethora of research demonstrating how the benefits of exercise impact performance at work. Chief among those benefits are improved energy and stamina, stress reduction, clarity of thinking, focus, and improved discipline to manage the mundane.
Let’s be honest—-work can be draining. With commuting time, we likely spend close to half our waking hours between Monday and Friday at work. And in a world of high intensity work, cost pressures and the never-ending call for more productivity, those hours can be consumed by endless meetings, stressful negotiations, long travel and time demands to accomplish multiple tasks in the same day. Whew! I’m tired just writing this.
Mental Benefits of Exercise
However, as the research demonstrates, we can set ourselves apart by engaging in physical activity each week. As we wrote on Monday in our 5 Benefits of Working Out blog, a combination of weight training and cardio exercise provides many benefits that let us be our best selves at work and in life.
While the physical benefits are well known to most people, I want to spend some time talking about the mental benefits of exercise.
In a 2016 Harvard Business Review article, they summarized a Leeds Metropolitan University study that examined the influence of exercise among 200 office workers. As you might expect, on days those workers exercised, they reported managing time more effectively, being more productive and managing stress levels better throughout the day.
One of the biggest challenges we face at work is the feeling of being overwhelmed by having too much to do. Yet often, that feeling gets compounded by trying to do everything at once and not completing any one task in a timely manner. That creates more stress until we ultimately drag ourselves home at night, watch 3 hours of TV and fall into bed. It’s tough to explain, but exercise helps us with this.
Regular exercise allows us to improve our mental acuity and have a better perception of the tasks that face us. It gives us clarity to prioritize our tasks, meet our goals and do it all with a healthy spirit. The facts are clear, exercise helps us be our best self mentally, physically and emotionally and that most certainly translates to our work lives.
So here is the challenge: if fitness isn’t already a part of your life and you are committed to performing well in your job this year, take that first step. Enroll in a fitness class with a colleague so you can hold one another accountable. Approach human resources about organizing a lunchtime fitness class three days a week with a private instructor. Join a gym or a CrossFit box and commit to getting up in the morning before work, or going after work in the evening. It’s up to you to follow through, which is both good and bad news. We believe you can do it, but you need to believe it, too.
Do you need a little help getting started? If so, we have what you need. First, check out some of our latest blogs on workouts to try in 2019! We recommend trying a few different styles with a friend or two for a month. After four weeks, decide which one is your favorite and commit to going at least three to five times a week.
If you are looking for products to help you on your fitness journey, look no further than our product page here. Red Leaf Pre-Workout is a great substitute for your afternoon latte. With fewer calories, healthier ingredients, and a mild dose of caffeine, Red Leaf is sure to give you the energy you need to finish your day with no jitters or delayed crash. Shop our all-natural flavor, Blueberry Acai, which contains NO artificial sweetener here.
Working out does a lot more than just make us lose weight and look toned. It can improve our focus, energy, attention to detail, and overall mental acuity. If you are looking to advance your career, don’t neglect your fitness in your pursuit for success. It takes time and effort, but the results are completely worth it- inside AND outside of the gym.
