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A Healthy You

Bring Energy to Your Work

C’MON, YOU KNEW this was coming. A book about leadership development is not complete without this chapter; it must cover the “body” part of mind, body, and spirit, right? So far, we’ve explored various techniques and ideas for developing yourself as a leader—things to know, do, and believe that will help you lead with more confidence and style. But now we need to address your physical well-being. So here goes. I’m going to ask the awkward question: “How healthy are you?” There, it’s out there. Now it’s time to deal with it!

There’s plenty of research that indicates people are more efficient and productive at work when they feel good physically. Seems obvious, right? For example, a landmark study, published in the January 2004 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, showed that workers who engage in moderate exercise have higher work quality and better job performance than those who lead sedentary lifestyles. According to the study, physically fit employees get along better with co-workers and take fewer sick days than out-of-shape employees. Subjects with high levels of cardiovascular fitness perform more work, using less effort.¹⁶ That makes sense to me.

Would you say that your experience confirms this research? Don’t you feel better at work when you’re in shape, get enough rest, and eat right? Doesn’t your confidence go up when you feel and look good physically? The fact is, in order to be a role model for professionalism, maturity, and values, you need to add one more facet to your leadership brand: Set an example for health and wellness.

Do What’s Right for You

Each of us is at a different stage of life, which means we’re each at a different stage of physical fitness, as well. I won’t try to represent the avalanche of guidance that’s available on dieting and exercise; you can seek out that advice on your own, and you’ve probably done so for years. Suffice it to say that you have to be honest with yourself about the relationship between fitness and work performance. Is your body enabling your mind and spirit to be at their best? If you’re not comfortable with your stamina, focus, and concentration or your ability to maintain an even temperament, chances are your level of physical fitness is partly responsible.

Here’s a story that reinforces the importance of paying attention to your physical well-being. A few years ago, an executive at our leadership program talked about his struggle to prioritize health and fitness. He said he’d always rank ordered the important things in his life as follows: family, work, faith, and health. Then, an event in his life triggered an epiphany about his own mortality, and he told the group he’d reordered his life priorities to be: health, family, faith, and work. He realized that he couldn’t do his family or the company any good if he wasn’t first taking care of himself. The irony was that this guy worked out regularly; he was in the gym every morning and had always enjoyed keeping himself fit. But it took a critical event for him to realize just how much his own health and well-being affected everything else in his life. When you’re not healthy, that’s not good for the family or the job. So here’s the advice, as generic as it may sound: Get in the shape you need to be in to be optimally productive on the job. Don’t let a lapse in physical fitness be the reason you don’t succeed or get ahead in the organization.

A helpful insight comes from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their terrific 2003 book titled The Power of Full Engagement.¹⁷ The authors believe that managing your energy (as opposed to managing your time) is the key to high performance. The premise is that as you age, you still have the same number of hours in the day but not the same energy levels. Maintaining your energy level is the key to sustained productivity and engagement. Again, this sounds reasonable to me. So, we have evidence that physical fitness is linked to performance, and common sense tells us that having more energy makes you more productive. Check. But now what? Ah, that’s the question isn’t it? You don’t need to be convinced that being healthy makes you a more productive leader; you already knew that. And you also probably know what you should be doing about it, too. Still, something’s holding you back. What is it?

The first step is to establish a baseline measure of your current state of health and wellness. Schedule a physical, either with your doctor or a company-sponsored clinic or hospital program. Find out from a medical professional what needs the most work. Then, actually follow the advice. You owe it to yourself to know the status of the machine you walk around in all day. Remember, you can’t lead if you’re not in the game. Second, a strong body of research is accumulating about sleep and its impact on performance. Turns out that going to sleep and waking up at the same time every night (i.e., a regular sleep pattern) is as important (if not more important) than the number of hours of sleep you get. Examine your own sleep rituals; how can you create a more consistent pattern to get the sleep you need? Third, assess your diet, or seek the advice of a dietitian. What and when you eat affects your energy and stamina at work.

Finally, pinpoint how your energy enables or hinders your perfor mance by asking yourself three questions: 1) “What gets you excited about work?” 2) “In what part of the day do you have the most energy?” 3) “Who do you draw energy from?” To answer the first question, take all of your major work activities and cluster them into “buckets”; you might come up with a list that includes team meetings, spending time with direct reports, client visits, planning sessions, doing email, and so forth. Then, assign each a simple rating (use a 1-to-5 scale) in terms of your personal engagement. What do you enjoy most about your job? What do you enjoy least? The trick is to do more of what gets you excited and less of what doesn’t. Remember delegation (Chapter 14)? Think of delegation as an alternative energy source; give away work with one eye on your own energy level. Also, you will find natural reserves of energy for the tasks you enjoy the most, so it makes sense to pair your best energy time frames with the tasks that drain your energy most often. That’s the idea behind knowing what part of the day is best for you in terms of peak energy levels. If you’re at your best in the morning, schedule your least favorite activities before lunch; you’ll benefit by being alert and attentive for them. Likewise, interacting with people you really enjoy can carry you through the post-lunch hour; if that’s typically a low-energy time for you, schedule one-on-one meetings with your favorite co-workers. Because certain colleagues may really energize you and others, conversely, may literally zap energy from you, it’s important to identify who those people are, when you tend to deal with them during the day, and how you can make effective changes.

The simple fact is that work is tiring. It always has been, probably always will be. As a result, it helps to be healthy, well rested, and in shape. You owe it to yourself and your team to bring your best to work each day, and that’s easier to do when you feel good physically. This might be your biggest leadership challenge yet: How do you lead yourself down the path to better wellness? Whatever you decide, don’t wait to get started. This is one development project you can’t put off until next year.

Bootstrap Takeaways

Bring Energy to Your Work

1. Your health and wellness dictate your energy and productivity. Know where you need to be in terms of physical well-being, and set a plan for getting there.

2. Consult health professionals for this development project. How can you best determine your current state of fitness and set and meet fitness goals?

3. This is something that no one can make you do—you must have the discipline and mindset to make the changes you want to see in yourself.