Fit for Business – An Entrepreneur Mantra!

It isn’t that business leaders ignore physical health & fitness. It’s just that their priorities are driven by the calendar. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, all happen. Well, maybe not at the right times. When you keep ignoring the nature of well-being, it returns to you in the same coins. I am writing this blog to share my learnings when you run on the clock, and not on the body-clock.

I remember the day when I was busy as usual with back-to-back meetings and suddenly I felt slightly dizzy and had to rush to my doctor. Since then, it has been a frustrating journey of numerous medical tests, procedures, consultations with various doctors, popping medicines, following diets, and physiotherapy. A simple infection, or so I thought, worsened as I ignored it while giving priority to my work first. Being an entrepreneur is tough with almost no fixed schedule at all. Phone calls, emails, business meetings, travel etc. happen round the clock and for me, even vacations weren’t complete without thinking about the office at some point at least. However, these last few months have made me rethink about my work-life balance, and more importantly, taking care of my health and family life.

As an entrepreneur, there is never enough time. Your mind boots up faster and reaches the office much before you actually check-in. So if you wish to move towards a healthier lifestyle, it is apparent that you will have to schedule a specific time of the day to bring about the change. For me, even that seemed a lot. Every time I picked up my bag to go to the gym I remembered all the important calls that could be made in that one hour. It was that hard. However, today I understand that is it actually much better than spending time in a dull hospital room. The sickness slowed me down and now I have to think twice about my food intake and other daily activities. As a business head, I already have too many things on hand which need my attention. At such times, we don’t realise how much our personal health takes a backseat. As I said earlier, spending a conscious amount of time on ourselves right from the beginning should, in fact, save precious later time on doctors and medical emergencies.

My routine mostly demands being at the desk for long hours. It actually wasn’t a surprise then when my back gave away first. On that note, I would suggest my fellow colleagues to please delegate work and step aside from your tasks for some time of the day. It now gives me a chance to take a small walk and come back with a fresh mind to the daily grind. It also works as a wonderful stress buster. Any person who runs a company would know the kind of pressures I’m talking about. And stress does affect your health severely. In fact, my doctor said that apart from the actual physical health issues, my stress levels aggravated the core concern to a great extent. Hence, apparently, it is not just how active we feel physically that matters but we definitely need to take care of our mental and emotional state of mind as well. Now I’ve taken up yoga for building mental health. Thankfully, once I started with that, along with the physical pain relief, I do feel some reduction in anxiety and irritability level and fatigue, again a commonly seen problem among the entrepreneur community.

My routine check-ups and medication will finish soon. Yet, the importance of staying healthy and medically fit is something that will stay with me forever now. Neglecting health for business can never work. If we as entrepreneurs can stick to business plans and commitments for the growth and wellbeing of our company, it should be the same way for the health and family life too. On a signing off note, if you are ‘fit’ you will enjoy life, not just a career!