Physical Health & Your Career

Last time we discussed what the Physical Corner Stone was in relationship to its overall context.

Today we will discuss how your “Physical Well-Being or your Non-Well Being” impacts you in your career.  There is a direct correlation between you health and your ability to carry out your job successfully day in and day out year after year.  It does not matter if you are male or female.

Let me take this opportunity to introduce a term that I find helpful in these discussion with my own clients;  that term is “Driven To Distraction”.  What does your mind go to when you read that:  “Driven To Distraction”?  My guess is it goes directly to the thing that is causing the most pain in your life.  That thing that never leaves your thought and lurks there just below the surface.

There will come a day when there will be some sort of very specific guideline that you will be asked to follow at your place of employment in order to maintain a “certain level of health or physical well-being” in order to stay employed or perhaps have to jump some other hoops in order to stay employed or suffer the consequences of letting yourself go in this cornerstone area of your physical being.  You may be offered the opportunity to participate and if you decline or do not have the support you need you may be asked to pay more for your health care in the future.

That is not a doom and gloom prediction.  It is a reality of our generations right now in view of the costs associated with the care needed.  So what can you do?  How does your physical being impact your job?  The questions here are endless.  I would like to address a couple in broader sense.

If you are a sales person, or in a profession which demands air travel and you are asking for a plane seat belt extender you now have a “Wake-Up” call.  It is time to do something about that.

If you can no longer fit through the turn stile in the subway or bus station or amusement park;  you now have a “Wake-Up” call.  It is time to do something about that.

If you go out to lunch with your colleagues and you can no longer fit between the booth seat and the fixed table or you hang off of the seat in the diner and the chair is straining from the load; you now have a “Wake-Up” call.  It is time to do something about that.

If the arms of your chair in your cubical act as a restraint instead of suport; you have a “Wake-up” call.  It is time to do something about that.

Our personal choices at home and in the workplace have a direct effect on the other.  This is something that we need to recognize and see what is resulting in the other arena. 

If you are “Driven To Distraction” due to stress, worry, hunger, not completing something, unmet expectations, finances, being in other people’s business and such; you need to step back and look at yourself through different eyes. 

What do you see?

What are you actually doing over there?

Is what you see, what you want to project to the world, your boss, your peers, your family and your friends?

This does not happen over night.  It happened one poor choice at a time.  It happened one celebration at a time.  Everyday, every disappointment and every celebration is not an excuse to over indulge, to drink to excess, to eat a pint of ice cream and so on.

In the last 90 days (basically this summer), I have had the following opportunities to “Over Indulge”:  (I am being very transparent here to you so you can see what I am talking about), 1.  In-Laws come for visit after one year of not seeing them, 2.  Went to a Broadway show and two ballets in New York City and ate out at very nice restaurants, 3.  Family reunion for 10 days of non stop eating and celebrating seeing each other after long period of time, ate out several times at nice restaurants and it was my birthday and at every restaurant my guests told them it was my birthday and I got a huge fattening desert set in front of me, 4.  It was my husband’s birthday, it was our 33rd wedding anniversary and we had the other side of the family in town to celebrate a nephew’s wedding with all the elaborate trimmings and food and wedding cake.  5.  I went out of town on business several times and I was faced with irregular eating times and choices that were not on my food plan.  

Now how much weight do you think I gained or lost during these last 90 days?  Here’s the answer:  In June I lost 3 lbs, in July I gained 3 pounds, now in August, I am back to my May weight, so I am even.  I did not keep my usual routine in the past 90 days.  Right now, I feel sluggish, flabby and I tire quicker than I did in May. 

This all has a direct bearing on my stamina to complete tasks in my personal life and in my professional life.  This has an affect on my sleep at night.  This has an affect on how I feel in my clothing and in the environment that I am working and living in.

What about you?

Previous

Next