Entrepreneur’s are crazy aren’t they?
I mean they really are a special breed.
I’ve heard it said that entrepreneur’s are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.
If that’s not crazy, I don’t know what it.
Entrepreneurship is hard work, exhausting, and kicks your ass.
It’s definitely kicked mine many times during the last 16 years.
Crazy perhaps but what’s that they say again about the crazy ones?
Oh yeah, here it is below…
Here’s to the crazy ones indeed.
Entrepreneurship is awesome, rewarding, and worth all of the hard work, sweat, and tears that comes with it.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably nodding your head and smiling as you read this in agreement.
In order for us entrepreneurs to stay in the game though, it’s a must that we set ourselves up to go the distance required for us and our businesses to be successful.
Entrepreneurship Is A Marathon, Not A Sprint
The only way to stay in the game is to stay focused, motivated, excited, positive, energetic, and in a position to keep plugging away and giving it our all day after day.
How do we keep ourselves in that kind of position to go the distance?
How can we do it in a manner that’s efficient, effective, and practical?
There is one daily habit that gives us the best chance to be in that position, to go the distance, to be successful, and that requires no more than 15 minute from us per day.
So what’s that one habit?
Exercise.
That’s it, that’s the magic habit.
Might not sounds like a magic habit but I assure you the results you’ll see and feel because of exercise will feel like magic.
I can’t tell you how many times over the last 16 years of my entrepreneurial journey I’ve been ready to throw in the towel.
The stress, doubt, anxiety, hard work, all of it that comes with entrepreneurship can get overwhelming.
I seriously don’t think I would have made it this long with The Wellness Bucket still around if I didn’t have my health to lean on at times when I was ready to fall over, when I’ve been both mentally and physically exhausted.
Case Study
Leah Hynes from The Connection Effect who’s an entrepreneur as well as a mom knows this feeling all too well.
Give a listen to her experience below about running her own business, feeling like she was at the end of her rope, and how she leveraged her health to turn her personal and business life around.
I appreciate her giving me credit for her successes but really, it was her commitment to herself, her business, and decision to leverage her health that made the difference.
I know it’s not always easy or convenient to exercise.
There’s many times I don’t want to do it either.
However, because I know the value my health contributes to my business, I make it happen.
Entrepreneurship Is All About Staying In The Game And Giving Yourself A Chance To Win
How do we as entrepreneurs set ourselves up to stay in the game?
Give ourselves a chance to achieve and succeed with our businesses by going the distance?
How do we leverage our health to keep us not only in the game, but continuously getting better as we go?
We can be masters at our craft but without a healthy stamina to endure the wild roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship, we don’t stand a chance at being successful.
The mechanics of entrepreneurship (sales, marketing, content creation, product development, etc) is important, there’s no denying that.
As important and necessary as these mechanics are to an entrepreneur, these same mechanics contribute only 20% to our success.
20%, that’s it.
You’re probably thinking, “No way, that’s not possible, how can that be? What makes up the other 80% then?“
You ever see the below image?
If you’re an entrepreneur I’m sure you have.
If success isn’t a straight line (which it isn’t), and that squiggly line really does represent what the road to success looks like, how do we handle, manage, and navigate that squiggly line?
What exactly is happening along that squiggly line path?
Well let’s see here… that would be lots of hard work, focus, commitment, effort, discipline, sacrifice, failure, fear, doubt, stress, anxiety, possible illness and depression.
Like I said, entrepreneur’s are a special breed.
All the mechanics in the world of how to run and operate a business won’t get you through that wild and crazy emotional roller coaster ride that’s entrepreneurship.
20% Of Entrepreneurial Success Is Mechanics, The Other 80% Is Psychology
It’s our health, the physical and mental condition we’re in that’ll carry us and keep us going.
Valuable information that we are never taught as entrepreneurs.
Being a wiz in business marketing is awesome but it won’t help you overcome fear, doubt, and anxiety.
Being well connected with investors is awesome as well but it won’t help you manage stress, depression, or illness.
In fact, it may be the cause of it if we aren’t managing and leveraging our health along our entrepreneurial journey.
I’m a Tony Robbins fan… he believes the ultimate failure is success without fulfillment.
And I would agree… what good is success without a sense of fulfillment?
Same goes for our health.
What good is success if we aren’t healthy enough to enjoy it?
Let’s just say you somehow manage to navigate the squiggly line leading to success without leveraging your health to get there.
What good is success if when you get there you’re miserable, out of shape, overweight, sick, depressed, ill, and unable to fully enjoy the fruits of your labor?
That sounds terrible to me – no thanks.
Leverage Your Health
If you want absolute certainty that you’re going to feel energized, confident, and ready for whatever comes your way…
If you want to be ready to take on new and exciting challenges and opportunities…
If you want to stand out in a sea on entrepreneurs all vying for attention…
If you want to feel 100% connected and in love with your work, your business, and all you’re creating…
If you want to learn, grow, and make progress every single day…
If you want to serve your customers to the best of your ability…
Leverage your health.
It doesn’t take much to do and the results are incredible.
Don’t just take it from me either, the greatest entrepreneur of our time Sir Richard Branson also agrees.
Check out what he has listed as number one on his “secrets of productivity” list.
Commit To Exercising Regularly
Dedicating an hour per day to your health is standard by all measures.
I say forget the hour, 15 minutes per day will more than do the trick.
15 minutes per day dedicated to upping your health game that ultimately contributes to your success.
In the crazy event you feel like you just don’t have 15 minutes a day to spare, I suggest rethinking your health.
Instead of viewing it as a “nice to have” or “when I have time” type deal, view it as a priority and a “must have“.
We don’t get our “nice to haves” we get our “must haves“.
15 minutes is all it takes per day to leverage your health in order to be at your best and thrive in your business.
Why Exercise?
Exercise isn’t just for losing weight, leaning up, adding muscle, looking great in a bathing suit or for big upcoming event such as a wedding, reunion, or birthday milestone.
When it comes to you, your business, and going the distance in order to achieve and succeed, exercising will give you the energy, confidence, strength, and stamina to go the distance.
It also increases your self-esteem and ability to focus on your business and what’s important.
And because of your increased confidence, energy, strength and stamina being created by your daily 15 minutes of exercise, you’ll be in position to keep stress, fear, doubt, and anxiety in check.
I’m not saying these will no longer be there, they’ll always be there.
What I am saying is that you’ll be in control of your emotions, not controlled by them.
You’ll be 100% focused on what you want for yourself and your business and nothing will get in the way of you achieving it.
Everything To Gain, Everything To Lose
All of these feelings and benefits you’ll receive from 15 minutes of exercise per day.
And get this, it doesn’t cost you a cent.
There isn’t a single financial investment necessary either to exercise daily.
You’re only investment is your time, effort, energy, and commitment to exercising daily.
That’s it, nothing else.
The physical and mental benefits exercise provides is awesome.
The stress, fear, doubt, anxiety, depression, and possible illness we stand to suffer if we don’t exercise… not so awesome.
But I Don’t Have Time To Exercise
The thought, idea, or excuse that we don’t have time to exercise is bullshit (pardon the French).
Let’s stop telling ourselves we don’t have time – we all have time to exercise.
We’re talking 15 minutes per day, that’s it… 15 minutes.
With all that’s required of us to go the distance on our entrepreneurial journey, truth is…
We don’t have time not to have time.
It’s not about having time, it’s about making time.
Entrepreneur Jon Acuff said it best, “Time isn’t going to find you, you must find it.”
Make The Time To Exercise
If it means getting up earlier in the morning, do it.
The rewards of getting up 15 minutes earlier to exercise versus laying in bed an extra 15 minutes are incomparable.
If it means exercising on your lunch break, do it.
If if means exercising late at night after dinner when everyone is out for the night, do it.
If it means sacrificing some of your happy hour time, do it.
If it means watching less television (come on, seriously) – do it.
15 minutes of exercise per day will change you, your health, your business, and your life.
Here’s All You Need To Make It Happen
Exercising daily doesn’t mean you have to exercise for hours at a time.
It also doesn’t mean you have to go to a gym or have fitness equipment at home.
You actually don’t need any one of these to make it happen.
Here’s a 15 minute workout you can do anytime anywhere.
15 minutes too long?
Here’s a 5 minute workout you can do anywhere anytime in JUST 5 MINUTES!
You’re probably asking yourself, “is 15 or even 5 minutes of exercise really going to make a difference?“
For some crazy reason, we seem to think that unless we exercise for an hour or longer at a time, anything less than that isn’t worth doing.
This couldn’t be further from the truth and there’s plenty of science to back me up too.
The amount of physiological responses shown in studies that are happening inside our bodies that affect how we feel, think, and respond to different circumstances daily after just a 15 minute walk is incredible.
Just 15 minutes, of walking, nothing else.
Now imagine throwing in some push-ups, squats, lunges, and sit-ups.
Do that and you’ll own the day.
When It Comes To Exercise, Some Effort Is Always Better Than No Effort
It isn’t the one massive 2 hour workout you do on a Saturday that’s going to provide you with a sustained level of energy, confidence, strength, and stamina.
It’s the shorter daily workouts, the 5, 10, or 15 minute workouts that make the biggest difference.
If you can’t spare 5 minutes to assure that you’re at your absolute best every single day, chances are it’ll be a short lived entrepreneurial journey for you, and I don’t want for you.
I’m pretty sure you don’t want that for yourself either.
If you need some ideas on how to better manage your time, I’ve got you covered below.
None of the workouts I’ve provided you with require you to leave the house, none of them require equipment, and none of them require that you be a certain fitness level to complete them.
If you’re serious about your business, about your entrepreneurial goals, and being successful, you’ll find a way to make exercise happen daily.
If it’s not important to us, we’ll always find an excuse and reason why we can’t, shouldn’t, or just flat out won’t.
No Excuses, Make It Happen
There will always be reasons we can use to justify not exercising.
Reasons (excuses) will always be there and truth be told, some reasons are legit reasons.
In spite of the reasons, including the legitimate ones, make it happen, do it anyways, exercise daily.
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”
It won’t always be easy, but it’ll always be worth it.
Because you’re worth it, your health is worth it, your business is worth it, and your success is worth it.
If you’re not doing so already, start exercising today.
Don’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect moment to start exercising, it doesn’t exist.
Start today.
You’re awesome!
Mike
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