In 1995 I went to study abroad in Tasmania, Australia. Naturally, my friends and I wanted to learn diving during our holidays. We went up to the Great Barrier Reef and learnt to dive. Needless to say diving is to date one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Under water I am at peace with the world and the fish schools amaze me. Fishes can also be quite funny or annoyed. They have feelings and they collaborate in their schools. They are a bit like the modern global professionals. I hope you are a diver and can relate to the feeling of a deep dive early morning (before 6 am) where everyone is getting up and quirky. Where you feel happy because of creation and the miracles the world entails, where you are just in the moment – an observer and yet part of it all. If you are a diver you also know about the security stop. You and your diving buddy take a rest before the final ascent. For the non-divers this is done because of nitrogen and time you need to get it out of your system.
I took a security stop this year, a very short holiday to Dubai. I haven’t posted it on Facebook because I did not want to meet anyone. I wanted to be alone with one of my long-term buddies, my best friend and we talked a lot. We allowed ourselves to let some of the dirt out of our system. The dirt that collects there when you take more in than you let out. The dirt of critique, small failures, over-indulging and even worse pessimistic thinking. After a few days we felt like human beings again. Productivity is great and I like to get stuff done and tick off checklists and write down how much I have achieved during a day, but once in a while, you need to allow yourself a break from performing.
Sometimes it is helpful not to have an agenda. A week to be yourself without access to a laptop and limited online time gives you back the feeling of your body, maybe you recognize all the slack that you caught there over the year. My friend returned to the office and was welcomed with a promotion. My body decided to go into standby completely with a flu. Let’s say I did not achieve a lot in December. When I showed up at my family’s home on Christmas eve I was calm and for a few days I could just give my family members the attention they deserve. Isn’t that why we are alive? To love?
This time of the year we easily get the flu and feel under the weather. While your body needs to accept these attacks once in while it might not always be connected to the weather only. The end of winter is also a time of transition where we often notice that we did not follow through with all the resolutions we had when we started the year. Sometimes we might still struggle with our holiday weight or the lack of exercise. Sometimes we wish we drank less alcohol or spend less money on stuff we don’t really need. Sometimes we wish our dating life was better or that we had found a companion in life.
High performance results from a mix of feeling healthy as well as being emotionally stable.
You need to work with your body as if it was a team member. Too many clients I know have physical limitations that seem to stop them from a fully satisfied life. In my personal experience I know that I could not rely on my body in a time of high-stress almost 10 years ago. Like most junior managers I thought I own the world and that nothing could stop me but in that year I changed my job, flew to New York, got married, went on honeymoon and around three weeks later my disk slipped in the lower back. I had to be in the hospital and then at home for three weeks altogether and I hated it. I was so immobile and unhappy that I never wanted to have this experience again.
This incident might be one of the reasons why I became an executive coach because many times I see colleagues as well who just seem to believe that their body will handle and tolerate everything. Until they are diagnosed with burnout or cancer or they have a heart attack or high blood pressure. Another common thread that I recognize also among highly intelligent clients is a tendency to avoid intimate relationships because they could fall apart.
Many managers do not seek help unless a doctor tells them that it is time to change behavior. Imagine you had an “oldtimer” (vintage car). Would you wait until the garage repair person told you to come for check up or would you take the car to a regular check up to make sure it does not rust? Some of us treat their cars better than their bodies. Frankly speaking, I used to to be like that until I had my three week unintentional break. Since then I have become a lot better at prioritizing health.
Your health might not feel urgent to you just yet.
Could it be that your body gives you signs that you need to change “something” in your life?
If you read the signs correctly you have three choices:
1) You can ignore this and move on until you have a bigger issue.
2) You can take it seriously as a sign that you need to have a medical check up or
3) You can go and seek an executive coach who can help you analyze where you are overburdened and how you can work better with your existing resources.
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions about your physical and mental health.
Thank you.
Angie
Read more about how to stay healthy and get productive by ordering Michael Hyatt‘s ebook “Shave 10 hours off your workweek.” It’s a free resource I can highly recommend.
[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@angieweinberger”]Tip of the week: Take a walk every day. #manageyourenergy[/tweetthis]
