You know already that being mindful and learning to listen to your intuition is an important part of being an authentic and powerful leader in your life and business.  This post will help you take that to a new level by applying the same principles to your health.  I am delighted  that Rachael Corcoran is our guest today. Rachael is one of New Zealand’s top personal trainers.  Read the steps she shares here to make changes in ways that suit you best.

It’s ‘Big Call Time’ and I’m going to make it . . .

You are hunkered down in the comfort that is the Status-quo!

Because, while you continue diligently applying yourself to remain at the top of your business field, you work to maintain positive relationships with colleagues and peers, and your car and attire are perfectly groomed (yes, appearances do matter) . . .

. . . you let the health arena stand at “I’m doing OK, I do some exercise three times a week, I don’t eat too badly, and hey I don’t get sick often, it’s all good folks”.

So here is the next ‘Big Call’ . . .

You are capable of far more, in business and in lifestyle!

And I believe that optimising your health will not merely make a difference, it is THE difference.

Health directly impacts self awareness, drive, adaptability and persuasiveness, and gives you a different angle for appreciating human development, thus having a huge bearing on the difference you can make as a leader.

Yes true, health has the ability to give you an intriguing advantage as an entrepreneur or in the board-room.  Take a moment to mull over how having a biological age 20 years younger than your calendar age, might alter the way people perceive and respond to you, and the impact that can have in your business and personal life.

Self-health mastery means identifying, utilising and managing your personal health characteristics and the interplays between your psychological and physical self (across ALL aspects that impact health).  The result being everything is in a state of ‘flow’ and you can innately trust what your body is telling you.

What it boils down to is that while General Health Knowledge is useful, Personal Health Knowledge is Power! (I say it regularly; it’s even on my website).  For example identifying where you sit on the Nutritional Scale (physical) is imperative, because nutrition is as much about how your body extracts nutrients from food as it is what you consume, and how you frame the social context in which you eat has a positive, neutral or negative impact (psychological).

Coming up with a *insert your name here* Operations Manual does take a bit of coaching and some time, so today I am going to concentrate on two things that will help you move beyond Status-quoaholic and towards people exclaiming “I’ll have some of what s/he’s having!!” and attaining that intriguing advantage.

These will take the form of  points to consider (so you begin to think constructively about your personal advantages and challenges when it comes to exercise) and a ‘health hack’ to incorporate into your schedule.

 1.     THE POINTS TO CONSIDER:

Superior performance is determined by your secondary (exercise) personality characteristics.

Recognising your secondary characteristics is a part of the Emotional Intelligence of Health.  Because understanding the role these traits play in your ‘performance’, can be the difference between struggling through your efforts or fully reaching your potential.

For example, you may identify that on the surface you have a primary trait of COMPETITIVENESS when it comes to exercise.  But what is most important are the parameters that define ‘your competitiveness’.

The Secret Agent:  likes to be superior, prefers privacy in doing the ‘work’, elusive about what they are aiming towards or doing, motivated to attain personal bests or competitive against others.

The Victor:  is results orientated, highly competitive especially against peers

The Boy Scout:  moves from project to project to collect the ‘badge’, likes to showcase attaining competency or superiority.

As a coach I know anyone falling under any of these ‘titles’ has characteristics I can utilise to accelerate results, and characteristics that need to be monitored, because they can cause the goal of ‘optimal health’ to be compromised.

So step one is to begin being mindful of what your exercise characteristics are –

• Your unique motivators
• Preferred communication style
• Most effective training environs
• Style of coaching you best respond to
• Personal strengths
• Areas to focus on for improvement

Write them down as you identify them (begin your Operations Manual!)

Another wee hint:

Superior performers seek out feedback – identify what YOUR most meaningful ways of measuring improvement/success are and design a personalised check system to assist the process.

2.    THE HEALTH HACK

Get off your jaxie, sitting could be as harmful as smoking

And that really isn’t being melodramatic.  Research shows sitting for extended periods increases the risk of a myriad of health conditions, and is significantly ‘ageing’.

Those undertaking the research also note that moderate or vigorous activity undertaken a few times a week, does little to offset the risk.  What works is – wait for it . . .

 . . .  moving around more!

While I’m all for seeing people in suits hurdling desks and doing pull ups on the exposed beams in the workplace foyer (you would be my absolute hero in fact), a high level of difficulty, strength or fitness is not necessary.

Simply standing, walking or doing a few reps of easy exercises is enough.

To start identify tasks that lend themselves to your moving more.  Talking on the phone comes immediately to mind, and there is no reason you can’t stretch while you are discussing the day with your PA.

The next phase is where you should look to bring personal psychological aspects into play, because when you are engrossed in your work it is difficult to ‘remember’ to get up and move around.

For example, if you are a ‘rule’ orientated person, simply set a rule that whenever you are on the phone, you stand.  If you have a socially orientated personality, you will likely experience better follow-through by acknowledging your body is more ‘open’ when you are standing, and will therefore have better interactions during phone conversations when you stand.

You can also utilise ‘pattern interrupts’.  This could be as simple as setting your phone alarm every hour, to a specific ring-tone, indicating it is time to move around.  Any form of stretching or functional body-weight exercise is ok.  I often give clients specific exercises (depending on their requirements) to do for a period of 2-3 minutes during these times.  If you are going to be moving any way, it is a good time to work on imbalances or areas of weakness.

As the great philosopher Russell Brand said “it may not solve the inner torment and angst, but it is certainly a lovely distraction”, and in my humble opinion has the added functional capacity of increasing oxygen flow to the brain, resulting in clearer thinking.  (I don’t think I’m alone in wanting our leaders to be both brimming with physical health, and the clarity of thought that will ensure our businesses have a great future).

Rachael Corcoran moved into Health Coaching having started her ‘health career path’ as a Personal Trainer, becoming a Master Trainer with Les Mills NZ and being contracted to Les Mills International.  After taking time off to concentrate on her daughter, Rachael is now ‘back in the game’ and has a large social media fan base and regularly guest blogs and contributes to various international health related pages.

For exercise inspiration and information you can follow her on https://www.facebook.com/MomswhoCrossfit and she has just launched  https://www.facebook.com/TheHealthIntelligenceProject   For information on seminars or coaching you can contact her via www.healthcoaching.co.nz