Exercise and Business Similarities

Last night was the Guelph SYNNEX holiday party. The SYNNEX social committee did all the work. It was great. Those who attended enjoyed themselves.

I followed this party by Elizabeth’s (Thanks to Sam Sorbara – a very generous event) Christmas party held at the Millcroft Inn. We stayed over and had a nice hike in the snowy woods this morning. I am definitely going to hike more. I like it so why not.

I twisted my back moving my new piece of exercise equipment. How ironic is that. Still, I managed to run 6 K yesterday and 16K today so I guess I am not too injured.

I have been reading a lot about exercise and running and see parallels in exercise and business success methods:

1 – To advance in exercise, you need to rest. Rest is part of a good workout program. The same is true of business. Work hard while you work but also allow for some down time.

2 – Even if you think you are in shape, you will do some activity that makes you sore. I am convinced there is almost no workout routine that works every muscle group. The same is true in business. Regardless of how skilled you are, there will be new situations that will challenge you.

3 – Muscles adapt to the exercise routine so it not only becomes easier but you do not get as good of a workout. The same is true in business. By always taking the same challenges, you will get good at them and they will be easier. But in time, you can also become stale so mix it up a bit to grow.

4 – Exercise without proper diet does nothing. In business, the fuel is learning or information input. Some people think I am an obsessive reader. I am. This is part of my business fuel.

5 – In time everything gets worse if you do nothing. The same is true in business. Many people long for the good old days but they will never come back. Some people say “if you do what you have always done – you will get what you have always got”. My variation on this is “If you do what you have always done – you will go bankrupt”. So forget about the good old days and adapt to the new realities.

6 – Small wins build confidence and lead to bigger wins. This is very true in exercise and this same truth applies to business. So just get started. A small win is often all it takes to get things rolling. One interesting phenomenon I have seen is that wins in the area of health often spill over into business gains.

7 – Overcoming challenge, procrastination and external events happens in both exercise and business. Devise systems to get re-energized and deal with the inevitable challenges that will happen.