Being “fat” is bad for business. Well, it was for me. My concentration was poor. I was stressed. My body ached. I slept poorly. I felt weak and always on the defensive. Living was a challenge.
Now I sleep like a bear, spar like Jedi, and attack my goals with an aggressiveness and vigor I never knew I had. Armed with a slimmer waist and a sharper, quicker-thinking brain, I wake up everyday ready to take on the world.
Here’s how you can feel the same way, too.
Minimize friction and resistance.
My biggest pain points had nothing to do with the food itself.
We all know, for the most part, what’s healthy and what isn’t. Rather, it was the preparation, cooking and clean-up that were my biggest headaches. Add to that the presence of unhealthy food in my cabinets (that was often easier to prepare) and I was putting myself a at a severe disadvantage. The solution?
I switched to plastic utensils, disposable plates and stuck to cooking the same 3-4 meals. This eliminated much of my clean up concerns while also quelling my “recipe book anxiety”. I also eliminated all sweets, treats and cheat meals from the cabinets to remove temptation from the equation. In addition, whenever I had to break out the fancy pots, pans and silverware, I adopted a “clean as you go” mentality so mess wouldn’t accumulate.
The longer you take to clean, the colder your delicious meal gets. I promise nothing will have you cleaning up faster. Food is a hell of a motivator. Don’t demonize it.
How you can apply this to business: Find and dedicate a specific space of your home or apartment for work and eliminate all distractions. When you step into that room, know that it’s time to do work–and nothing else. Set office hours for yourself and stick to them.
Set stakes and establish benchmarks.
My first few steps involved investing a substantial sum (that’s a relative term) into my gym and personal trainer. I also set predefined days and times for exercise and ordered a comprehensive body metrics report that included measurements, blood pressure levels, body fat percentage, muscle mass and hydration levels.
How you can apply this to business: Identify the most clearly defined metrics and tracking them week over week. Running Facebook ads? Keep an eye on your cost per conversion, not ambiguous numbers like ‘cost per click’. Scaling your startup? Keep an eye on your cash flow–meaning cash in the bank–and ditch the vague or vanity metrics.
Commit.
Paying up front for three months of personal training wasn’t wise from a cashflow perspective, but it’s hard to argue from a commitment standpoint. I forced myself to either quit or commit. With cash tied up, I had no choice but to chose the later. Who wouldn’t?
How you can apply this to business: Pay for a month’s cost of a virtual assistant or whatever help you’ve been holding back on that you know you need. By forcing yourself into a corner, you’re forcing yourself to act. Better that than being paralyzed by fear. As an entrepreneur, just like when it comes to physical fitness, inactivity can spell your doom.
Seek clarity.
Ask yourself: What would this look like if it were simple? A scale is simple, yes, but promotes ambiguity and inexactness. That number could mean anything. You could’ve lost body fat, muscle mass, water weight or a combination of the three.
A pair of pants doesn’t have such ambiguity. I used to wear a 40. Now I wear a 34. I used to bench 180. Now I do 255. I could never do a pull up. Now I can do several. I would be exhausted after a run. I can do a seven minute mile now. That’s clarity. Don’t overcomplicate, but don’t mistake simple for clear. Seek clarity.
How you can apply this to business: Identify your key performance indicators and seek clarity via metrics that matter.
Discipline yourself.
There’s no getting around discipline and its critical role in all this. Don’t feel like working out? Prefer to make it a rest day instead? Negative. Get your rear to the gym and tell yourself to eat more and sleep better next time so you’re fully recharged. Don’t feel like eating those eggs for the tenth day in a row? Negative. Do it anyway.
How you can apply this to business: There’s no getting around discipline. If you aren’t ready and willing to attack your goals, day in and day out, through thick and thin, you’ll never succeed. There’s no way around the hard work. Either accept the sting of discipline or get comfortable with the sting of failure and regret over what things ‘could’ve been’.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.