From the Gym to the Boardroom: How Fitness Drives Productivity

Welcome back to Prosperaptitude. If you’ve ever wanted to become a better version of yourself, you’re in the right place!

Globally, most people in developed countries have been moving less and less, especially since many people are still working from home. Let’s take a minute to explore how fitness affects your productivity at work.

Benefits of Physical Activity

In case you didn’t know about the benefits of movement, we’ll do a quick recap:

1) Exercise puts you in a better mood. Business and social relationships improve when you’re easier to be around!

2) Fitness improves both the physical and the mental aspects of health. You’ll be more able to focus on your tasks at work.

3) Some of the improvements may include faster learning, greater creativity, sharper memory, and reduced stress.

4) One study showed that people who exercised during work hours demonstrated better time management, smoother interactions with colleagues, and increased productivity.

Intellectually, it makes sense to be working out, but you need to make it make sense for you emotionally as well. We’ll be getting back to that later!

Incorporating Physical Activity

If you’re looking to build fitness into your life, focus on looking for something you enjoy. It’s much easier to stay committed if you enjoy your type of workout. And don’t worry, it doesn’t have to take very long or be extremely intense. At least one day a week, I go for a 20-minute walk, and this is coming from a crossfitter!

Speaking of Crossfit (here I go again), let’s talk about group fitness. It turns out that team or group-based fitness activities are much easier to stick to. You build camaraderie and, at times, teamwork. I started out as your regular meathead lifting in a Globo gym years ago. It’s not the same when I go back. Even though I’m an introvert, it’s strange to see people walking around with headphones on and oblivious to others.

Reframing fitness as something you should “master” can also help commitment. Always wanted to learn how to do a pull-up? Go for it. Wonder if you can learn how to do a handstand? Get some coaching and do it! You are never too old to learn a new skill. Skill mastery improves self-confidence which also translates to the working world.

Personally, I love working out in the morning because there would be no excuse for me not to go after work. Bad traffic? Have to work overtime? Family stuff? All irrelevant at 6 am in the morning.

Job Performance

Would you believe that today’s physical activity improves today’s performance AND tomorrow’s? That’s right! People who work out tend to get better sleep. Their job performance is also improved for the next day as well.

Be honest, though. When was the last time you had a creative breakthrough or a eureka problem-solving moment sitting at your desk staring at your computer? I can remember twice within the last month when great ideas came to me while I was taking a brisk walk or just after a hard workout. When that happened, I quickly scribbled it down on a notepad on my phone.

Not getting stuck in a circular thought pattern plus improved blood circulation can do wonders for the mind and the body. Try it. The worst that could happen is you spend a few minutes moving.

Conclusion

We can speak logically about how fitness can help your professional life all day, but if there is no emotional draw to it, you probably won’t incorporate fitness into your routine. This means you need to find your “why.” If you don’t want to improve your health and physical performance for yourself, would you do it for your family? Any parent knows that kids watch them. Even if they pretend you’re an old has-been, they still take cues from you. They could be your why.

Let’s say you don’t have kids or even a family. You were meant for more than just the old 9-5. Find out what that means for you!

The writer has two graduate degrees: one being in mental health counseling.

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