Yes, you read that write. Physical exercises have more than just physical benefits for an employee, they have mental and emotional benefits too! Check these out –
- Improved concentration
- Sharper memory
- Faster learning
- Prolonged mental stamina
- Enhanced creativity
- Lower stress
- Better energy at work
- Prolonged physical working hours
And apart from this you’ll be in better shape, feel good about yourself and will have tapped into better daily habits that reward you for a lifetime of health and happiness. Don’t take my word for it, a Leeds Metropolitan University conducted a study in which they examined the influence of daytime exercises among office workers with access to a company gym. Who doesn’t like a free space to work out and do yoga and that too at work! But did it really work?
Within the study, researchers had 200 employees at a variety of companies self report their performance on a daily basis. They then examined the fluctuations within individual employees, comparing their output on days when they exercised to days when they didn’t. Here’s what came out as a result: On days when employees visited the gym, their experience at work changed. They reported managing their time more effectively, being more productive, and having smoother interactions with their colleagues. And the cherry on top!- They went home feeling more satisfied at the end of the day.
Of course, you will agree with all these benefits, but you will question its practical application. We all have made those unfulfilled new year resolutions where we promise ourselves and our gym instructors that we are going to show up for physical exercises every day. We all know how much we succeed, cause if you are doing pretty good, you wouldn’t be reading this article! So I’m not here just to tell you the pretty part of exercising daily and how it’s going to improve your performance at work, but I’m also going to help you find ways of why you are not able to implement and incorporate physical exercises into your daily routine and how you can change that.
The first hindrance in including physical exercises in your daily routine is time! We don’t have time! Or so it seems. But according to me and Harvard Business Review, it’s more about priority. We don’t prioritize our physical exercises as something essential and that we cannot get away with. There’s a simple remedy for that. Instead of seeing exercise as something we do for ourselves- a personal indulgence that takes us away from our work- it’s time we started considering physical activity as part of the work itself. The alternative of not working out daily, involves processing information more slowly, forgetting more often, and getting easily frustrated, makes us less effective at our jobs and harder for us to get along with for our colleagues.
I will not leave you here hanging my friend, I am going to suggest few more helpful ways in which you can beat up procrastination and become active in your commitment of fulfilling exercises goals every day.
Do the exercises you enjoy
There is a greater chance of you showing up for exercises if you truly enjoy the act. It is not always necessary to lift weights and run treadmill in the name of health, though we have made it the quintessential workout methods, to be honest a lot of people find these dead boring. You can do stuff that you have fun doing instead, like you can play sport you enjoy like tennis or football, you can try yoga or cycling, or mix it up each week or month to keep alive that spark and so that it doesn’t feel boring. If you enjoy it, you’ll look forward to doing it daily.
Invest in your exercises
Don’t just settle for getting done with the exercise, try improving yourself in the act or mastering the act, for example if you’ve taken up a sport, try getting better and achieve new levels of competency, this will predict your persistency in the act of exercising. Not only I want you to invest mentally but also monetarily, try buying the appropriate clothes for the exercise chosen and other equipments now and then that keep you excited to show up, hire a coach if you like so that you have someone to guide through it. This addition of financial investment will increase your level of commitment as an employee.
Try it with a group not a collective
One recommendation gym aspirers often receive is to find an exercise regimen that involves other people. It’s good advice. Socialising makes exercise more fun, which improves the chances that you’ll keep doing it. It’s also a lot harder to back out on a friend or a trainer that just one night off couldn’t hurt.
But there’s another layer to this, studies indicate that not all group activities are equally effective at sustaining our interests.
We are far more likely to stick with an exercise regimen when others are dependent on our participation.
