10 Ways To Be A Healthier Leader

If you're like many leaders, you're "too busy" to exercise on a regular basis.  And, you don't give yourself time to renew and refresh.  Truth is, there are ways to fit exercise and healthful habits into your busy day that will pay off in dividends.

From Experience Life magazine, here are 10 tips for how to fit even just moments into your day (at work, on the road and at home) to help you become more healthful:

1. Make a plan to exercise.  Include exercise times, even if they are just in 10-minute increments, on your calendar.
2. Find time to exercise and build on that time.  Start off by walking for five minutes at lunch and add to that every few days until you've worked up to 30 minutes every few lunch hours.
3. Limit screen time.  Set a timer for how long you'll watch TV or surf the Net.  Then, use the time you aren't in front of a screen to exercise.
4. When you are watching TV, do squats, pushups, lunges, yoga poses and crunches.
5. Think positive.   Psychologists suggest that you replace "I am too busy to work out" thinking with "I choose to make myself a priority."
6. Hold a "walking meeting" where your group walks together instead of sits in a meeting room.  This can be particularly beneficial for brainstorming meetings.
7. Work out when you're traveling.  Pack a jump rope.  Do push-ups and crunches in your hotel room.  Use the hotel's gym.  Ask the hotel if they have guest passes or discounted rates at a nearby health club.
8. Exercise first thing in the morning.  Don't let a long day end with "no time to exercise."
9. Wear a pedometer.  By age 60, most people are down to about 4,500 steps a day.  Your goal should be to walk 10,000 steps per day.

10. Negotiate a discounted rate for you and your employees at a gym near your office building.  And then use the facility and encourage your employees to do the same.

I run and walk 5K's throughout the year.  They give me a goal to continually improve my times.  My entry fees go to support local charities.  And, to prepare for each race, I have to schedule times during the preceding weeks to practice and exercise.