Some of you have had the chance to sit down and talk with me about my recent transformation whereby I admit that up until recently I have been a blind idiot and now I’m just an idiot. Or something like that. Or to put it in Jack Handy’s words, I just figured out that “I’d rather be rich than stupid.” And that’s what this new section is all about. New me vs. old me, or smart vs. stupid. Although my claim on being “smart” is tenuous at best, I have at least a somewhat credible claim on being “smarter” than I was.
As the topic for my first installment I will make the audacious claim that exercising is good for entrepreneurs, and not exercising is bad. And if a little bit of exercise is good, a lot is better, right? And so as part of my ongoing process of self-improvement I’ve started training for an Ironman race. Yes, at some point in 2008 I will swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a full 26.2 mile marathon.
Yeah, I know, I wrote a post on this very blog about how I didn’t understand how people could find the time to exercise, but that was the old me, and all things are become new.
I go biking at 6 am for about an hour, or run for a half hour, and sometimes both. Then I go the gym, lift weights for about 45 minutes, and then go swimming for a half hour or so. By the time I’m done it’s usually about 9:30, and so exercise takes up roughly 3.5 hours of my day, and that’s if I don’t go skateboarding later in the day. I haven’t done this six days in a week yet, but the idea is to work up to that. But even last week when I only did this four days that still means I spent 14 hours on exercise, compared to more or less zero hours a year previous.
How do I find the time, seeing as how I’m running a business and have a wife? Well, I don’t find it just laying around, but I make it happen, and somehow it works out. Logically I must be spending less time at work, although the funny thing is that now that I’m working less I’m able to pay myself more. Well, again, it’s not that I’m “able to,” I just decided I was going to and again, somehow it works out. It’s not magic or anything, I just haven’t paid strict attention to how I’m making it work out. I just decide that I’m going to make it work out somehow, and then whatever happens, I make sure I’m taking care of what I’ve committed to do. I will tell you this–getting rid of 50% of my expenses while maintaining consistent revenues didn’t hurt at all.
Since I started training for a triathlon I’ve found myself feeling a lot better, mentally and physically. I mean I just plain feel better. And it’s benefiting the business as well. If I climb stairs to a meeting I’m not longer wheezing and sweating when I meet the client, studies show that better looking people close more deals and I must say I am looking rather fetching, and my self-confidence has improved to the point where I’m no longer embarrassed to take my shirt off in front of clients.
Perhaps you’re an entrepreneur like I was who sat in front of a computer 16 hours a day and ate out most of the time. Well, trust me on this one, you’re killing yourself and you’re not helping your business. Taking three hours or more of my day to exercise is one of the best things I’ve ever decided to do, and it is only helping my business, not hurting it at all.
