15 TIPS ON How to become a business athlete & a happy human

Here’s some tips on how to get the balance of human relations, mental & physical to become a business athlete & achieve great outcomes. 

So what is your measure of success? It really should be happiness. If you’re happy you tend to do better in life & the rewards follow. Reputation & trust is everything in business so bring yourself, your character, someone who is easy to deal with and you will always win in the long run. Easier said than done but it’s a discipline to make those good habits and stick with them and you’ll be on your way to becoming a successful business athlete. 

Top tip: Neural pathways change after 90 days. This is why ‘give up smoking’ courses etc use this timing. 

So if you can eat well or exercise for 3 months it will become a life habit and start the pathway to happiness & nirvana ;-)

Diet 

Starting off with a solid breakfast like my grandma said ‘it’s the most important meal of the day’ is 100% true. Eating healthy nutritious food lays the foundation for good physical & mental fitness. 

Check out this ted talk by UC clinical psychologist Julia Rucklidge click here

Exercise 

Physical exercise helps mental well-being and again sets your foundation of well being and staying healthy

Check out the Research click here

Good sleep 

Have that feeling of waking up tired? Sore eyes…Ok parents with young babies or young kids we feel for you…7-9 hours is the amount of hours for a healthy sleep for people up to the age of 65. 7-8 hours over 65. 

Check out the Research click here

Hygiene 

Sounds simple but let us slip and you’ll spend more time in a doctors waiting room than you ever wanted to…Life is about balance but if you make short cuts it will catch up on you…

Family 

Life is tricky and they say you don’t choose family. Family relationships can be awesome, tricky or something in between. Just like any relationships you get out what you put in. Make an effort with these and your family will catch you, support and guide you when the need arises and when you least expect it. 

Friends 

Keep in touch with your friends as what is life about after all? Make new ones and plan trips or catch ups ahead, when you start to get really busy put them in the diary (or else they never happen) to look forward to. 

Here’s some advice about what’s important in life from a 48 year old about to die from cancer

Holidays

Take annual leave. All the long-term successful people I’ve ever met spend time recuperating, enjoying their well earned breaks with friends & family. Planning a trip is half the fun and having something to look forward to can really get you though the tough patches. Go explore!

Reading 

Books are an incredible source of knowledge and can also help you fall asleep. Find the ‘guru books’ in your area of specialty and drink from the fire hose…you’ll learn a lot and have a richer approach to business & life. 

Interest & hobbies 

These are key and can often define you. Keep them up and people tend to be attracted to others who have passion for whatever that might be. Mastering new things can help with parallels in what you learn in your day job, being uncomfortable and going through the learning process again keeps you sharp and life interesting.

Work 

Keep turning up. Sometimes the boring habitual things are key to keep things moving along. Remember it’s like being an athlete getting up in the cold to go training or sending emails is the repeatable things that get best outcomes over time. 

Time

Turn up, on time, every time. Business is based on trust & reputation and sometimes you only have one shot to make that impression so control the stuff you can control and be respectful of other peoples time..

Networking / Meet-ups

The human connection is huge. People want to do work with people they like & connect with. By going to events you not only learn alot about the latest technologies, methods and what’s happening in the market you make key industry contacts who can help you exponentially with your career and / or business.

Purpose 

Make sure you’re doing something that aligns with your values. Take the job that has greater meaning or purpose rather than the higher paid one as if you enjoy what you do you’ll get more stuck in and greater results and the rewards (and pay rises) will follow. 

Be a life learner

It never stops and just be open to new ideas and ways of doing things and you will continue to improve yourself and others around you + it’s way more fun :-)

Being a good citizen / human 

Do the right thing. People notice and you can go home at the end of the day feeling satisfied and making a small but valued contribution. 

Just keep turning up you’ll be amazed by the results consistency can bring. Businesses and customers want to know they can trust & rely on you to get the job done. But don’t be too hard on yourself - aim for excellence not perfection. May the force be with you :-):-):-)

I’m Paul, lover of coffee, dogs, biking, surfing & skiing. Founder & Principal Consultant of Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in recruiting IT roles within software, web, mobile, blockchain, data, cloud infrastructure, security & networks in Christchurch & South Island of New Zealand.