The promises of old-school MLM and “life-long” residual income are all but dead for the average person. They have been cut down at the knees by an unlikely culprit who we’ll reveal to you in a minute. This Letter Tells All. 
Exercise. The most underrated business strategy.
Most mornings, I set my alarm and get up at 5.30 in order to exercise. This is a habit that has been ingrained in me, from the time I was eleven years old, and was given the nickname “ten ton Tanya” by my teacher at school. As you may have guessed, I was ‘pudgy’. Actually, pudgy is just a kinder way of saying fat. So there, I’ve said it. I was fat. And I was very determined not to let that be the story of my life.
So after trying every ridiculous “lose weight fast” diet doing the rounds, I decided that the best way to lose weight, was to exercise regularly. I would get up in the dark, before school, and do a 30 minute aerobics video on the loungeroom floor.
At that point in my life, my motivation was 100% about being thin. Health was not even a consideration.
An awareness that I would have to keep a close eye on my weight grew as I watched many of my relatives gain weight and develop Type two diabetes and kidney disease. My maternal grandmother died at 48 of kidney disease, she weighed around 20 stone when she died.
As I get older, I have come to value good health to a much higher degree (I mean, if you are not in good health, most other things are irrelevant). And in business, maintaining good health is imperative.
As I was exercising yesterday morning, I was thinking about what I was going to write about in this week leading up to Christmas. And routine and exercise and the way they are connected to your business seemed to be relevant, and to go hand in hand with each other.
I mean, Christmas is a time when many of our normal daily routines go out the window in favor of parties, socializing and generally putting ‘real life’ on hold. At least until New Year.
And at New Year, after we are partied out, after we have eaten more leg ham, Christmas pudding and shortbread than you can poke a stick at. When our clothes are all uncomfortably ’snug’ we resolve that we will embark on a strict regime of healthy eating and exercise.
So, by all means, commit yourself to this resolution, for the good of your health. But if none of this applies to you, then commit yourself to a regular exercise routine for the good of your business.
Let me explain.
Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental and physical exercise improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline.
The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental and physical exercise and stimulation. In other words, use it or lose it.
As you are finding out, keeping yourself mentally stimulated as you learn to run your business is no problem at all. Every day that you engage in this process, you are reading and storing new information, engaging in new skills, and problem solving. Most people complain of being overwhelmed, and I know that when we started in our business, my brain actually hurt every night when I went to bed. Aaron Parkinson refers to this as flexing your ‘millionaire’ muscle.
A healthy, well-functioning neuron can be directly linked to tens of thousands of other neurons, creating a total of more than a hundred trillion connections – each capable of performing 200 calculations per second! This is the structural basis of your brain’s memory capacity and thinking ability.
Brain chemistry reveals an essential unity of mind and body. Neurons not only contact other neurons, they also connect with skeletal muscles, at a specialized structure called the neuromuscular junction. There, the brain uses acetylcholine – its primary chemical neurotransmitter for memory and attention – to communicate with muscles.
The role of these neurotransmitters in regulating movement underscores the intimate relation between body and mind, muscle and memory.
As a product of its environment, your “three pound universe” is essentially an internal map that reflects your external world.
Physical exercise is the best way to compliment and support the learning you are doing in your business. In fact, when I get stuck on a problem, or face an obstacle that seems insurmountable, I immediately get up, away from my screen and do something physical. Even something as simple as pegging out washing, dragging out the vacuum cleaner or wandering outside to water the garden.
And I find that if I allow my mind to ‘roam’ and let my unconscious mind take over, I have generally identified a solution, often immediately, but at the least, within 24 hours. It is quite astounding. And I have absolute faith in the power of this process.
Better still, when I exercise hard (I use a X-trainer, and then do Pilates – which is brilliant to develop the mind body connection), I have my absolute best ideas. I often have to rush into my office when I am finished exercising to write them down. All of my ideas for writing come to me when I am exercising. I am never stuck for a topic, it is as though my brain feeds them to me when my body is engaged in hard exercise.
Business strategies that I have had trouble defining and mapping out to work on are generally made simpler when I am exercising. After I have exercised, my ability to sift through masses of information and pick out the material I really need is improved.
The word exercise derives from a Latin root meaning “to maintain, to keep, to ward off.” To exercise means to practice, put into action, train, perform, use, improve.
Exercise is a natural part of life, although these days we have to consciously include it in our daily routine. Biologically, it was part of survival, in the form of hunting and gathering or raising livestock and growing food. Historically, it was built into daily life, as regular hours of physical work or soldiering. What is now considered a form of exercise – walking –was originally a form of transportation.
Walking is especially good for your brain, because it increases blood circulation and the oxygen and glucose that reach your brain. Walking is not strenuous, so your leg muscles don’t take up extra oxygen and glucose like they do during other forms of exercise. As you walk, you effectively oxygenate your brain. Maybe this is why walking can “clear your head” and help you to think better.
Movement and exercise increase breathing and heart rate so that more blood flows to the brain, enhancing energy production and waste removal. Studies show that in response to exercise, cerebral blood vessels can grow.
So make a commitment to yourself and your business to incorporate regular exercise into your week. Both will benefit from it in ways you will see and feel as you make it a routine.
Make today a great one.
Tanya
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