Business 2: Master Your Arousal
REPLACE STRESS WITH INTENSE CONCENTRATION
ENHANCE CRITICAL THOUGHT AND DECISION MAKING
As tasks become more intellectually challenging states of arousal can be counter-productive. The mind must be slowed to be less prone to highly aroused states. To do this you must sleep, and this sleep must be deep and restful.
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To create an Executive Athlete, we need to start with the basic skills of movement. We need to ensure that the executive makes it to the end of every exercise session. They must possess the freedom of movement that the athlete enjoys if they are going to become an Executive Athlete.
The unhealthy executive lives with constant or nearly constant pain. This is the inevitable result of a weak frame that is supporting far too much weight.
Imagine a rope bridge that stretches across a river. Its wooden planks and beams seem to be in good enough shape. The ropes are a little frayed but look strong enough. You step onto the bridge. As you near its centre, you can feel the rope tighten in your hands.
You can hear it begin to groan with the strain. By the time you reach the middle, the bridge itself is twisting and has distorted out of shape.
Finally, as you watch, the rope snaps.
Think of the rope as your muscles, the wood planks and beams as your bones. When you become weak and heavy, the same thing that happens to the bridge happens to your body.
Muscles tighten, bones creak and ache, posture gets bent out of shape. It’s only a matter of time before something snaps and you find yourself facing a painful injury, one that might forever affect your quality of life.
For the physically inactive executive this process also follows a predictable pattern:
· Tight calves, hamstrings, groin, hip flexors, lower back and thoracic spine
· Poor posture (shoulders come forward, excessive pelvic tilt)
· Pain in the knees, lower back, shoulders and neck.
The longer the executive is physically inactive, the weaker and heavier they become.
Tightness, poor posture and often excruciating pain get worse. Natural movements like walking and running that combine velocity with full body weight damage joints that suffer from bad biomechanics.
Moving hurts.
Constant pain is a mental distraction. Physical discomfort significantly reduces one’s ability to pay close attention or to retain information.
Long days behind the desk or at the boardroom table are sources of tremendous discomfort. At the end of a long day of sitting, the unhealthy executive needs to lie down to get relief.
Constant pain saps mental, physical and emotional energy.
It derails nutrition and exercise plans and makes it harder to engage with others, affecting personal and professional relationships. Worst of all, it drains resilience, making it harder with each passing day to push through setbacks.
The executive who is in pain is hanging on by a thread. It’s only a matter of time before the rope snaps.
The unhealthy executive lives with constant or nearly constant pain. This is the inevitable result of a weak frame that is supporting far too much weight.
Imagine a rope bridge that stretches across a river. Its wooden planks and beams seem to be in good enough shape. The ropes are a little frayed but look strong enough. You step onto the bridge. As you near its centre, you can feel the rope tighten in your hands.
You can hear it begin to groan with the strain. By the time you reach the middle, the bridge itself is twisting and has distorted out of shape.
Finally, as you watch, the rope snaps.
Think of the rope as your muscles, the wood planks and beams as your bones. When you become weak and heavy, the same thing that happens to the bridge happens to your body.
Muscles tighten, bones creak and ache, posture gets bent out of shape. It’s only a matter of time before something snaps and you find yourself facing a painful injury, one that might forever affect your quality of life.
For the physically inactive executive this process also follows a predictable pattern:
· Tight calves, hamstrings, groin, hip flexors, lower back and thoracic spine
· Poor posture (shoulders come forward, excessive pelvic tilt)
· Pain in the knees, lower back, shoulders and neck.
The longer the executive is physically inactive, the weaker and heavier they become.
Tightness, poor posture and often excruciating pain get worse. Natural movements like walking and running that combine velocity with full body weight damage joints that suffer from bad biomechanics.
Moving hurts.
Constant pain is a mental distraction. Physical discomfort significantly reduces one’s ability to pay close attention or to retain information.
Long days behind the desk or at the boardroom table are sources of tremendous discomfort. At the end of a long day of sitting, the unhealthy executive needs to lie down to get relief.
Constant pain saps mental, physical and emotional energy.
It derails nutrition and exercise plans and makes it harder to engage with others, affecting personal and professional relationships. Worst of all, it drains resilience, making it harder with each passing day to push through setbacks.
The executive who is in pain is hanging on by a thread. It’s only a matter of time before the rope snaps.
The connection is clear. The demands of operating in a highly competitive workplace result in widespread executive health issues. This is hard to ignore when seven out often executives are obese and the vast majority are suffering silently with serious medical conditions. These problems often start when the executive begins to climb the corporate ladder or first starts his or her business.
While there is often an assumption that success will mean more time to focus on one’s health, the opposite is more often true.
The competing demands of a growing number of stakeholders mount with each passing quarter, and all the while the executive’s health declines. Four symptoms stand between them and their dream lifestyle the first symptom is fatigue.
The fatigued executive lacks physical, mental and emotional energy. Even a small drop in energy levels makes leadership harder for the executive. When the executive is tired, inspiring the team by making each of its members feel special — like they belong — can feel like a herculean task. This energy deficit can affect not only the individual’s performance but also that of the team and even the entire organisation.
The leader sets the cadence. Whether it’s a frenetic pace, an assertive cool or a sluggish crawl, the leader’s energy levels influence how those around them behave. Think of executive decline as a chemical reaction. Sagging energy is the catalyst that increases the speed and intensity of the reaction.When energy levels bottom out, the other symptoms of executive decline begin to appear alarmingly quickly.
No matter how skilled or experienced you are, you can’t endure long and intense periods of decision-making without negatively affecting your energy. The result is decision fatigue. Lurking beneath the surface it is easier to ignore than physical fatigue. Those who have this kind of fatigue are often not consciously aware they are making poor decisions.
Mental fatigue and decision fatigue lead the mind to look for shortcuts, and it has two favourites:
RECKLESS DECISION-MAKING
Decision fatigue often leads to impulsive action. This helps explain why ordinarily sensible people can sometimes lash out at colleagues or family members. Decision fatigue erodes willpower, explaining why sugar becomes irresistible at the end of the day. It makes the executive unwilling to compromise; this can lead to excessive spending, drinking or anger if someone gets in the way.
“When an executive is unwell, there is generally less permission — permission to make mistakes, etc. You’re too singularly focused on a narrow definition of success, and so inventiveness and creativity tend to suffer. The opportunities that come from trial and error are still there, but it becomes more mechanical. You rely on the technical more than the creative. You lose that flare.”
- David Heine, Chief Operating Officer, eftpos
DOING NOTHING
This is the ultimate energy saver. Inaction and procrastination allow the fatigued mind to avoid or put off choices. Ducking decisions creates bigger problems in the long run, but the exhausted brain is not exactly known for its ability to forecast future results. It merely seeks rest.
Inaction can always be justified: they have worked hard all week; they deserve some downtime; they’ve earned the freedom to hit that snooze button again.
This attitude is the biggest stumbling block when it comes to starting an exercise program. But it’s not the result of any laziness on the part of the executive. No, the mental and emotional energy required to perform their role leaves them little energy to do anything else. At the end of the day, they’re not recharging their batteries.
They’re collapsing into bed with one hand still on their phones.
While there is often an assumption that success will mean more time to focus on one’s health, the opposite is more often true.
The competing demands of a growing number of stakeholders mount with each passing quarter, and all the while the executive’s health declines. Four symptoms stand between them and their dream lifestyle the first symptom is fatigue.
The fatigued executive lacks physical, mental and emotional energy. Even a small drop in energy levels makes leadership harder for the executive. When the executive is tired, inspiring the team by making each of its members feel special — like they belong — can feel like a herculean task. This energy deficit can affect not only the individual’s performance but also that of the team and even the entire organisation.
The leader sets the cadence. Whether it’s a frenetic pace, an assertive cool or a sluggish crawl, the leader’s energy levels influence how those around them behave. Think of executive decline as a chemical reaction. Sagging energy is the catalyst that increases the speed and intensity of the reaction.When energy levels bottom out, the other symptoms of executive decline begin to appear alarmingly quickly.
No matter how skilled or experienced you are, you can’t endure long and intense periods of decision-making without negatively affecting your energy. The result is decision fatigue. Lurking beneath the surface it is easier to ignore than physical fatigue. Those who have this kind of fatigue are often not consciously aware they are making poor decisions.
Mental fatigue and decision fatigue lead the mind to look for shortcuts, and it has two favourites:
RECKLESS DECISION-MAKING
Decision fatigue often leads to impulsive action. This helps explain why ordinarily sensible people can sometimes lash out at colleagues or family members. Decision fatigue erodes willpower, explaining why sugar becomes irresistible at the end of the day. It makes the executive unwilling to compromise; this can lead to excessive spending, drinking or anger if someone gets in the way.
“When an executive is unwell, there is generally less permission — permission to make mistakes, etc. You’re too singularly focused on a narrow definition of success, and so inventiveness and creativity tend to suffer. The opportunities that come from trial and error are still there, but it becomes more mechanical. You rely on the technical more than the creative. You lose that flare.”
- David Heine, Chief Operating Officer, eftpos
DOING NOTHING
This is the ultimate energy saver. Inaction and procrastination allow the fatigued mind to avoid or put off choices. Ducking decisions creates bigger problems in the long run, but the exhausted brain is not exactly known for its ability to forecast future results. It merely seeks rest.
Inaction can always be justified: they have worked hard all week; they deserve some downtime; they’ve earned the freedom to hit that snooze button again.
This attitude is the biggest stumbling block when it comes to starting an exercise program. But it’s not the result of any laziness on the part of the executive. No, the mental and emotional energy required to perform their role leaves them little energy to do anything else. At the end of the day, they’re not recharging their batteries.
They’re collapsing into bed with one hand still on their phones.
Competitive advantage — that extra mile an organisation and its leadership are willing to go that keeps them one step ahead of the present or potential competition.
Once the benchmark is raised, it becomes the new norm. The convenience store chain 7 Eleven experienced this accidentally in 1963 when they established their first 24-hour store in Austin, Texas. Located very close to the university campus, one Saturday night after a football game the store was so busy that it never closed. Encouraged by the increase in revenue, the store changed its standard opening hours from 7 am to 11 pm to a new schedule: 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Soon this became company policy, and before long it became the benchmark for all convenience stores. If you wanted to succeed in the industry, it was impossible to do so without being open 24 hours a day. This trend later extended to supermarkets, pharmacies, and gyms. 7-Eleven established a new benchmark, and before long their innovation was the norm.
For the executive, the benchmark was raised during the economic uncertainty of the 1980s. White-collar workers began logging more hours, trying to make themselves stand out from the nine-to-five set. Workplace cultures rewarded those who worked all hours, devoting themselves entirely to the job and blurring or erasing the lines between work and personal time.
The effects of this were long-lasting. In a 2011 Regus white paper, ‘A Study into the Length of the Workday and its Impact on Employee Health’, 45% of Australian workers reported taking home their work at least three times a week. This is simply what it takes to maintain a competitive advantage.
It is the new normal.
The Age of the Unhealthy Executive
If the symptoms of executives’ work habits were the product of an infectious disease, that disease would be quickly eradicated. The government would spend millions of dollars and deploy all the resources at its disposal to contain and eliminate the disease.
The problem is that the health consequences of the executive’s lifestyle are not as obvious as those of, say, Ebola. Deterioration is so slow that the consequences are nearly invisible, and the damage is self-inflicted. Plummeting energy levels, constant pain, and restricted movement are ignored until they reach a crisis point. Until the health issues become impossible to ignore, they are swept under the carpet with the words, “I am getting old”.
Age is, indeed, an uncontrollable variable, but it doesn’t account for the overwhelmingly poor state of today’s executives. According to a recent Apollo Life study:
71% of executives are obese.
48% are in hopelessly poor physical condition.
35% have stomachs that are larger than their chests.
30% take daily medication.
The statistics become even worse if you are a CEO:
82% are obese.
77% have stomachs that are larger than their chests.
69% are in hopelessly poor physical fitness condition.
62% are unable to do one push up or sit up.
59% are unable to touch their toes.
56% take daily medication.
28% have not exercised at all since they were children.
10% have had a heart attack in the last 12 months.
It is hard to get your head around these statistics. Executives possess all the elements that, when combined, create success. They have all of the resources and knowledge, and they’ve got the track records to prove it.
These track records show that they know how to identify and solve problems before they become catastrophic. They understand cause and effect, but for whatever reason, they have been slow to apply this knowledge to their physical health. It appears that it is a sacrifice they are prepared to make.
It’s not just a matter of executives not eating right or exercising. They are also not managing their stress in remotely effective ways. The Apollo Life study describes how 84% of executives and a staggering 100% of CEOs suffer from stress-related ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, abnormal heart rhythm, stomach ulcers, frequent headaches or insomnia. Throughout their careers, executives have put their mental and physical health on the line.
Although they might be rewarded with the lifestyle that is a testament to their professional success, they are sacrificing their ability to enjoy this lifestyle. They pay this cost because they have ignored the warning signs, prioritizing their competitive advantage over their health.
They don’t act until it’s too late.
The Age of the Unhealthy Executive is well and truly upon us. Stress, unhealthy diets and a lack of exercise have resulted in a staggeringly high number of overweight executives. Since it is unlikely that the pressures of the job will ease anytime soon, executives need to take responsibility for their health.
They need to realise that their very lives are at stake.
Once the benchmark is raised, it becomes the new norm. The convenience store chain 7 Eleven experienced this accidentally in 1963 when they established their first 24-hour store in Austin, Texas. Located very close to the university campus, one Saturday night after a football game the store was so busy that it never closed. Encouraged by the increase in revenue, the store changed its standard opening hours from 7 am to 11 pm to a new schedule: 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Soon this became company policy, and before long it became the benchmark for all convenience stores. If you wanted to succeed in the industry, it was impossible to do so without being open 24 hours a day. This trend later extended to supermarkets, pharmacies, and gyms. 7-Eleven established a new benchmark, and before long their innovation was the norm.
For the executive, the benchmark was raised during the economic uncertainty of the 1980s. White-collar workers began logging more hours, trying to make themselves stand out from the nine-to-five set. Workplace cultures rewarded those who worked all hours, devoting themselves entirely to the job and blurring or erasing the lines between work and personal time.
The effects of this were long-lasting. In a 2011 Regus white paper, ‘A Study into the Length of the Workday and its Impact on Employee Health’, 45% of Australian workers reported taking home their work at least three times a week. This is simply what it takes to maintain a competitive advantage.
It is the new normal.
The Age of the Unhealthy Executive
If the symptoms of executives’ work habits were the product of an infectious disease, that disease would be quickly eradicated. The government would spend millions of dollars and deploy all the resources at its disposal to contain and eliminate the disease.
The problem is that the health consequences of the executive’s lifestyle are not as obvious as those of, say, Ebola. Deterioration is so slow that the consequences are nearly invisible, and the damage is self-inflicted. Plummeting energy levels, constant pain, and restricted movement are ignored until they reach a crisis point. Until the health issues become impossible to ignore, they are swept under the carpet with the words, “I am getting old”.
Age is, indeed, an uncontrollable variable, but it doesn’t account for the overwhelmingly poor state of today’s executives. According to a recent Apollo Life study:
71% of executives are obese.
48% are in hopelessly poor physical condition.
35% have stomachs that are larger than their chests.
30% take daily medication.
The statistics become even worse if you are a CEO:
82% are obese.
77% have stomachs that are larger than their chests.
69% are in hopelessly poor physical fitness condition.
62% are unable to do one push up or sit up.
59% are unable to touch their toes.
56% take daily medication.
28% have not exercised at all since they were children.
10% have had a heart attack in the last 12 months.
It is hard to get your head around these statistics. Executives possess all the elements that, when combined, create success. They have all of the resources and knowledge, and they’ve got the track records to prove it.
These track records show that they know how to identify and solve problems before they become catastrophic. They understand cause and effect, but for whatever reason, they have been slow to apply this knowledge to their physical health. It appears that it is a sacrifice they are prepared to make.
It’s not just a matter of executives not eating right or exercising. They are also not managing their stress in remotely effective ways. The Apollo Life study describes how 84% of executives and a staggering 100% of CEOs suffer from stress-related ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, abnormal heart rhythm, stomach ulcers, frequent headaches or insomnia. Throughout their careers, executives have put their mental and physical health on the line.
Although they might be rewarded with the lifestyle that is a testament to their professional success, they are sacrificing their ability to enjoy this lifestyle. They pay this cost because they have ignored the warning signs, prioritizing their competitive advantage over their health.
They don’t act until it’s too late.
The Age of the Unhealthy Executive is well and truly upon us. Stress, unhealthy diets and a lack of exercise have resulted in a staggeringly high number of overweight executives. Since it is unlikely that the pressures of the job will ease anytime soon, executives need to take responsibility for their health.
They need to realise that their very lives are at stake.
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