5 Personal Habits That Sabotage Entrepreneurs' Fitness Goals Hard-driving founders are famous for maximizing, optimizing and prioritizing, sometimes while marginalizing their own physical wellbeing, even at the risk of diminishing their overall performance. Don't be that guy.
By Julian Hayes II Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Entrepreneurs have a tendency to lose focus and place their health on the back burner in pursuit of achieving profits. Their favorite two excuses become "I'll go tomorrow" or "I'm too busy."
I get it. Your business isn't just a job, it's an entity that you're emotionally invested in. Establishing and maintaining a successful business takes time and energy along with necessary sacrifices.
The odd man left out more often than not is a commitment to fitness. But, it doesn't have to be this way, nor should it be. You can succeed in fitness while achieving your business goals by avoiding these five personal habits that sabotage fitness.
Related: Physical Fitness Is Good for Business
1. Lack of preparation.
Before setting foot in the gym or thinking about a particular diet to follow, you need to develop a proper strategy. The majority of people fail to do their preliminary work; thus place themselves at a handicap towards their fitness goals.
Football teams don't just show up ready to play on Sundays. Boxers don't just show up expecting a TKO on fight night. Each of these examples wins by doing the preliminary work. They analyze their situation, identify weaknesses and then formulate an actionable plan.
Is your weaknesses stress from work, time management issues, lack of healthy options, or emotional stress from peers and your environment? Take the extra step to forecast potential problems and don't leave your success up to chance.
2. Neglecting sleep.
Entrepreneurs tend to overestimate their ability to forgo sleep while underestimating the effects of sleep deprivation on their health.
Sleep deprivation negatively affects your hormones, huger cravings, daily functioning and decision-making. In addition to those side effects, the American Journal of Health Promotion in a recent research study discovered that getting less than 6.5 hours of sleep nightly resulted in participants having higher body fat levels.
If the choice is an extra workout or a couple more hours on your work project versus sleep -- sleep wins every single time. Without sufficient sleep, succeeding in fitness is a fairy tale.
Related: 6 Tips for Even the Busiest Entrepreneurs to Get the Sleep They Need
3. Not following the 80/20 rule.
Vilfredo Pareto's mathematical principle demonstrating that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of its population is a principle that should apply to your fitness. 80 percent of your results in fitness will stem from 20 percent of your decisions.
Eating ample amounts of fruits and vegetables, minimizing processed foods, getting quality sleep and placing priority on daily exercise are examples of your 20 percent. Choose habits that will provide the most value for the least amount of effort.
4. Treating your nutrition like the workweek.
Many ambitious fitness enthusiast seeking weight loss arrive at a point where dietary compliance is easy throughout the week. But on the weekends, these same enthusiast suffer from dietary amnesia.
Without work and a set routine, the weekends turn into a series of over indulgences. Just because it's the weekend doesn't mean your healthy habits clock out as well. Healthy eating doesn't have assigned shifts or schedules. Healthy eating is a commitment that demands focus each day. Saturday's nutrition deserves the same amount of attention as Tuesday's nutrition.
Related: 12 Ways to Eat Healthy No Matter How Busy You Are
Allow yourself one or two guilt-free indulgences, but don't let your weekends turn into an all-you-can-eat buffet.
5. Lack of consistency.
Many well-intentioned individuals wanting to lose weight will take actions expecting a grand slam for their efforts. Unfortunately, one swing of the bat doesn't knock your entire weight out of the ballpark.
Patience and consistent daily action are your main ingredients for success in fitness. There are no short cuts or perfect regimens. Just focus on being a doer instead of philosophizing on the sidelines.
Consistently applying simple and basic nutritional principles with a practical exercise regimen that seamlessly fits into your schedule is all that matters. Consistency trumps everything else.
