Photo by Bruno Nascimento
Just over halfway through the year . . . how did that happen?
No doubt you have a few important things to do next week. If you shared your calendar, I’m pretty sure we’d see meetings, school events, PLD, class visits, strategic reviews, duty commitments, reports due, etc, etc.
But would we see important sustainability things?
Would we see scheduled exercise, blocked out time for reflection, lunch with a friend, a coffee catch-up with a colleague, time to prepare healthy food, a late start after a late finish?
If the answer is ‘no’, it’s very likely that some/all of those things won’t happen. You will be gambling that you can somehow just fit them in. The result is that next week will be a net drain on your personal well-being and capacity to do your job sustainably. If subsequent weeks are the same, in 9 weeks’ time you will probably be a bit ‘crispy’. Sustainability is a cumulative game, what you do/don’t do today adds or subtracts over time.
If your answer is ‘yes’, then you win. You win more energy, more sustainability, and more capacity to lead with excellence.
This “Is it on your calendar?” question is something we’ve written about before. All the really important things are in your calendar/diary system. Why do you always remember a Board meeting? It’s on the calendar. What’s the last day to submit your Strategic Plan? Just check the calendar. What are you doing today? That’s right, have a quick look at the calendar.
And we’re talking about important things.
Any one of limited exercise, poor diet, lack of sleep, or social isolation has a tangible and deeply serious impact on your health over time. If you combine them . . .
So, today you can improve this situation in 5 minutes. Here’s the minimum amount of exercise to add to your calendar for next week –
Exercise:
From the World Health Organisations’ minimum guidelines for adults aged 18–64 years.
- Should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity throughout the week, or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both.
- For additional health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity physical activity to 300 minutes per week, or equivalent.
- Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.
That’s 2.5 to 5 hours moderate activity for the week, and two muscle strengthening sessions. You’re got 7 days to play with and I know you can work this out!
Just for fun, click here and share your current reality.
You can do this.
Dave