Physical well-being and health: What it is and how to achieve it

Congratulations; you are the CEO of You Inc. The good news is that you are in charge of all the decisions. The bad news is that you are in charge of all the decisions. This means you are on the hook for the failures as well as the successes. Such is the life of a CEO! 

Like most CEOs, you must put a strategic plan in place that will create a path to achieving You Inc.’s goal of life satisfaction. The most critical step in your plan is physical well-being because without it, the other parts of your life won’t fully function. As CEO, you must understand how each step in your strategic plan is intertwined with all other facets of your life. 

Physical well-being is important because it enables everything else. Research has shown that our physical well-being has an impact on conditions such as anxiety, depression and on our stress tolerance and cognitive agility. Without physical well-being, you cannot have mental well-being, and your relationships, career, and finances can be negatively impacted. You will constantly be sidelined by your health and not be able to be a full participant in your own life. You will be an ineffective CEO.

1. Be Accountable. Accept the fact that you—and only you—are responsible for You Inc. No more blaming others for tempting you into eating unhealthy foods, procrastinating on exercise, or indulging in other bad habits. At the end of the day, you are the one making the decisions regarding sleep, diet, relaxation, and exercise.  
2. Measure. You can’t know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been. Are you collecting the right data?  Get a physical every year and consider how your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, and heart rate compare to the prior year. Track your exercise so you can build on it. Learn about your family’s medical history. If sleep or diet is an issue, use a tracking app (or a good old notebook) to log your behaviors--what and when are you eating, when are you going to bed? Data collection is critical for better decision making.
3. Analyze. Is your data telling you a story? Do you see areas that need immediate attention or perhaps a trend in the right or wrong direction? For example, has your blood pressure improved since you began performing morning affirmations? Can you identify behaviors that need to change or that you might add?
4. Research. What tools and technology are available to You Inc. that can improve your overall performance in life? Check out new apps, websites, blogs, and articles to find out what is trending in exercise, diet, relaxation, and lifestyle. The very best CEOs watch the market, look for trends, and aren’t afraid to try new business models when the old ones aren’t working.
5. Hire. CEOs hire consultants all the time. Do you need to consult an expert? If your budget allows and there is a need, consider hiring a coach, trainer, or dietician to help you achieve your physical wellness goals.
6. Fire. As a CEO, you may need to fire someone who is a bad influence on your journey toward physical wellness. Is there anyone in your life who is draining your energy or creating an obstacle to reaching your wellness goals? Have you hired a consultant that isn’t helping you the way you thought they would? Perhaps it’s time to let them go.
7. Create a strategic plan. You have collected and analyzed your data, completed your research, and made the necessary hires, fires, and cutbacks. Now you are ready to create a strategic plan with physical well-being at the core to ensure You Inc. achieves its goal of life satisfaction. It can be helpful to write down short-term and long-term goals, define your metrics for success, and outline how you will attain your goals.
8. Implement. Action, action, action. You must actually put your plan into action. Success is in the “doing.”

The unwritten ninth step is the hardest one. Patience. Unfortunately, strategic plans don’t always work right away. They need time. Physical well-being isn’t a goal that is achieved at once. You Inc.’s strategic plan may need tweaking or revamping. It takes grit to go back to step one and reevaluate, but that’s what CEOs do. They persevere. They stay nimble.