After a months worth of content, you have a great idea of what it takes to BECOME a healthy leader. You need to make sure you’re exercising regularly, taking care of your mind, and tending to your soul.
These three areas are vital to the health of you and your ability to lead. But what are the long-term effects of paying attention to your health? There are plenty. And you need to know them to motivate you to maintain your healthy lifestyle. Paying attention to your health can be done in a number of ways, whether that’s by exercising regularly or taking supplements daily, or even if it’s something you think is a little more urgent and would require Chicago urgent care. Every little helps!
Photo by Bruno Nascimento
Let’s take a look at the long-term effects of paying attention to your health today. It matters more than you can believe and impacts your leadership greater than you thought.
The Long-Term Effects Of Paying Attention To Your Health
When you think of the effects of your health, you probably think of the immediate payoffs. You think about the 10 pounds you shred doing the P90X workout or how you can run a 5K when walking to the street corner winded you.
These are the short-term effects of taking care of your health. But what of the long-term effects? There are plenty of reasons to maintain your healthy habits and pay attention to your health after reaching your initial health goals.
1. Leaders have more energy when they’re physically fit:
Leadership is a taxing position. You’re having to make decisions which impact those you lead and the organization as a whole. You have to be on the top of your game.
The healthier you are, the better your decision making will be. You’ll have the energy and ability to maintain your pace longer than if you weren’t healthy.
And when you have to put in the extra hours, your improved health will help you to work the extra time. You won’t feel drained or exhausted quite as easily if you were overweight and unhealthy.
2. Leaders are more stable when they’re mentally healthy:
Were you ever under a leader who wasn’t mentally healthy? Their decision making was all over the place. You didn’t know what was coming next.
This may have happened because they never paid attention to their mental health and allowed their health to deteriorate to a point where they were extremely unhealthy.
By taking care of your mental health, you will have the mental clarity to make the tough decisions when the time comes. You’ll also be able to deal with the stress and frustration that comes along with leading.
3. Leaders live longer when they’re healthy:
By and large, leaders who are healthy live longer than their counterparts who are not healthy. Keeping your weight at an acceptable level, taking care of your mental health, and building your relationship with Jesus Christ will help you prolong your life.
This has multiple long-term effects. You will be able to create more value in the lives of those you’re leading and impact more lives overall. You’ll also be able to spend more time with family and friends.
Who doesn’t want that long-term effect of being a healthy leader?
4. Leaders have better relationships when they’re healthy:
It’s hard to balance your personal and work relationships when you’re energy level is down. This problem pops up a lot when you’re not in the best of health.
By getting and staying in shape, the long-term effects of paying attention to your health plays into your relationship. You have more to give because you have more energy and vitality.
Your relationships will improve and become healthier the more you pay attention to your health.
5. Leaders can help others more effectively when they pay attention to their health:
When you’re unhealthy, a lot of your mental energy is spent on taking care of the little health you have. However, when you begin to work on yourself and your health, something amazing happens. You have more energy to spend on others.
This extra energy allows you to pour into those you’re leading and create more servant leaders. Your improved health helps you create more leaders!
How cool is that?
Question: What other long-term effects have you seen when you have taken care of your health? Share your insights in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.