Become more energetic, enthusiastic and healthier – A businessman’s guide

Does it feel like your brain just runs out of energy and crashes at around 3:00 PM?  

Are you starting to wince every time you look in the mirror?  

Has your get up and go, got up and left?

Health and Fitness expert Ashley Bishop shares his advice on how to gain more energy, more enthusiasm, better health and even find more productive hours in your week. 

Ashley has been through his own personal struggles, working long hours on his own business, functioning on a poor diet and lack of exercise which lead to an increase in weight. He became short-tempered and ultimately felt miserable. All this was at a time when his young family was growing in front of his eyes and he was missing out. 

For many businessmen it is a familiar story. Building their business while the children are young. The added pressures of being the breadwinner and supporting the family. You desperately shift your precious time between your business and your loved ones, which leaves little time left to focus on you. 

Many businessmen suffer from weight gain which then leads to back pain, knee pain or hip discomfort, as well as energy crashes in the afternoons. Then, rather than enjoying your evenings and weekends with your family, you are recovering both mentally and physically from the day. It becomes harder to keep up with the kids and the mental strain starts to build up, you start to become short tempered and snappy, and a vicious circle ensues. 

Maintaining such an exhausting and stressful can lead health issues such as a low immune system, making you vulnerable to colds and the flu, as well as more serious conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. 

Ashley decided he didn’t want to continue his unhappy and unfulfilling path, and instead wanted to find out why he was feeling the way he was. Though research he learnt more about how the brain works, and why we say one thing and do another. It was this knowledge of psychology that inspired the first version of his health coaching and performance mentoring programme which combined his expertise of health, affection and life.   

Ashley shares some of his insights on how he gets his businessmen clients to create the habits that will give them the results they desired and enable then to look, feel, and in turn, perform at their very best.  

So, what can you do? 

1. Understand what good health means to you. 

It isn’t about tangible results like losing a stone or two, but it’s about what losing that weight will give you. You’ll be able to keep up with the kids, your clothes will feel more comfortable, you will feel happier and that will impact the happiness of the people around you. 

2. Create a personal mission statement  

Think about why you want to make a change, what you want to achieve and what you believe will happen when you achieve it. Define why your health is so important to you and how it impacts your life, your family and your business. The statement should be emotive and should inspire you 

3. Hydrate 

This is a quick win to reap lots of benefits – simply drinking more water.  Did you know that if you are dehydrated by 2% or more, your productivity, output and performance is reduced by 10 to 20%.  

How would you love to gain 20 to 40 hours a month to work in your business, on your business or more family time? There’s a huge return on the investment just by drinking more water.  

How much water should you be drinking? 

There are two options to help you gauge how much you should be drinking. Firstly, if your pee is dark yellow or brown and maybe has a strong smell, that is a common indicator that you are dehydrated. 

 The other method is to do a calculation. Divide your weight in pounds by 50 (if using kilos, divide by 25). So, if you were 10 st and 10lb, that is 150 lbs, divide 150lbs by 50 and you get three, so you need to drink three litres of water a day. If your weight calculation is much higher, cap it at four litres per day  

What about tea and coffee? 

When you’re tired many people reach for a coffee for an energy boost. You can include up to four cups of caffeinated drinks in your hydration allowance, any more than that and the caffeine can start having a negative effect on your central nervous system.  

4. Exercise 

You only need to do 15 –20 minutes of exercise a day. You don’t need to join the gym or use any special equipment. 

A simple programme of exercises to include strength training such as squats and press ups, with resistance bands or hand weights if you have them, will help to build your muscle strength. Cardiovascular exercise will help build your fitness and stamina. Exercises such as running on the spot, star jumps, burpees will all help to keep your heart rate up. You will find the more often you do it, the easier it gets. Finally, mobility exercises will help improve your flexibility and range of movement. Dynamic stretches, like lunges and yoga-based exercises will help reduce aches and pains, they may even improve your golf swing! 

You might want to do a programme which includes all three types of exercises a day or switch each day from one type to the next to keep variety and interest. 

5. Intermittent Fasting  

16:8 fasting is where you fast for 16 hours and you have an eight hour time period when you eat. Most of the time you are fasting is when you are asleep, so it mostly involves skipping breakfast.  By removing a meal you’re reducing your calorie consumption and by cutting out between 300 to 500 calories a day, you will start losing weight maybe around one or two pounds a week, plus by cutting out breakfast you will create yourself more time. 

Research has also suggested that intermittent fasting can help boost growth hormones, reduce internal inflammation, help DNA repair, plus more benefits in addition to the calorie reduction benefits.  

6. A healthy diet 

Calorie counting can be tiresome, but there are some easy to follow rules than can help improve your diet. 

Make sure that in every meal or snack you have there is a good amount of protein in the form of unprocessed meat and fish. Men should consume one or two palmful sized pieces of protein per meal. Then look at the green rate, Is there enough green, leafy vegetables or salad? They are low calorie with lots of vitamins and minerals. When serving starchy carbohydrates, keep the rice, pasta or potato portions smaller that your protein portion.  

The advice in this article is designed to inspire you to make a positive change in your lifestyle. We know that fad diets aren’t sustainable, you need to create new lifestyle habits. When you do you will reap the rewards of not only being physically healthier, but it will also improve your mental wellbeing and the happiness of the people around you. 

If you need support on kick-starting a new healthier and happier you, our friends at www.ashleybishophealth.co.uk offer a free health consultation and diagnostic with practical advice tailored to your personal situation.  

When you have reaped back those hours and are ready to focus on your business, Better Never Stops can help you take your business to the next level. We provide business advice programmes and have a range of free tools and resources to help you on your journey.