A couple of years ago my good friend Gabi conducted a psychology experiment on me as part of her Behavioural Science degree at the University of Tasmania. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say that over the last few years she has carried out numerous psychology experiments on me, but one time she told me about it.
The experiment was something like this:
Assess subject’s (that’s me) current levels of mental and emotional health.
Prescribe a programme of physical exercise for the subject to follow over the next six weeks.
Subject follows the programme of physical exercise over the next six weeks.
Assess subject’s levels of mental and emotional health again.
That’s the gist of it. It was probably more science-y than that. The experiment did not proceed as intended. It fell over at step three.
It turns out, that the subject (yours truly) was too busy to do any physical exercise consistently over those six weeks. Busy doing what? Work. Email. Phone calls. Meetings. No doubt lots of good stuff. Or maybe not.
After the six weeks it was time for step four. It seems that my levels of mental and emotional health had declined over the preceding six weeks.
The good news is that Gabi nimbly reworked the results and drew some astute observations about the detrimental affect of workplace stress on physical, mental and emotional health. She got a ‘High Distinction’ for the course. And went back to not telling me about the psychological experiments she was conducting on me.
Over the last few years I have slowly started doing more exercise. I tried going to the gym. But the music was torturous, there was too much Dr Phil on the TV, and I didn't enjoy it. And I didn’t have time.
I tried cycling. I bought a nice bike. Some weekends I had time. But not many. Then I injured my back and neck (too much time spent sitting at a desk badly) and couldn’t go cycling.
I decided running would be the best. Not because I thought I’d enjoy it. But because all you needed was a change of clothes and to head out of your front door. Probably I could find time for that.
Haphazardly over the last few years I have done more running. Some weeks I have gone more than once (!). When I made the time to go, I enjoyed it. The more time I made, the more I ran. The more I ran the more I enjoyed it. And yet, some weeks (and some months) I didn’t have time.
Time. Time. Time.
Fast forward to 2020. The year (well, one of them) when the world changed. The year life slowed down, and I learned to embrace living it a bit more slowly.
I am running 3-5 times every week. The goal is to run more than 25km each week (cumulatively rather than all at once - for now). I am managing it in the mornings - right after sitting quietly in a room alone.
And on the days I don’t run, I’m doing pilates home workouts. With a guy called John on youtube.
I went to the GP to get blood tests done recently. Turns out everything they measure (science-y things like cholesterol, and weight and that stuff) is better than it was five years ago when they last measured all the things. Turns out the chances of me getting all manner of preventable diseases (like heart disease and other science-y things) has dropped dramatically. Turns out I should keep on doing “whatever it is I’m doing”.
Which is slowing down. And being a bit less busy. And making time to do physical exercise.
The leadership benefits of being in better physical shape are significant. First and foremost, I will probably be alive longer, and more use to more people for more years. So there’s that.
I’ve also noticed that running affords me more good thinking time. I’ve made a few professional decisions in the last couple of weeks, that are better because I thought about them while I was running. And I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to be still (in my head) while not being still (in my body).
In my last post I noted how strange it felt to be espousing the benefits of slowing down. Strange because I’m no expert, this is nothing like my default way of being. I feel almost the same as I conclude this post too.
But only almost the same… Because perhaps I’m realising, first-hand, that people can change. And that lifestyle, and mental health, and emotional health, and physical health can change.
And slowing down really helped me to change.
Eventually.
(By the way, Gabi successfully completed her Behavioural Science degree despite her subject’s non-compliance. By the time she does a PhD I reckon I’ll be a way better lab rat.)
For reflection:
Is ‘not enough time’ getting in the way of ‘not enough exercise’ in your world?
How is that working out for you?
How would your leadership benefit from a slightly healthier you?
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