This year taking care of these three most important aspects of your life are critical to creating personal and professional growth. On a daily basis you want to take steps to grow in your life and here are a few ways to focus that growth on the 3B’s.
Body
When you are busy, pressed for time and under stress it seems body maintenance goes lacking let alone actually trying to create positive growth in this area. Want to adjust your food intake? Don’t crash into a drastic diet plan that only is going to give you a short term result. Take it easy on yourself as you grow. Just change one food at a time. For example, if you find yourself hitting the Starbucks drive thru for your morning coffee and frequently throw in a bagel, cinnamon roll or scone, shift that one habit. Instant oatmeal takes two minutes to prepare in the microwave and five minutes to sit down and eat. Think you can build in ten minutes into your morning routine to make this significant adjustment to grow your body better?
Exercise is the other priority that quickly falls off the list. Forget the gym. It can be inconvenient and for some people once you are home for the day – you are home for the day! With an inexpensive exercise ball and a pair of good walking shoes, getting in 30 minutes of good exercise a day is purely a matter of choice. There are tons of at home exercise programs online if you need that guidance. But a brisk walk through the neighborhood, some ab crunches on the exercise ball, push-ups, and good stretching are going to give you great daily progress toward building your body.
Brain
Turn off the TV. Walk away from the Guitar Hero. Feed your brain. Daily growth isn’t about huge dramatic “look at me” type changes you will have a hard time holding onto in the long run. Make a minor shift in the right direction. For example, what do you read? The newspaper is a dinosaur that will disappear. Besides, it usually is loaded mostly with bad news information that doesn’t help you grow. The most popular magazines also are more along the entertainment avenue than the mental growth avenue. My favorite magazines that grow my brain are cheap and packed with mind expanding information. Inc, Fast Company and Wired are my monthly mental fix that I enjoy as much if not more than my Sports Illustrated. Also make the effort to read a book a quarter that is business based that will help your business brain grow. I keep a stack of four in a back log that I work through. I read with a note pad and a highlighter to capture ideas that I want to implement, review and hold onto.
Another way to grow your brain is to network with people that expand your thinking. Small steps here as well. Find a monthly meeting to attend that you feel expands your mind. I know there are certain people that can drain the energy out of a room and there are certain people who stimulate my thinking and I no longer network with the brain drains and I seek to get to know the mental stimulators. Find that local group for you and plug in your brain for a recharge.
Business
Growing your business has already begun if you have done the stuff I mentioned previously in this article because it will make you a more alert, more energized leader and that translates directly to the bottom line. To grow your business incrementally takes subtle positive steps just like in the other areas of growth. One positive step to grow your business is to challenge your managers to engage their minds in a growth mentality. For example, I was advising a board chair of a non-profit on some planning issues for the coming year and he mentioned to me the board was concerned about the current economy and there was going to be a short fall on the budget so they were going to have to either leave staff positions unfilled or cut programming. I asked him how far off are they from the budget and he told me roughly $40,000. I said next board meeting post on the wall in very large type the number $40,000 and tell the board they have a responsibility to go find that much money.
Why focus on the short fall and eliminate a position? You don’t grow with that thinking. Set the expectation of growth and set the tone of responsibility to go find that money by being creative, by accepting nothing less than a full effort and commitment to get that short fall covered. It doesn’t take genius to grow a body, a brain or a business. It takes drive, commitment and perseverance to be a growth entity. Set the tone.
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