One of the ways that I stay fit these days is to participate in triathlons. Well, ok, truth be told, I have been doing triathlons for the last 30 years, raced professionally all around the world back in my youthful years and competed in the Hawaiian Ironman in Kona 3 times so maybe I am a little bit more than just a recreational triathlon competitor. I often get asked many questions about fitness. How do I get in shape? What is the best diet?  I often tell them this quote by Monej Jones “Your diet is not only what you eat. It is what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, and the people you hang with. Be mindful of the things you put into your body physically, emotionally and spiritually”. Point is, healthy habits are not just physical. There are many more habits to be mindful of to reach your peak performance in sport, in business and in life.
I do not need to compete because at 53 years old, I am well past my peak performance level. However, competition is a natural way for me to keep focused by setting a goal and achieving it. It’s a well-known fact that physical activity helps to maintain optimal health, but other benefits from physical activity can also help you and your business succeed.

3 things that will help you to have an incredibly successful 2019:
Commit to the routine AND execute your plan:

When I think of some of the most memorable moments in my life, the moments I am most proud of (outside of my family memories I might add) committing to the daily routine of training and then competing, immediately comes to the surface. I committed to a goal, and I didn’t hold back.  In order to truly make unprecedented progress, in any area of your professional or personal life, you must make the decision at a core level to hold nothing back. You must make a commitment at a fundamental level to do anything to achieve your goal.  Define your goal, your destination. See the pathways that will take you there, and commit to letting nothing stand in your way.

In fitness, business and life you must have a regimen- daily habits that become your lifestyle. Make so many phone calls per day, wake up at a certain time, send emails, plan your day, whatever that “thing” is that supports the goal. Here is something that rings true for almost everyone and in my opinion a differentiator in those who succeed and those who don’t. Are you including the incredibly hard, boring things that you dislike into your routine? This is the crucial step many people miss. Grit and stick to it-ness even when you are tired, busy and unmotivated to do those things that you really don’t’ like doing is what separates good from great.

Adaptability

We live in unprecedented times. Politically, technically, economically, socially. Changes on these fronts WILL change your business. So, you must adapt. You must be flexible. Work your plan, but also understand that plans are constantly refined and tweaked to address changes. Whether that is macro or micro, you must have a pulse on what is going on in your business and the world to understand how to properly react to outside influences. There are plenty of companies that no longer exist because they could not adapt. Remember Blockbuster? K-Mart? Compaq? Woolworth’s? Neither do I. They didn’t adapt. Sears appears to be the next big non-adapter to meet their fate.

Enjoy the Ride

Don’t become so busy making a living, you lose track on making a life. Live in the moment. Know what the greatest day in history is? Today! Make the most of it. Balancing work and life is difficult, but it is necessary. Try to create positivity and realize that your efforts are improving the world. Foster deep and meaningful relationships both professional and personal. What is the point of working so hard if you aren’t going to enjoy it?

I tell my sons (and anyone who will listen) that these are my four life precepts.

1. Have faith and believe in yourself– This means understanding your weaknesses and knowing your strengths. Knowing that you offer something amazing and unique and that you can do anything that you set your mind to doing. I still believe this today, even at my age.

2. You need to work your tail off – Hard work manifests talent. There are many talented people out there. To rise above, you must outwork them. This doesn’t necessarily mean do nothing but work, but understand that nothing worth having comes easy. Everything good is on the other side of effort. There’s an old sport saying that I remember my college football coaches telling our team often and it went like this, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”. They were right as we were not that talented of a football team but man did we win lot of games.

3. Bet on yourself/take the risk. Once you believe in yourself and you commit to working your ass off, then go ahead and bet on yourself to achieve great things. Take smart risks and invest in yourself. Set lofty goals and attain those goals. Point is, if you believe in yourself and you have worked hard by putting that extra effort into whatever it is that you are going to do, you actually increase your odds of success when you place that bet on yourself, a new job, a new career or even a new relationship. These sequential precepts, #1 and #2 come before #3 but #4 below is the most important precept of them all.

4. Have some fun!

Fun is good for the soul. As mentioned above in enjoying the ride, life is too short to not appreciate the day. (I know some days make it harder than others to appreciate them). Also, not that you should do it for the outcome of business, however fun also leads to building new relationships that can move your business forward. I have met mentors, vendors, and people in my community who became clients when I was having fun- riding bikes, running, whatever it is you think is fun. However, don’t just relegate it to “off-time”. Work should be a good fun atmosphere as well. You should enjoy what you do and make sure that you have an environment where there is a balance that your people feel the appropriate level of respect, support, encouragement and rewards.

Bringing it all together now, here is an open invitation to anybody who wishes to come along with me on this great 2019 journey. (Tri) along with me in 2019 to increase your business and personal success. I primarily work out of our headquarters in Sarasota, but I often travel between our other offices in Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale and would love to run, swim, or bike with you when I am in town.
Connect with me via email, LinkedIn, or call our office as I would love to help you however I can and give you some fitness, triathlon or business advice or schedule a time to work out with you.  I’m motivated to help you be motivated.  I want you to not only succeed professionally but personally as well. If you have never tried a running routine, or it has been a while since you have had one, set a goal of completing a 5k to start.   Nike has a downloadable training program here  https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/running/nike-run-club/training-plans/5k, but there is also a great app you can put on your phone called Couch to 5k http://www.c25kfree.com   I have several friends who started using this app as part of their New Year Resolution, and they are very happy with it. If running isn’t your speed, or you would like to work on your Triathlon training, consider starting an open swim training program.  My SwimPro app is easy to work with and takes about 12 weeks with a goal to race in a 1500 meter open swim.  https://myswimpro.com/blog/2017/10/22/12-week-open-water-swim-training-plan/
In summary, you’ve got to have a little faith, a little fun, and a little belief in yourself to be successful in life. Fitness is an important part of living a great life and the work you put in will make you a healthier person, a better worker, and a more successful overall person.

Have a fantastic 2019 and Tri along with me.

Until Next Time,

Your Staffing Partner, Darrin Rohr-  President, CEO and Chief Servant

Current owner of HH Staffing and Former Chief HR Officer for several successful Multinational Fortune 500 Companies. Brings fresh perspective from decades of experiences creating Great Workplace Cultures by building high performance teams while leading and managing people from all different backgrounds. HH Staffing is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida and is uniquely positioned to serve both local and national clients.