Those pounds and unwanted weight will creep up on you faster than you know it especially if you work from home and sit behind a computer to make a living.
As bloggers, going for a run or hitting the gym is probably the last thing on our mind. Forget about your health and it can have a snowball effect on your overall life. To include your online business.
I want to share some things that I do to at least try to stay in shape as an online marketer. Without this, I really do believe that my business will plummet into the ground.
Why Stay in Shape?
This applies to everyone, really. But, as online marketers our job requires a lot of thinking and our blood needs to keep flowing or it can cause some major damage to everything around us.
Whenever I start gaining weight it always comes back to hurting my business. Not only does my gut show it, but my sales and traffic take a hit too.
Working from home allows you to work whenever you want, so it can also allow you to get in some of that very much needed exercise.
We all get complacent and we don’t even notice how unhealthy we are getting because work always seems to be a priority.
Get on Track and Start Off Slow
Most of us aren’t athletes and that is why we aren’t playing any professional sports, right? Well as an online marketer, we still need to keep that blood flowing or our brains will always ask for the pillow.
I was getting really lazy at one point in my online career and I knew I had to do something about it. I didn’t want to jump right into things like I was still in the military, so I started off slowly.
When I found myself getting sleepy while I was working, I got up and did 10 jumping jacks. Once I got the blood flowing, it got me thinking about doing more just to boost my energy.
Don’t Forget About Your Diet
Eating right is definitely something you need to focus on. Exercise and a proper diet go hand in hand. Doing one or the other will help, but it won’t be as effective.
I know it’s really hard to stay away from unhealthy foods as they come with so many benefits. Yes, I said it. Benefits.
Being a parent, it is not the easiest thing to feed our kids and ourselves the healthiest of things and sometimes it is not our fault.
One, fruits and vegetables are not the cheapest things at the grocery store. As a matter of fact, they are some of the most expensive things on our shopping list!
To top it off, it doesn’t feed as many mouths as we’d like it to. This is one of the biggest reasons you’ll find us in the drive thru at Mcdonald’s a lot of the time.
Did I mention how convenient it is? Coming home late from a nice family outing doesn’t put you in the best of moods to put some food on the table. Again, we will be in line at the drive thru before we get home.
No Excuses
I’m not trying to say there is no way to get in shape, so I definitely found a way to combat all the “benefits” of eating unhealthy.
Limit yourself! Some people starve themselves and don’t exercise. Other exercise and eat the whole cow. In the end, it doesn’t give you that beach bod you’ve always dreamed of.
I like to balance things when it comes to this and it is something you should consider too.
Rather than eating to get full, eat to feel good.
Rather than making exercise a chore, make it fun.
Get out there and play with the kids as I think we all need to get our bodies moving. Summer just hit and although I want to get a lot of work done, I still have to remember why I work from home in the first place.
There are sooooooo many things to do to make exercise fun, so there shouldn’t be any excuses.
- Go running with a partner
- Go on hikes
- Ride a bike
- Run in place (yup, I do this)
- Go to the park
- Go to the beach
- Go Swimming
- Etc…
You can always get something like Insanity or P90X and let that guide you through some exercises. Mine is collecting dust, but it is there if need be.
Step it up a Notch
At this point in my career, health is really important and it plays a HUGE part in my online business. Not only does it keep me in shape, but it gives me the energy to get everything I need accomplished.
Nowadays, I have gone way past the jumping jacks. I now wake up to go on morning runs, as I find it to give me more energy throughout the day.
By the time I’m done, the kids will be up and it’s just about time to make breakfast.
A healthy one of course.
Then I plan out our activities for the day and it becomes a win/win for me and the kids. I then get in some extra exercise, spend time with my kids, and also get them in shape.
I either work before I run, or when I get back from it. I work around my kids and it has helped me tremendously with being productive.
Remember Why You Work From Home in the First Place
Most of you are in the same shoes I’m in and you most likely have kids. Even if you don’t have any, remember why we work from home.
Yes we want to work on our own time and be our own boss, but there are other things that come along with our jobs and being healthy is just one of them.
Time flies and most of us will still be sitting behind the computer and the day is almost over.
Give yourself some time off and get some exercise in.
Make it fun and get the kids involved.
Go running with a friend.
There are many ways to get exercise to not feel like exercise.
Feeling tired, push the earth in.
Feeling lazy, jump around like a monkey.
I know this isn’t some fancy program to get in shape, but I hope you have learned more on what your health means to people like us that work from home.
If you have any tips or advice for other work from home folks, please do share them in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
– John
A Work at Home Jobs
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