Exercise

"Exercise alone provides psychological and physical benefits. However, if you also adopt a strategy that engages your mind while you exercise, you can get a whole host of psychological benefits fairly quickly. "

- James Rippe, M.D.


"Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness. "

- Joseph Addison, The Spectator, July 12, 1711English essayist, poet, & politician (1672 - 1719)


"Mach-S, the speed at which stress can't keep up, is simply forward motion. But it has to be self- propelled. Note that people in cars are still stressed. "

- Jef Mallett, Frazz, 08-26-05


It has been another eventful week of extreme work intensity and I have had a very simply but powerful insight. In times of intensity, the antidote against stress is discipline. One aspect of this is having the discipline of consistency, a fixed well-planned schedule of activities that are executed without fail. Another, specifically with respect to work, is the discipline of fixed deadlines, getting into the office at a certain time and, more importantly, leaving at a specific time - again without fail ("In life, you're either consistent, or you're non-existent" - Mark Litman). This discipine obviously, and more conventionally, applies to the accomplishment of tasks. Setting and meeting mini-deadlines throughout the day is a critical discipline.

However, perhaps the most important of these disciplines, and one that underpins the rest, is the discipine of consistent exercise. For example, I would go through my memory exercises while walking in the early morning. Your body and mind need exercise in order to sustain their energy and perform at the highest levels of effectiveness. It also helps us develop mental toughness and, indeed, courage to go that extra mile ("Fatigue makes cowards of us all" - Vince Lombardi). The ideal scenario, as the first quote suggests, is to combine mental and physical exercise. So, the challenge is to get going when the going gets tough.

Excellence

"The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence."
- John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Back after a long break. I have been somewhat consumed by the challenges of the new job, and three months into it, there is no clear sign that the challenges will abate. But then perhaps I am looking in the wrong place. Rather than look to the challenges, I need to look to myself, to step up into my excellence. Perhaps that's what this is really about....