Career Success: Tweet #93

As a career success coach, I advise my clients to live a healthy lifestyle.  This means eating right and exercising.  You don’t have to become a tri-athlete; every little bit of exercise helps.  Exercise helps you increase your heart rate.  I like to ride my bike to increase my heart rate.

Dan Robey is a friend of mine.  He is the author of The Power of Positive Habits.  I am one of his subscribers.  A while back, I received a great email from Dan on brisk walking as a positive habit – and a great way to increase your heart rate.  Dan is a generous guy and he always lets me repost his posts here.

Check out what he has to say about the power of brisk walking…

Make “Brisk Walking” A Positive Habit

“Not running, not jogging, but walking is your most efficient exercise and the only one you can safely follow all the years of your life.” – Executive Health Organization.

Walking as a daily exercise habit can truly be a life-changing positive habit and is one of the most powerful habits for reaching your goal of a healthy trim and fit body.  Over the past 20 years, there have been dozens of studies that have proven the benefits of brisk walking.

Thousands upon thousands of people have improved their health and lost weight by the diligent habit of walking.  If you think that walking does not provide the same benefits as other more vigorous exercises, think again.

A study published by the New England Journal Of Medicine showed that postmenopausal women who walked regularly lowered their risk for heart disease just as much as women who did more vigorous exercise, such as playing sports or running.

This study suggests that walking is just as good for your heart as heavy exercise.  I spoke with study author, Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, Chief of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  She said, “The study provides compelling evidence that walking and vigorous exercise provide similar heart benefits, about a 30% to 40% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease with 30 minutes per day of either activity.”

I also asked her about the benefits of making brisk walking a positive habit, and she responded, “They could surely walk away from heart disease and several other chronic diseases.  We have also found that brisk walking for at least 3 hours a week can lower the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, and breast cancer.

No pain, no gain, is an outdated notion; exercise doesn’t need to be strenuous or uncomfortable.  It can be easy and enjoyable.  Even though the study consisted solely of women, it is likely that men would experience similar benefits from the positive habit of brisk walking.

Here are additional benefits you will receive from your habit of brisk walking:

• Walking burns calories and helps you lose weight and burn excess body fat.
• Walking can help to improve your posture.
• Walking requires no special equipment or gyms.
• Walking can help lower blood pressure and help prevent circulatory and heart disorders.
• Brisk, aerobic walking will give you the benefits of other exercises, such as jogging and cycling, but without the risk of injuries.
• Walking at night can help promote better sleep.

Dan makes some great points about the benefits of developing a positive habit of brisk walking.  Personally, I prefer to bicycle in the summer, and walk in the winter.

A lot of the people whom I coach say that they know they should exercise, but often can’t seem to “get around to it.”  I have come up with the answer to this problem.  I have printed several thousand stickers that are round and say “TUIT” in big capital letters.  Whenever someone tells me that they know they should do something but can’t seem to get around to it, I give them one of these stickers.  It is a round TUIT.  I tell them that now they can never say that they can’t get a around to it anymore, because they have a round TUIT.  I have a round TUIT sticker on my computer.  I have another one on my bike.  They are constant reminders to me to keep up good work and exercise habits.

Would you like a round TUIT?  If so, please send me your snail-mail address, and I’ll put up to five round TUITs in the mail to you – free of charge.  Use them for yourself, or give them to your friends who are procrastinators.  Just make sure that you get around to living a healthy lifestyle.  Elevate your heart rate.  Brisk walking is a great way to start.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Successful people are outstanding performers.  Outstanding performers live a healthy lifestyle.  They follow the career advice in Tweet 93 in Success Tweets.  “Becoming a high performer is easier if you’re physically fit.  Increasing your heart rate is a great way to improve your fitness level.”  My friend Dan Robey, author of The Power of Positive Habits, says that brisk walking is a great way to increase your heart rate and one of the most healthy habits you can adopt.  I agree, almost everybody can walk.  The more you walk, the healthier you’ll be.  Dan points out that “No pain, no gain, is an outdated notion; exercise doesn’t need to be strenuous or uncomfortable.  It can be easy and enjoyable.”  So, like the Nike ads say, Just Do It!  Or as this career success coach says, “Get around to it.”