When you or your organization commit to health and fitness, it is an investment. It is an investment in time, money, and effort. Just like the stock market, your life and your health and fitness will have ups and downs.
Sometimes progress is incredible, then it stalls- just like stocks. Rarely will your fitness progress look like a chart with a gradually steady stair-like climb. Sometimes in the course of your workouts or dieting you will need to put the brakes on rather than being too aggressive. An active recovery for your body is like a pause in the market, a healthy pullback to avoid a plateau and crash. After a brief pullback, you can re-enter the market (your fitness) with newfound enthusiasm and vigor- like buying a stock when its ripe. When you do break through plateaus or hit new numbers, if your fitness progress was a publically traded company’s quarterly report you would see a surge in the price of your stock. Fitness is an investment in so many ways- not just the cost of effort and ultimate payback, but the mechanisms and timing are analogous as well.
If progress is going well, why? Can you identify what you are doing right? Are the fundamentals sound? In this case it can be your own personal fitness plan and its regular implementation; your nutritional habits; minimizing or successfully dealing with life stressors. Likewise, if you have hit a plateau, or know people in your sphere whose health and fitness have stalled or reversed despite initiatives, can you identify why this is the case? Do you have professionals in the wellness field that are not just reporting the numbers during checkups, but going to work for you and your team to help you make the best decisions? Do you need further personalized assistance and expertise in the form of a personal trainer? Just like your investments, no one cares more about your wellbeing than you. This requires personal review.
Too many individuals don’t want the responsibility of worrying about their investments. They take for granted that a professional advisor will handle it for them. Often, people have no idea what fees they are paying each month for managing their accounts, much less what particular securities they even own. Is the return worth the expenditure? Have you met with your advisor and been made to feel confident he or she has your best interests in mind?
It is much the same for a wellness coach. Its one thing to be hired and give a presentation or perform screenings, but is there personalized attention and real accountability? If you or your organization do not have a wellness program, have you considered investing in one? On average, the return is 2:1. In some cases, its as much as 3 or even 4:1. This is based on less absenteeism, less presenteeism (being at work but unproductive), less health insurance or workers’ comp claims.
Resolve to take a hard look at your wellness investments- your personal fitness plan, your organization’s wellness program, or even lack thereof. When you take charge of making informed decisions, you have a much higher chance of quality returns.