Exercise Your Way To Success

Our world today seems to be too busy for our own good. Day after day is a balancing act with tons of demands on your time such as working, personal relationships and maintaining your health just to name a few. With all these priorities, a very important area of life gets put on the back burner. That is exercise.

Unfortunately, for a lot of busy people, exercise is viewed as an impractical burden that complicates rather than complements a busy life. More than 60 percent of adults do not achieve the recommended amount of regular physical activity (30 minutes, five times a week).

In fact, 25 percent are not active at all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although people know they should exercise, many don*t recognize the benefits. Exercise not only improves your health, but it can improve your career as well.

A survey by *American Demographics* magazine showed that workers who did some form of exercise missed 40 percent fewer workdays than those who did not exercise.

When you exercise, you generally live a healthier life and feel better, thus increasing your productivity at work. You notice better sleep patterns and you are able to cope more effectively with stress while maintaining higher levels of stamina and energy. Exercise combats fatigue by increasing cardiovascular and muscular strength and endurance. Therefore, your body becomes stronger and able to handle activities of daily life.

The trick is to use whatever time you do have to your best advantage. This means doing the things you already know to do: walking more often, taking the stairs and standing up every now and then to move around. You can also break up workouts into shorter segments throughout the day. Five minutes here, 10 minutes there, it all adds up.

According to Dr. Gavriel Salvendy, a researcher for Purdue University, exercise can also improve a person*s ability to make decisions. Salvendy tested decision making capabilities of 80 people over a nine month period. At the end of the test period the fitness level of the exercisers had risen 22 percent, and the ability to make complex decisions had increased 70 percent over the non-exercises.

When you choose a life with exercise, you choose a life of advantage. You have advantage of a healthier body, a healthier mind and, a healthier and more productive career. And with the odds of 60 percent not taking part in this area of life, you are already ahead of most of your coworkers.

So start exercising and start gaining ground in all areas of your life especially your career.

Until next time keep looking and living forward.

Mark Thompson nn- *America's Most Insightful Guide for Success and Inner Strength*