Take Care of Your Body and Brain if You Want to Grow!

Walt Sparling

Walt is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and currently, works full time as a Project Management Team Lead, managing a team of project managers in the construction industry that serves the role of "Owners Reps". Walt is also the host of the PM-Mastery podcast.

Personal Development, Professional Development

"From the research that I have done, the most commonly shared things listed below are what we should all be doing"

Proper hydration, nutrition, exercise, and sleep as we all have heard are good for us. And therefore we all do it right? Umm maybe not – myself included, at least not everything.

2020 Is Done

With the new year upon us and the closer we get to putting 2020 – the year of hibernation behind us, we need to rebuild our body and brain to be able to get back in shape (other than round) grow in our career and tackle future hurdles. The order in which we do this is very important.

I am no health expert, but I have learned what has worked for me and what hasn’t and have made changes over time to address the bad habits and add in more good ones. From the research that I have done, the most commonly shared things listed below are what we should all be doing:

Stay Hydrated

The brain is 80% water.
A 2% drop in hydration levels can start to impair your ability to reason and remember things.

Sleep Better

Everyone functions differently on various hours of sleep, but the most common recommendation based on research is 7-8 hours.
Sleep allows your body and brain to regenerate.
It’s not just the hours, but the quality that really matters.

Eat Better

Whole foods are better than supplements (but sometimes supplements may be your best option).
Eat more organic (better for your health and the environment).
The brain is around 2% of your body weight but uses 25-30% of the nutrients that you eat – make them count!

Exercise Regularly

30 minutes a day minimum – even walking has tremendous benefits.
Brain development is greatly enhanced through exercise.

Continue to Learn

Read and listen to educational topics – not just music, Podcasts, Blogs, Books, YouTube, etc.
Take Virtual or in-person courses – where you can.
Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Teachable, etc.
Watch less TV – You’re typically not moving and some of what you watch can be counter to your sanity.

If you have set goals as was discussed in this goals post and podcast, you will have an even better chance of achieving them when you are healthy.

Sometimes we need some additional support or motivation to get us going and keep us on track. The way that I have worked on this is through having a personal trainer to work on my physical side (this ended early in 2020 after a back injury and the Covid-19 lock-down) a personal coach for my life and career side (this is a monthly 1:1 for breakfast and coffee), I belong to a success-focused Mastermind group (We meet every three weeks and discuss success and growth-minded topics) and I read books and articles and listen to a ton of podcasts on various topics (A few of my recommendations when it comes to health and fitness sides are below).

For 2021 I plan on stepping it up a bit to get out of the 2020 funk that I let myself fall into.

More organic food (we started this mid-2020).
Less Coffee, more green tea.
Reduce self-subscribed stress medication (Crown Royal).
Reduce the number of cigars each month.
Get back into my early morning walking routine (started implementing this back in a few months ago).
Get in the gym again a minimum of twice a week, with a goal of three times.

Check out some reading and listening recommendations below:

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