This summer I splurged on personal fitness classes. It’s been one of the best investments I’ve made in myself even though it cost a pretty penny. I’ve completed Tough Mudder three times (twice in Whistler and once in Atlanta). This year I’ve skipped it but have my sights set on doing one last event next March in New Orleans. As it’s likely my final Tough Mudder, I want to finish strong. To do this, I’ve started learning exercises to strength my body for all the obstacles. I’ve decided to do StrongLifts 5x5 for my training. From an evaluation at the gym it was apparent my squats and deadlifts needed some work – like A LOT. Two months ago, I couldn’t execute a deadlift. Today, I am adding weight to my deadlifts thanks to identifying areas of weakness and learning proper forms with a trainer.

Investing in fitness classes goes beyond my personal fitness goals; it fits right into my career development. Unless you wear a tin foil hat, it’s abundantly clear that exercise is good for you. Study after study cites these benefits. But one aspect of exercise that has remained, for the most part, a dirty little secret is that exercise improves your career. It also allows you to vaunt your way up the corporate ladder.

For all you ladder climbers out there, today I’m going to dissect the benefits of exercise and how it can help you reach for the next rung on your ladder.

Exercise promotes the growth of brain cells

This scientific fact took me by surprise at first but it really makes a whole lot of sense – a healthy body makes for a healthy mind. What’s particularly exciting about this brain growth potential is that it develops brain cells in the hippocampus – the area of the brain associated with learning and memory. It’s not just about growing brain cells, it’s also about retaining them. There are studies that have also shown a linkage between obesity and multiple forms of dementia.

For all of you reading this article on the couch making your way through a bag of Doritos – fear not. You don’t need to transform into a full-fledged gym rat to reap the benefits of exercise. Consistently exercising 3 to 4 times a week for 30 to 45 minutes is all you really need to build a better brain.

Exercise fights stress

Whether you are a psychiatric nurse, a logger or anywhere in between, you are going to experience some form of stress at work. Vacations, spending time with people you care about and having a hobby outside of work are all great ways to combat stress at work. Probably the best long run method for stress relief is exercise. There is a laundry list of benefits from exercise that fight stress:

It pumps up your endorphins, giving you a relaxing runners high that a cup of coffee can’t hold a candle to
It allows your mind to reach a meditative state, an important element in maintaining strong mental health and a stable mood
Exercise improves the quantity and quality of your sleep, allowing you to live to fight another day!

A well-rested employee not tearing their hair out from stress, who conveys a positive and stable mood is much more likeable (yes, really). And the most likeable people get the promotions.

Lesson: do things that make you likeable – exercise is a major one!

Exercise makes you appear more competent

Many overweight employees face discrimination throughout their careers. Studies have shown that being overweight is prohibitive to career advancement, promotions at work and higher wages. This is due to the perception among some people that overweight people are less competent. While this is not a fair assessment, it’s a reality that competence is one of two characteristics that you are judged on the first time someone meets you. We can argue the science and the ethics but the more straight through process is to exercise and appear competent. I always take the straight through process when I can.

Exercise makes you more attractive

This is another sticking point that might be a tad jarring some of my readers. People that exercise consistently are going to appear more attractive. One study from psychologytoday.com found that attractive lawyers made 10 to 12 percent more than their counterparts. There is also a linkage between attractiveness and competency of CEOs that was cited in the same article. There are many dimensions to improving one’s attractiveness; exercise is critical in maintaining one of these dimensions – height-to-weight proportions.

On the flip side – don’t be too attractive! Studies with regard to both men and women find that being extremely attractive can have a negative effect on being hired and promoted. So while it’s important to look good, overdoing it can have unintended consequences. Everything in moderation.

Exercise leads to happiness

Everyone is always asking how to find happiness. It appears at least part of the answer is to exercise. People that exercise are happier. And, I probably don’t need to tell you (but I will anyways) – happier people are more productive! In fact, happier people are 12% more productive compared to their moody counterparts. Happier people are more likeable people.

Exercise gives you a more structured, better-balanced life

One topic that I will be writing about in the future is how career success is much more related to the value you bring to the organization rather than how late you stay at the office. The two, in my opinion, are often mutually exclusive.

I strongly believe people need to compartmentalize aspects of their life from their work. Exercise allows you to do just that. I book my training sessions in advance for the week. This gives me a hard stop at work so I can make it for my sessions. This also presses me to work smarter and to be more productive with my time at work. You don’t need to have personal training sessions to do this. Use your iPhone or Android calendar to “book” workout sessions with yourself. Treat them like you would any important appointment and commit to going to the gym during these times. If you really have a burning assignment or deadline, leave it for after the gym. Remember, you’ll end up being more productive after a workout anyways!

…And remember: find something that works best for you!

Maybe you prefer a 90-minute hot yoga class. Perhaps you prefer setting new personal records for deadlifts at the gym (fun fact: it’s called a “PR” by gym rats). It could simply be a nice 30-minute walk to enjoy the last days of summer. Whatever it may be, find an activity that you enjoy and that you can do consistently. If you do that, you might be surprised what you accomplish.

How has exercise and fitness helped your super charge your career?

Has a certain workout plan worked best for you?

Welcome to my blog!

It’s been a long time coming and I welcome you to the show. I’m using my blog as a forum for helping you navigate the sometimes confusing and often challenging task of carving out a career path. I know that earlier in my career I had little to no idea how to network, interview well or chart my career path effectively. Often times I felt that these skills were more inherent rather than learned. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

I want to impart how I blazed my own path. I went from being a stiff statue of a job candidate at interviews with little vision to turning interviews into comfortable conversations. I become someone who could clearly articulate where I wanted to take my career and how I was already working towards that. This led to success.

I was reminded of this progress when I reconnected with an old coworker earlier this week to catch up. We are both business analysts working in an Agile environment. Even though we have in many respects landed in similar roles, our paths to get there were entirely different. My coworker took a very technical road to his role. And while I dabbled on the technical side, I put much more emphasis on honing in my business skills (thanks MBA). We got on the topic of networking and lo and behold we had very similar strategies for how to effectively connect with decision makers to land our dream job.

This reinforced a belief of mine: no two paths are identical. Having said that, there is a lot of commonality in how you can best guide your path by effective networking, career planning and decision-making – among other aspects that we will touch upon later on.

Today, I want to focus on how to blaze your own career path by standing out from the crowd.

Here are five sure fire ways to do just that:

Boldly take the opportunity others write off

The great thing about forging your career path is that all it takes to start is one opportunity. One. Uno. Eins. You get the picture. The best in their respective fields usually took on opportunities that others either wrote off. A good example of this was Jim Carrey taking the lead role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Carrey had been tolling away as a sketch comedian for over a decade and finally got his big break. What many do not know is that Carrey wasn’t the studio’s first choice – it was Rick Moranis! (see #2 on the list) Imagining anyone else filling Carrey’s shoes for this role seems ludicrous now but the reality was that he got his career break by seeing an opportunity in a role that others could not see.

This strategy is not reserved just for Hollywood actors. Each day you can make a choice to create an opportunity for yourself that others write off as not good enough. You can choose to make an opportunity a springboard to bigger and better things. It could be taking an internship at your dream firm, one that you carved out by contacting the firm directly and marketing how you would add value to the organization. It could be taking an entry-level role that is “beneath” your abilities and experience.

How do I know this? Because I’ve lived both those examples. Today I will share with you the latter example.

At the height of the Great Recession (February 2009) I took a job as a data processing assistant after a couple years removed from my undergrad with consulting experience for a large utility corporation under my belt. Why? Well for one I had rent to pay and was out of work. But it was far more than that. It was an opportunity for me to get my foot in the door in a field I was studying part-time – database systems and analysis. It was a permanent position, giving me more stability to pursue my education while looking for better opportunities at the same time. I ended up finding a better opportunity within 5 months, and it was through a promotion at the same firm. I was elevated into a team lead role, allowing me to apply my newly acquired database skills and up my pay cheque in the process.

Think two career steps ahead at all times

This brings me to my next point, which is to think two career steps ahead. In the example I mentioned above, I was not thinking of entrenching myself in that role forever. Instead, I was thinking how it could open up opportunities in the midterm to long term. That mindset gave me the freedom to pursue this opportunity without having self-doubt. It also allowed me to enjoy the role that others might have resented as a huge career compromise. I knew that, by putting my education into practice by querying databases and generating reports for the organization, it would set me on a course to take on bigger projects with more responsibility. It would also align with my dream job that I was working towards down the road.

Always ask for more

The way I parlayed the data entry job into something bigger and more aligned to my career objectives was by showing that I was not only able to rise to the occasion but was always ready to add more value to the organization. I made this clear by consistently communicating that I had extra bandwidth to help my department beyond what I had been assigned. There were times when there was nothing else I could do within my department so I made myself available to other departments (with my boss’ blessing). Even if it was conducting menial and repetitive tasks like filing documents, it was my initiative to go above and beyond that helped positioned me for further opportunities and challenges at the firm.

Always be curious

The other side of the coin is to show curiosity and interest in the organization you are working at. The ways to convey this are vast. Here are some for you to chew on:

Ask to job shadow a different department to learn more about the interdependencies between departments at your company.

Do informational interviews internally with decision makers in different operational areas.

Ask to be cross-trained with others in your department to improve coverage.

Look into internal training opportunities to open new doors for yourself.

…And remember, celebrate your path

This has probably been the hardest one on the list for me but is definitely the most important and rewarding. No matter where you are in your life – celebrate your success! If you are doing everything in your power to learn, grow and seize as many opportunities that align with who you are then you are on the right path and you can be proud of yourself.

What do you think are the keys to move your career forward?

Post your thoughts below and let’s discuss!