Thursday, August 23, 2012

Health and Wellness Jobs For Everybody

In my last article, I brought up work ethic.
Being an adult, you need a great work ethic to be successful at nearly anything, including health and fitness. So how will you develop a health and fitness work ethic? Begin a career in health. With this, I don't mean leave your job and become a nutritionist or fitness instructor. I mean take on a part-time job of eating healthy and working out and keep it up. Think about it... if we all had health and wellness jobs, would obesity exist? I know this might sound somewhat crazy, but I have developed this mindset over the last couple of years and it works.
How does it work?
One word. Accountability. When you've got a job, you happen to be kept accountable for your effort, generally and at a minimum, showing up and doing what you must do. How frequently does the average Joe compromise doing things he enjoys including seeing close friends or watching TV because he has to go to work? Probably weekly. But how often does he sacrifice these same things for a training session? Probably never. If you don't show up to work, you'll get let go. The good news is that people can't get let go from their self-made health and wellness jobs. The not so good news is that this will make it even more challenging to hold themselves accountable and remain motivated.
In our careers, we're motivated by money.
I'm sorry to point out the obvious, but if everybody was a billionaire, what percentage of us would actually continue in our jobs? With the exception of people who absolutely love their career, I'd venture to say no one. People work to provide for themselves and for their households. They need money in order to achieve this. If they fail to accomplish this, they and their loved ones will suffer. This is quite strong motivation for anyone. Think about that for a minute. "If I don't go to work, my family and I will suffer." No wonder many people stay in jobs they can't stand.
Clearly, motivation is key for individuals to remain in their jobs.
So how does one get motivated for a job that doesn't pay money? Well guess what? Remember that thought that pops up with your real job? "If I don't go to work, my loved ones and I will suffer." This applies to your second job in health and fitness as well. It's just not as noticeable because there may not be immediate repercussions. However, think about the following facts I picked up from an episode of The Biggest Loser a couple of years ago:
• Overweight individuals pay $500 - $1,000 more on medical insurance each year
• On average, obese people make $7,000 less per year than their peers
• Americans spend $4.4 billion each year on gastric bypass surgery
• Americans spend $147 billion annually on obesity related health problems
• The average person will save $1 million over four decades by going from obese to their ideal weight
Therefore you may not necessarily make money from your wellness job. But you will save a lot of money. And you know what people say regarding a penny saved... Not enough motivation? How about this? Obesity cuts the average lifespan by two to four years and by as much as eight to ten years for those people who are extremely obese. Needless to say, the quality of life of obese people will be much lower than it is for non-obese people. It's not going to be easy to care for all your family members if you're in a hospital bed.
I'm not trying to freak anyone out.
I just want to push home the message that your part-time job as a healthy, fit individual is as vital, if not more so, than your full-time job. In fact, if your full-time occupation is a sedentary one, your part-time job will become even more important. I think it's important to shed some light on this because the fact is with no concrete benefit or strong motivating factors, people will not take action. The consequences of obesity and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are significant, however are not at the forefront of people's immediate focus.
This is a breakdown of my 15 to 20-hour weekly part-time job of being fit and healthy:
• 8 hours per week - cooking and preparing healthful meals, doing dishes
• 3 - 4 hours per week - resistance training
• 3 - 4 hours per week - high-intensity cardio and/or soccer
• 1 - 2 hours per week - low-intensity aerobic exercise (walking)
Just like it's imperative that you have a work-life balance in your full-time job, it's important to achieve a balance with your part-time job in health and fitness. You don't want to devote 60 hours a week and overtrain, however, you don't want to do nothing either. My friends like to go out a lot. During the week, I'll opt out of happy hour quite frequently in order to stay in and get in a high-quality training session and meal because once again, I treat this as my job. It helps me stay lean and healthy. On the weekends, I'll indulge and party along with them because it's also important to have fun and enjoy life. I'd love to hear comments on your weekly routine. Do the men and women you know take on part-time health and wellness jobs?

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