Pat Flynn
One of the most common questions that people ask me is how I stay so productive. In SPI Podcast Session #12, I mentioned a number of things that keep me organized, energized and on track—one of them being exercise.
Exercising was something I did not get into to benefit my online business—it was for me because I was getting out of shape. But, as a result of my workout programs, my productivity levels and focus dramatically increased, and so did the success with my business. It was a surprising, but awesome consequence.
I’d like to introduce you to a good friend of mine, Dustin Richemann, whose guest post I’m happy to feature today. Dustin is a long time reader of the Smart Passive Income blog and as far back as I can remember he’s been contributing to the community here. He has recently seen some major success with a few of his own blogs, including EngagedMarriage.com and more recently, FitMarriage.com.
I’m a huge believer of including fitness in one’s life, but I’ll let Dustin take it from here to explain more.
Are you sitting down?
If you’re like most online business enthusiasts, you have probably been sitting in a chair for most of the day. Even if you work a “day job” and burn the midnight oil working on a side business, chances are you spend the vast majority of your day being sedentary, often in front of a computer.
We’ve all heard the health benefits of being active since we were in elementary school. And we would certainly like to slim down and tone up to look better, like this guy.
Yet, many of us still struggle to make exercise a regular part of our already-busy routine.
Well, have you considered what getting fit can do for your online business?
Use Fitness to Fuel Your Passive Income Pursuits
“How do you become more productive?”
Sir Richard Branson leaned back and thought for a moment before answering.
“Work out.”
He went on to elaborate that working out gave him at least four additional hours of productive time every day.
There is a reason that one of the busiest and most successful entrepreneurs in the world cites exercise as his top productivity secret. And you don’t have to look that far up the business success scale to see the impact of a fit lifestyle.
A regular exercise routine is common among most top performers that we admire for their productivity. From Tim Ferriss to Barack Obama to our very own master of content production Pat, successful business people typically make fitness an integral part of their busy daily schedule.
You might be able to relate to my situation.
I have a wife, three small kids, a full-time engineering position and I manage two online brands.
Last year, I was struggling to keep up with just my first site (Engaged Marriage), but once I got serious about my fitness and committed to regular workouts, I realized whole new levels of energy and productivity.
This led me to partner with fitness expert Tony DiLorenzo to form a new site called Fit Marriage where we help busy couples (and hustling entrepreneurs with families) make fitness a part of their hectic schedule.
Our passion for this topic continues to grow as we witness how much value being fit adds to the lives of our community members.
The impact of adding fitness to my daily schedule has been dramatic and real. It helped me go from a tired and stressed-out guy to a legitimate online businessman.
Since adopting new healthy habits, I’ve been blessed to create successful products for both brands and have two growing part-time businesses, along with a happy home life and a full-time professional career, and it was all spurred to life by my fitness pursuits.
5 Keys to Exercise that Will Boost Your Productivity in Less Than 30 Minutes Per Day
Hopefully by now, you’re a bit fired up and ready to figure out how to get started with a successful and sustainable fitness program of your own. You are very wise.
However, you may have noticed that the headline of this post promised you could do this in 30 minutes a day. Well, I lied.
You can do it in less than 30 minutes.
If you have followed Pat’s fitness success (and many others online), you may have noted that he used the super-popular P90X Extreme Home Fitness System and then recently followed that up with Insanity. I have to say that P90X is awesome for the right situation (I’ve done it twice in the past), but it does require 45-75 minutes per workout.
If you want to get a great business productivity boost (and still lose some junk in the trunk in the process), here are 5 keys to making it happen by investing just 15-25 minutes per day.
1. Work Out at Home
If you are tight on time and/or money, or even if you just don’t like the health club environment, you should definitely consider working out at home. When you skip the gym, you save a lot of travel and preparation time, not to mention an average of $43 per month in gym membership fees.
You can definitely achieve your fitness goals in your home with little or no equipment. And since you are likely working out of your house, at least part-time, you’ll be ready to get started on your workout within a few steps of wrapping up a blog post.
2. Do It First
If there’s one practical key to making exercise work as part of a busy schedule, it’s doing it early in the day. When you get your workout done before all of the distractions and mini-emergencies of the day unfold, you are much more likely to stick with your routine.
You’ll likely find that you can focus better and get a workout completed with maximum efficiency when you do it first. Plus, starting the morning off with a quick workout really sets you up for an energetic and productive business day.
3. Full HIIT Action
For a real metabolism boost, you should stick to full-body workouts mixed in with High Intensity Interval Training and your favorite cardio. By employing HIIT routines, you can completely blast your body in as little as 12 minutes.
In fact, if you can continue a HIIT workout longer than 20 minutes, you simply aren’t being intense enough in your effort!
4. Integrate Family Time
We tend to segment our lives to the point where all of our time is compartmentalized with no overlap, which can lead us to feel stretched too thin and unfulfilled.
At Fit Marriage, we love to hear from couples who workout together and make fitness an integral part of their quality time together. However, it’s not always possible to exercise together, and some couples just don’t enjoy it (you can put my wife and me in this category actually).
Even if you don’t make it a regular practice, you should definitely include fitness as part of your family time. Some time spent chasing your kids or climbing the playground equipment is an awesome way to get a workout and have a blast in the process!
5. Don’t Forget About Food
While physical activity will go a long way toward providing you energy and enthusiasm, you won’t improve your body or mood a great deal if you spend the rest of the day eating Twinkies and pizza. With a little forethought, you can eat really well without suffering through bland food or long preparation times.
There are a ton of great resources out there to help you eat better, and all of the programs below offer nutrition guidance. We just collaborated with some online nutrition experts to publish a killer cookbook that details over 40 healthy meals, snacks and desserts for busy families. Just sign up here to have this collection of recipes sent to you (for free).
Here’s How to Take Action TODAY
If you’re like most online business builders, you are stretched for time, a little short on energy and you probably have a few pounds to shed. By being proactive and making the right kind of exercise an integral part of your routine, you will be amazed at how much more you can get done and feel great in the process.
Pat’s done it, I’ve done it, and now it’s your turn to get out of your computer chair and start getting active.
Your waistline and your business’s bottom line will thank you!
Dustin Riechmann is the co-creator of Fit Marriage and the popular Fit Marriage Show Podcast where he helps busy couples and on-the-go parents get fit and live with passion. Get plugged into the Fit Marriage movement by signing up for free access to the growing Ready, Set, Go! Fitness Blueprints library of awesome fitness resources. [Editor’s Note, 2023: This site is no longer active.]
