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So it's very important to take care of yourself. Not only for the image that it conveys but
so that you can continue to lead.
We want to be able to lead long. And lead strong.
A lot of people...just read the newspapers and look at some of these leaders who don't
take care of themselves. They get burned out, their health suffers.
So we want to be sure that if you're going to be doing some things for the long haul,
that you take care of yourself.
A football player doesn't train like a baseball player. A hockey player doesn't train like
a basketball player. A gymnast doesn't train like a swimmer. Neither should leaders.
That's the perception sometimes, that if you don't have an ulcer, if you don't have insomnia,
if you don't have high blood pressure, you're not working hard enough.
Leaders today understand that there's a difference because we have to worry about those things.
Like I said before, we have to take care of ourselves. Because if we work too hard ultimately
it can affect us.
It may sound unfair but, let's be honest, people judge us by our appearance. There was
a book years ago, "Dress for Success" right? It makes a difference what you wear. It makes
a difference in how people perceive you. Your hygiene. Your manners. And your physical fitness,
your physical health.
Sometimes when we talk about taking care of ourselves it sounds selfish, right? But it's
not. It's sustaining. If you're important, you better take care of yourself. People are
counting on you. You better take car of yourself. Even your heart pumps blood to itself before
the rest of the body gets any blood.
When people look at us, if you don't have energy, if you don't look like you can handle
those demands of leadership, people lose confidence in your ability to lead. So smart leaders
today are taking better care of themselves.
Sometimes people think, that our bodies...well, they forget about our bodies.
They think our mind is in a jar and as long as we feed it motivation and as long as we
feed it the information that it needs, we'll be able to perform at our best. We'll have
maximum productivity and maximum performance. But I've learned that's not the case. Sometimes
we write checks that our bodies can't cash, right?
And again, I've seen that excuse in my practice where people say, "You know I just don't have
time. I'm so busy." But again, the busier you are the more important it is too take
care of yourself so that you can do the things that you're responsible for, especially if
you have people who are counting on you, in your company and in your family.
And as a leader, if you set an example and you take good care of yourself your team,
the leaders that you are developing, will take not of that and they will imitate that
and you'll have a much stronger team and a much stronger organization.