Nothing personal to Phil Mickelson, but I am glad to no longer have people saying I look like him. If I had his golf swing, maybe I would think about taking back the 40 pounds?......NAH!
The change in my mindset was simple. I was always someone who would arrive at school well before most others in order to get a jump on my day's schoolwork. However, when I decided to commit to an exercise regimen and put myself first, I started to use my time at school in the morning to exercise instead of doing schoolwork. The outcome to my amazement is that I get more done during the course of the day after exercising than I did when I dedicated that time to schoolwork.
I encourage everyone out there to make a commitment to themselves and dedicate a specific time each day to exercise their minds and bodies. For me, I equate exercise with when the flight attendant on the plane goes over the emergency procedures and tells the parents to take the oxygen themselves first so that they can then take care of their children. Selfishly, I need my time to exercise or I will not be able to take care of the people and things that I need to care of the rest of the day.
One of my hopes is to create a format for teachers to exercise during the school day here at BHS. We have recently renovated our fitness area and created new locker rooms for staff to help with this effort. I hope that our focus in this area will help us to ensure that our students realize the importance of exercise in their productivity as well.
Thanks to Joan for starting this great blog and I look forward to hearing and sharing about the importance of exercise for all of us!
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing your story. I think it's such a wonderful idea for you to make your school a place where your staff can take care of themselves first. I would definitely work out before school if I had such a convenient set-up. I am looking forward to the continued inspiration of our group here to help me keep going when school begins. Thanks so much for joining us!
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you are making those arrangements for your staff! I wish we had shower facilities at our workplace. Our board office is connected to our University of Windsor Human Kinetics building and there is a beautiful track that I would love to use during my work day! However, we lack the necessary locker room and shower facilities in our board office. I wonder if I can look into making this happen for our board? You've got me thinking! In the meantime, I would love to see if I can convince myself to head over there after work a couple times a week to complete my running challenges before heading home. I, too have found that I selfishly need this time to myself. I can totally relate to and support you for taking the time for yourself. Great post!
ReplyDeletePatrick - This is great! You are a true leader and motivator! Your story of success is so nice to hear. I think we all need to be selfish when it comes to our health because, as you pointed out, when we take care of ourselves we are better equipped to take care of those around us.
ReplyDeleteGood luck this fall. We'll all be rooting for you...and us!