Why Successful People Run
There’s no doubt about it, as a pastime, running has some very real benefits that go far beyond making you fitter, healthier and building up your stamina. There’s also convincing evidence to suggest that it can help to make you mentally stronger, too, with all the implications that have for having a major effect on your professional life.
How Running Benefits The President
That’s why Barack Obama, arguably the most powerful man in the world, has stated that he only started achieving his full potential when he started running three miles a day.
Of course, you don’t have to be President of the United States for pavement pounding to have some very noticeable results. A working paper in the Social Science Research Network showed that marathon-running CEOs control companies valued between 4 per cent and 10 per cent higher than those with non-running CEOs.
The Benefits Of Running
For busy executives, running is also the best form of exercise from a time-management perspective. Whenever there’s a spare 40 minutes or an hour it’s easy to put on your kit and a pair of trainers and have a run with no need to book a court, wait for an opponent or drive to the gym.
But what lies behind this link between running and success? For that, we probably have to look at the most common answer people give to the question ‘why do you run?’
When they say, “it makes me feel better about myself”, this is largely because the endorphins released during exercise can both reduce the feelings of stress and generate a more general ‘feel good’ factor. So when you’re feeling confident and pumped with energy, it stands to reason that you’re going to perform more effectively at your job, as mental skills needed to plan, organise, make considered decisions, manage time and focus attention will be especially acute.
Running & Business: The Correlation Between Them
Many of the principles that drive runners forward to greater achievement are also equally relevant in business. Things like striving for a personal best, adopting different strategies for sprints and marathons and appreciating that success takes hard work and perseverance are all hallmarks of the high achiever.
How Running Is Benefiting The Cefar Team
Terry, the Business Development Manager at Cefar, who runs 50 miles a week commuting to work, puts this in a nutshell when he says, ‘Everything seems more difficult when I have time off running, I simply don’t have the same energy. My best ideas come to me when I’m out running, and everyday challenges are put into perspective.
