The high-stress lifestyle of today’s busy executive is filled with a never-ending list of responsibilities, meetings and demands. Executives often relegate taking care of themselves to the bottom of the to-do list. Finding the time in a busy schedule to take care of yourself is a challenge, and the difficulty of doing so may lead to convenient, yet unhealthy, choices related to diet, exercise and stress relief.
But executives need to focus on their personal health with as much attention as they do the future productivity of their business. That’s because waiting until a health issue presents itself can compromise not only your health, but also your work performance and the performance of the company.
Why Being Proactive Matters
As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
When it comes to your health, being proactive is the cornerstone to maintaining a productive and healthy work life. Making smart, proactive decisions related to your health can potentially prevent negative medical outcomes that impact your work performance, quality of life and the success of your company.
Think about this: A lack of illness isn’t necessarily an indicator of good health.
You’ve heard stories of the people who seem like they are in good health, who suddenly are faced with a health crisis. Taking a proactive approach to health means that you’re reducing the chances of being caught off guard.
It’s understandable that busy executives might find it hard to make time to address something before it happens. But executives routinely make planning decisions to promote the success of a company and the same approach must be taken for their health, especially since their health can greatly influence a company’s performance.
Benefits of a Healthy Executive
The health of an executive can significantly impact both their personal performance and the performance of their company.
Executives are often the most highly paid and highly functioning employees, so keeping them healthy is paramount to a successful company. A healthy, productive executive reduces the cost of lost productivity and leadership, in addition to reducing unforeseen interruptions in daily operations.
If you are stressed, sleep-deprived, and ignoring or unaware of possibly harmful medical conditions, you’re not performing at your best. And executives who are too sick to come to work aren’t performing at all.
Consider the potential impact of losing a CEO or president for weeks because he or she is sidelined by an illness that may have been prevented or mitigated if that executive had known about it earlier.
Taking a proactive approach to your health is beneficial because it gives you the opportunity to prevent and lessen the negative impact of serious medical conditions that may influence your company and productivity.
Working with a physician who has a proactive philosophy and takes the time to focus on identifying potential medical issues can help you identify unknown conditions or early warning signs of future illnesses, sometimes before symptoms are even present.
The key is to find the right partner and to make your health a priority.
To learn more on executive physicals and the importance of taking a preventative approach to your health care routine, download our free eBook:
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