Two Things You Already Know    Motivational Speakers Are Not Enough . . .

Two Things You Already Know

By Barry Maher
 

        Here are two things you already know—perhaps two of the most vital things.

        First thing. Exercise makes us happier, healthier and more productive. My father, a man who got smarter the older I got, had one cure for everything—exercise. And though it might not be a cure for everything, when he was 80 he could have passed for 50. At the University of Wisconsin, researchers on depression found that sufferers who jogged showed more improvement than those who underwent psychotherapy. Of course I've heard of other studies that showed that doing nothing for mental problems works just as well as psychotherapy. But that still means that jogging works better than doing nothing.

        According to Jim Fixx in The Complete Book of Running, a factory in the old Soviet Union reduced its annual sick days from 436 to 42 after instituting a running program for all its employees. (And yes, Jim Fixx did run himself into a heart attack. In setting up an exercise program, you might want to rely on your doctor's advice before anything you read from either Jim Fixx or me.)

        Your body needs exercise, just like it needs food and water—just like your brain needs stimulation. If you don't give it what it needs, if you don't maintain it like you should, it's not likely to work as well as it should for as long as it should. You aren't going to feel as well as you could, and if you don't feel as well as you could, you aren't going to be as happy or as productive as you could be.

        Of course you already know that. But here's another thing you already know. Knowing something is worthless if you don't act on it.

© Copyright 2010 Barry Maher, Barry Maher & Associates, Las Vegas, Nevada