Need a new hobby? Try being selfish

When I was a young lad, I was consumed by my love of cars. I spent all of my free time at auto shops, trolling online car forums, and constantly plotting the upgrades I wanted to make to my vehicle (I use the word vehicle because I did so much tinkering that it sounded more like a possessed refrigerator than a car). I spent a lot of time, money and energy on my hobby back in the day but I’ve since outgrown my grease monkey tendencies. I still like cars, but they’re more a way for me to get to work than a passion.

Okay, maybe my car wasn't this bad

Instead of focusing time and energy on hunks of metal, I decided to take up what I believe is the best hobby ever…building a better me. I now spend a significant amount of my free time improving my fitness through exercise.  It may sound selfish, but becoming passionate about fitness is arguably the best thing I’ve ever done and I recommend it as a hobby for everyone. In fact, I would pit it against almost any other hobby. Do your current hobbies:

- Make you physically stronger and faster?

- Build self confidence?
- Increase your life expectancy?
- Improve your physique?
- Decrease stress?
- Make you look totally amazing in spandex?

Pictured: Me and some buds chilling after a tough workout sesh'

Don’t buy into the stereotype that people who love fitness spend all of their hours alone in front of a mirror wearing a unitard. Whether you choose group classes, team sports, or going on a run with your spouse, fitness can be a very social activity. I have met great people participating in various Team in Training events and have developed friendships by playing pickup basketball. On the flip side, exercising alone can be extremely rewarding and meditative as well.

Another benefit of this hobby is that it is extremely dynamic.  You can train to lift heavy things, run marathons, hike up mountains or complete an adventure race. If you get bored with one goal or style of training, it’s easy to mix things up and try something new. For instance, after training to run long distances for several months, I’m now focusing on improving my strength which requires a completely different exercise and nutrition plan.

Building fast (and loud) cars was a lot of fun, but building a stronger and faster body is one hundred times more rewarding. Instead of investing in an inanimate object, I'm investing in myself. Improving my fitness not only made me a more confident and positive person, but helped alleviate some serious health issues as well. So go ahead and be selfish and make building a better you your new hobby.

Need help on where to start? Hit me up in the comments or tweet me @WilldoesWork

Pyramids and the President - The value of establishing a routine

Certain parts of your daily routine are non-negotiable. For instance, most people don’t question getting up in the morning and going to work. You perform this type of necessary daily activity without much thought or deliberation. The things we do automatically every day are determined by our priority pyramid. Whether we recognize it or not, we prioritize our activities based on what we deem to be most essential. If you think of all of your needs as a pyramid, food, water and shelter would make up the base. As you make your way to the top of your pyramid, you’ll find activities that you may like to do but can live without. The very top of my pyramid has things like waxing my car and reading the latest Nicholas Sparks novel. I’m somehow able to talk myself out of doing these things and can put them off indefinitely. Sadly, healthy eating and exercise finds itself sharing space with Mr. Sparks at the top of the pyramid.

This is what Nicholas Sparks looks like

So how do we make physical activity and healthy eating an automatic activity like getting up in the morning and going to work? You first have to recognize their amazing value and put them in their rightful place on the base of your pyramid.

Few activities provide the kind of return on investment that physical activity does. Think of all of the ways you spend your time instead of being physically active. Are they essential? Are they improving your body, mind, and increasing your longevity? Are they helping you relieve stress, sleep better and build confidence? Do they make you a more pleasant friend/spouse/dog owner? When you recognize the multi-layered values of exercise, it becomes much harder to talk yourself out of it.

The same can be said for healthy eating. It’s easy to come up with excuses for why eating healthy foods is something that can be set aside for another time. Is preparing a healthy meal too time consuming? What other things are you doing with your time instead of cooking? Does investing your time in that activity make you a healthier more energetic person? Is eating healthy too expensive? Take a look at a past credit card statement. Was all of that money directed at items needed for the bottom of your pyramid? Can you rearrange items in your pyramid to make room for proper nutrition?

Best use of spandex in a pyramid, ever

Solidifying a healthy routine takes time and you’ll have to make seemingly significant sacrifices. Your schedule and priorities may need to be rearranged, but I swear it’s well worth the effort. It has taken years for me to build nutrition and exercise into my almost automatic daily routine, and I’m still very far from perfect.  There are plenty of days when I would rather zone out on the couch after work than go for a run and I sometimes envy the line of cars at the drive-thru getting their dinner in mere minutes.

On those more challenging days, I think about my old gym buddy President Obama*. I know it’s weird, but I think of the President because even though he’s the busiest man in the world, he still finds time to exercise. If he’s able to find room in the base of his priority pyramid for physical activity, I know my excuses are pretty weak. I've regretted spending my time doing plenty of things, but I've never regretted the time I've spent being physically active.

The beauty of establishing a healthy routine is that the longer you adhere to it, the more automatic it becomes. You'll see results and it will become something you just do (and enjoy), and I guarantee you’ll be better for it. 

POTUS has fitness fortitude

*Gym buddy may not be most accurate term for a guy who I saw at the gym a couple of times before he became President