I was overweight after my pregnancy. After a lifetime of being slim and petite. And the process of shedding that weight changed me irrevocably.
In fact, so much so that I started up!
My startup, Obino, a health & weight loss coaching app, was my attempt to regain and establish some modicum of control over my on-going wars with weight – one that I lost all too frequently. And most people over 30 that I meet, have all nodded their heads in gloomy agreement at this life-truth 🙂
But it was only recently – about an year ago – that my focus changed from weight loss to fitness, to being able to lift more, run longer, train harder. And that is where the fitness ethic started to change my work ethic.
I changed too, intrinsically and this is how:
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1. I began to believe in the process.
Getting fitter is the ultimate demonstration of a successful process.
You have to assess the situation, set a small, incremental goal, research the best way to get there, make a plan, follow the plan and you WILL (if you follow the steps even partially) get a result!
This spilled over.
I stopped freaking out over my day to day failures in the startup workplace and started focusing on the process.
Remember the vision.
Choose the next small goal to get to that vision.
Make a plan.
Find and get the right people to help follow the plan.
Follow the plan
And you WILL get somewhere!!!
In startups, there is so much uncertainty that if you think about all that you don’t have and how infinitesimal your chances of success are, it will drive you mad.
Instead, fitness taught me to just focus on the process. Step by small step. Focus on getting the steps right. You will see a result.
It may not be the result you envisioned but it will help you refine your next steps till the result is what you wanted it to be.
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2. I started enjoying the pain.
Getting fitter is painful!
Every time you push past your comfort zone – do that extra squat, lift that additional weight, run that extra kilometre – it hurts. Not just right then, but for days after!
But the pain is a badge of courage! It’s living, tactile proof that you had what it took to last longer.
Starting up is the most painful thing I have done.
After a decade plus in the corporate world, I had gotten used to the cushion of luxury, perks and hierarchy, that starting up stripped away with a gleeful smile.
It hurt.
Standing at the courierwala to send your own couriers hurt.
Waiting for hours outside client and investor offices hurt.
Watching customers and users reject your hard-created product hurt.
The lack of money hurt.
The lack of respect hurt more.
But the pain is a badge. Proof that I had what it took to hang in there and make it happen. And the pain changes you. It makes you realise how strong you are, how much you can actually bear! And then your attitude changes from suffering to enjoyment! A little masochistic, I know 🙂
3. I know now that I can begin again, anytime.
A lot of people I meet feel that they are too old now to start eating better, working out and getting fitter. Like age is a criteria for how strong your body can be or how good you can look. That is just so wrong at so many levels.
You. Can. Begin. Again.
This holds good for anything you ever wanted to do in your life.
You are not too old to startup, to travel more, to run that marathon, climb that mountain, learn that new skill…the list goes on!
Look at me. A 42-year old mom with around two decade of you-should-know-better experience and I am loving every moment of my startup journey. And if this doesn’t work out, I know that I can now be whatever I want to be, at any age. Because only you decide what you can and cannot do.
Not age, not your family, not your peers, not the state of your bank account…only you.
Getting fitter changed the way I run my startup. And my life. And I am thankful for every moment of it 🙂
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