The consequences of failure can be endless
I've spoken about a few of the consequences of business failure in previous posts, however the consequences can be many, and sometimes a little unexpected.
One consequence that I haven't yet discussed is that the stress of running an under performing business can cause the development of unhealthy habits; such as excess consumption of fast food (given that cooking feels like too much effort after working for zero income for 12 hours a day) and alcohol (the temptation to drink to forget the day that was is all too great).
And exercise felt like way too much effort while I was pulling my hair out every day while trying to generate a profit from my business. It was quite literally the last thing on my mind.
So, the combination of too much unhealthy food, too many alcoholic drinks every night, and no exercise lead to quite a large amount of weight gain.
I actually gained so much weight over the last 12 months of operating my business that my friends and family commented on my appearance. Normally, my family would never dare to do such a thing as this, however they were genuinely concerned for my well-being.
But now that my life is slowly becoming stable and relatively normal once again, I can start to focus on re-building my health and fitness along with recovering from my financial loss.
So a couple of months ago I took out a gym membership and fixed my bike. And I'm now exercising 4 - 6 times per week. I lift weights at the gym a few times a week and go for a nice cycle to get some sun on my skin while getting some cardio training in once or twice a week.
And the results so far have been pretty fantastic:
- I'm slowly losing weight
- my mood has lifted and my wife has noticed that I am significantly happier and more relaxed
- I sleep better at night; exhaustion after an intense weights session can definitely have that effect
- I feel stronger, and my posture has never been better
And on top of all of the above, my wife is encouraging more private time than she has in a long while. Which certainly makes me a happy chap.
It's not just about exercise though, I'm also working hard to change my eating habits as well:
- I no longer have dessert after every meal
- I have cut right back on how much I drink (no more after work drinks for me)
- I've increased my portion size of vegetables and have cut back on how much meat I eat
- If I want a snack I go for something protein heavy rather than loading up on carbs
Of course, I still have a long way to go to get to my former fitness level. But I'm certainly making great progress. The image above is me hitting a new personal best for the leg press. That was 280 kg stacked on the machine, which is a weight that I haven't lifted since my time at university (so technically not a PB, but I'm still going to say it is).
So, along with being on a mission to get debt free in 2 years. I'm now adding to that mission to get to my pre-business failure weight, which was about 70kg. So I suppose I have roughly 10kg to lose. Which should be quite achievable with a little discipline.