Happy belated 4th of July! How was your weekend? How have the choices you made over the past days served you? Did you overindulge in food and adult beverages at the barbeque you attended? Did your exercise routine fall to the wayside? Did staying up late to watch the fireworks impede your sleep? If you can relate, you have allowed some physical influencers that drain your energy to derail you, and your work week is probably off to a slow start. 

This article is the fourth in a series I created to help you optimize your environment, achieve a higher quality of life, and reach peak performance. The Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) identified six major stressors, a.k.a. influencers, that can rob us of energy: 

1. Spiritual
2. Mental
3. Emotional
4. Physical
5. Social
6. Environmental

Physical Factors that can influence our level of performance are related to (you guessed it) our physical well-being. Many of the factors are a direct result of the choices we make every day. They consist of our overall health, amount and quality of sleep, regulating our breath, body image, level of exercise/activity, injury and illness, and nutrition and hydration or lack thereof by inducing alcohol and drugs. 

Some of the greatest leaders are keenly aware of how balancing the physical influencers contributes to their performance. As mentioned earlier, many of these factors are direct daily choices, while others may happen to us incidentally. For example, catching a virus and becoming sick, falling and breaking a leg, or being diagnosed with a disease like cancer in a worst-case scenario. While injury and sickness may not be a conscious choice, how we cope with them and our attitude towards them can impact recovery speed.  

So, what will you do to show up as the best version of your physical embodiment at work and in life? How ready are you on a scale of 1-10 to make some changes that serve you, with one being not at all and ten saying “let’s go”? What is holding you back? 

As a professional coach, I can help you become the best version of yourself to achieve peak performance. Together we can ensure that when the next holiday weekend comes around, you are prepared to make good choices and fuel your energy level. Contact me at angela@belladonnacareercoach.com.