THE GYM TEACHES LEADERSHIP|Healthy LifeStyle

THE GYM TEACHES LEADERSHIP

By: ROBIN SHARMA

So it's 6 am and I'm working out at the gym. While I exercise on a wonderful cross-training machine I've discovered called The Body Trec, I observe all the sights around me and come to a realization: the gym teaches leadership. Don't be so surprised, as a leadership thinker and lifelong student of this craft, I've found that acts of leadership show up at the most unexpected of places. And this is definitely one of them. The more I reflected on it, the more I realized that the cultural landscape of the gym is a lot like the cultural landscape of the workplace and what works in the gym will also work in your professional life. Just read the 6 C's of leadership that I observe this morning as I go through my fitness regimen. 1. Commitment. Those of you who have read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari or attended one of my seminars know that I value the discipline of rising early. Benjamin Disraeli once said that 'Life is too short to be little." So true. And life is too short to spend the best years of it under the bed covers when you could be out there growing, learning and creating value in the lives of the people around you. Here at this gym I'm at, those who get here first take the best machines. Once again, the early riser gets rewarded. 2. Character. As I look around I see a room full of ordinary people acting in extraordinary ways. I see people who have made a conscious choice to move towards self-mastery through physical mastery. I see men and women who got up out of bed, made their way to the gym and are now 'showing up at their best' - not because it's the easy thing to do but because it's the right thing to do. And that takes character. That takes personal courage. I look over at the man across from me. He's got to be about 70 years old and he's ripped, solid lean muscle. This man becomes my temporary hero. 3. Community. This environment reflects strong sense of community. It's a place where people remember people's names, have long conversations through the workouts and laugh a lot. Some deep human bonding is at play as the dumbbells clank and the treadmills whirl. 4. Culture. This place has a unique set of rules and standards. I watch as the people completing their cardio workouts spray their machines with cleaner and then wipe them down. I feel obliged to do the same given their example. The loud rock music shakes the speakers as I wonder whatever happened to the gentle concept of sweating to the oldies. Men in cycling pants and women in muscle shirts high five one another. Leaders of the best organizations in the world of business are 'culture centric' in the sense that they spend an inordinate amount of time as culture builders - shaping, refining and defining theirs so that it is unique and special. 5. Compassion. People are polite in this gym. They have good manners. They encourage their gym mates; help out when another asks for help and generally seem to show that they care. As I wrote in my book "Leadership Wisdom from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", the most effective leaders in the field of business are "consistently compassionate". I've found that people will not follow you unless they first trust you and the finest way to build this trust is to be decent and kind. 6. Celebration. The Body Trec machine I'm on is interesting: it measures the time left in my workout, not the time that has elapsed. This inspires and motivates me. There's something powerful in celebrating and appreciating the achievements you have enjoyed as you move towards your goal rather than always focusing on the final result. Too many of us don't do enough celebrating as we score those small wins along the way, small wins that fuel our inner joy and give us the wind behind our backs that keeps us inspired. Failing to savor the small victories that we achieve regularly eventually creates a feeling of emptiness within us. As I workout, I wonder, "what good is being successful if you don't feel successful?" Someone once described success as 'the progressive realization of worthy ideal." The key word in that phrase, I realize, is progressive. We need to reward the small wins that we accumulate as we chase the big dream. In doing so, we gain momentum, motivation and a boatload of great memories that fuel our happiness and success.

Robin Sharma, LL.B., LL.M., is one of the world's top experts on leadership and personal development. The author of ten major international bestsellers including The Greatness Guide Series, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Robin is the founder of Sharma Leadership International Inc., a global training firm with a simple mission: to help people Lead Without Title. Profiled regularly on leading international media such as CNN and MSNBC, clients include GE, Nike, FedEx, NASA, Unilever, Microsoft, BP, IBM, The Harvard School of Business and Yale University. His website http://www.robinsharma.com is one of the most popular leadership and personal development destinations on the Internet.