Episode #489 – George Anderson

There’s a proven link between physical fitness and sales performance. My guest this week,  wellbeing and performance expert George Anderson, joins me to share his strategies for boosting energy, focus which I’m sure you’ll agree are key ingredients for thriving in the demanding world of sales.

We discuss the impact of daily habits like morning routines, and mindful “powering down” at the end of the day. You’ll also be inspired by George’s personal ultramarathon journey and learn practical tips for overcoming common obstacles like lack of time and burnout. If you’re ready to enhance your performance from the inside out, this episode is packed with wisdom you won’t want to miss.

Outline of This Episode

• 00:00 The link between fitness and professional performance.
• 03:41 The power of going out for a walk.
• 05:01 Morning routines and their impact on productivity.
• 08:00 Stress, sleep, and its impact on performance.
• 11:45 Overcoming the all-or-nothing mindset.
• 17:02 Daily habits for productivity.

The Transformative Power of Simple Habits

Focusing only on cardiovascular fitness or gym sessions misses the bigger picture. True performance is rooted in holistic health, encompassing sleep, nutrition, hydration, recovery, and regular movement.

If you’ve ever struggled through a rough day after poor sleep or noticed your creativity wane following unhealthy meals, you’ve experienced firsthand how interconnected physical health is with workplace effectiveness. As George says, physical fitness is a leverage point every high performer should bear in mind, but most underuse.

Getting outside and moving, whether with a pet, a friend, or solo, creates a positive domino effect on energy, mood, and focus. Its simplicity makes it sustainable, and regularity ensures lasting benefits. Developing non-negotiable habits like morning walks or regular breaks can dramatically shift the way you tackle your sales day.

Three Energy-Boosting Habits for Sales Professionals

Consistency is key to managing the high demands of sales. George Anderson recommends three fitness and lifestyle habits that seamlessly boost energy and resilience:

• Intentional Morning Routine: Avoid starting your day by immediately reaching for your phone. Instead, take time for yourself before the flood of emails or social media notifications. Set your own agenda before reacting to others’.
• Transitional Rituals: Clearly separate work and home time, especially when working remotely. Use short walks or reflective pauses to shift mental gears, preventing emotional residue from spilling into your personal life.
• Power Down Protocol: Shut off screens and calm your mind before bed. A deliberate wind-down helps ensure quality sleep, which directly impacts your motivation, creativity, and ability to handle stress the next day.

Battling Stress, Burnout, and “No Time” Syndrome

Sales professionals face constant pressure, deadlines, targets, and relentless meetings. The most common barrier to wellness is time, many feel that unless their exercise session lasts an hour, it’s not worth starting.

George’s antidote is the “plus one” principle. Instead of all-or-nothing thinking, start with what you’re doing now, and add just one increment, such as a 10-minute workout or a walk around the block. Small, consistent changes not only fit into the busiest of schedules but also spark a positive chain reaction, improving other choices throughout your day.

Recognizing burnout and fatigue can be tricky. Lifestyle missteps, late nights, skipped workouts, are obvious, but functional burnout often creeps in unnoticed. Tuning into your body’s signals and noticing when productivity drops or motivation fades is essential. Take ownership of incremental changes, even if the workload is outside your control.

Fitness Do’s and Don’ts for High-Performing Salespeople

George Anderson shares actionable dos and don’ts:

Don’ts:

• Avoid reaching for your phone first thing in the morning.
• Don’t sit down all day, take real breaks and step away from your desk.
• Limit relentless back-to-back virtual meetings to preserve focus.

Do’s:

• Incorporate purposeful movement every day (walks, short workouts).
• Be intentional with routines, morning, transitional, power-down.
• Reflect daily on habits and celebrate wins, while seeking improvement.

Achieving Big Goals Through Better Health

Physical fitness isn’t just theory for George. When training for a 24-hour ultramarathon, he adapted his methods to fit his evolving life circumstances and age. He advises that whatever you want to achieve set a goal, something you can’t do right now, then use creativity and commitment to overcome obstacles. Constraints may be inevitable, but resourcefulness keeps progress within reach.

Connect with George Anderson

• George Anderson on LinkedIn
• George Anderson on Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Learn More About George Anderson

1. What was a pivotal moment in your life or career when you realized the impact that physical fitness can have on professional performance?

Early on in my career as a personal trainer I noticed how the clients who were better at sticking to the programme were the ones who were also making the connection between the changes they were making and how they were feeling. They were telling me about how much calmer they felt, that they were more motivated and could focus better, and that their relationships were improving at work and at home.

2. Can you share a specific fitness or wellbeing practice that has consistently helped you perform at a higher level? Please provide an example where it made a noticeable difference?

Getting outside and walking at least once a day always helps to boost my energy. I try to do it in the morning first thing, or if that’s not possible I will get out at lunch time or after I have finished work for the day. If I go for more than a day of missing this, I really notice the impact it has on my energy levels and focus. I feel more anxious and less engaged with the work I am doing. So it’s more a case that I notice when I am not doing it!

3. What has been the most challenging period in balancing health and career performance, and what habits or strategies helped you turn it around?

Q4 is always a busy period for presenting and client work, and I often find myself on the road staying in hotels for several days in the week. This means my usual routines that work at home are no longer enough. The first time this happened I wasn’t prepared for it and things gradually slipped before I realised the impact it was having. Hotel breakfasts, long days, too much caffeine, poor sleep routines etc. I know I can be flexible with this for a few days but when it was going on for extended periods of time it took its toll on my energy and how I was feeling. The solution was to design different routines for the same basic habits, but for this completely different context. So now when I travel and am away from home a lot, I have different systems in place that I can adopt to keep me ticking over and performing at my best.

4. What are your top three must-have habits, tools, or resources that professionals should use to improve their fitness and overall performance at work?

I’m a big fan of journaling, reflecting on the day looking for the lessons and celebrating the wins. It also helps me unload my thoughts instead of them rattling around in my head building up to overwhelm.

I also track key behaviours that I know have a cumulative effect on my energy. At the end of the day I tick off a list of about 10 habits (that I change every couple of months). I don’t look for perfection, but for patterns that alert me to some of the possible reasons why I’m not sticking to what I said I was going to do, and making the connection between inputs and outputs.

My third habit is to have at least the first 15 minutes of every day as my time. I drink 2 glasses of water, do some mobility work and a single set of press ups to ‘get into my body’, before sitting quietly and either journaling, meditating, or simply being still for a few minutes.

5. With the workplace becoming increasingly demanding and technology playing a larger role in our lives, how do you see the relationship between fitness and professional performance evolving in the future? What should people do to stay ahead?

Wearable health tech has already started to transform the way we think about fitness and its link to performance. Measuring your recovery levels, the impact that substances like alcohol and caffeine have on sleep, and tracking metrics such as steps, sleep quality and heart rate variability can give you deeper insights and understanding to what’s really going on inside. Gamification in health apps to give you nudges and rewards that tap into motivational drivers will also become more prevalent. Then there is the use of AI platforms such as ChatGPT to build meal plans or training programmes, or analyse data for patterns of behaviour.

Getting ahead with this just means experimenting with it. Ask Claude or ChatGPT how it can help support your wellbeing and performance and go from there. I even created a custom GPT ‘Energy Coach’ to enhance the programme I share in my book By Design Not Default, and through experimenting with it realised just how straight forward it really is to build something like this.

6. What are some simple but powerful fitness or wellbeing practices that most professionals overlook — but could make a big difference if adopted?

Taking breaks is a big one – it can feel more productive to be sitting at your desk working for long periods uninterrupted, but the reality is your effectiveness will start to reduce without a regular 5-10 minute break. 

I also recommend 30 second ‘energy resets’, which is a very quick way to give yourself a bit of a boost. Standing up for 30 seconds, lifting tall from the top of your head and grounding your feet into the floor, then taking a deep breath into your belly can make a real difference to your energy.

Finally, one of the simplest but undervalued strategies is drinking more water. So many professionals I speak to barely drink a glass all day which is almost certainly having a negative effect on focus and mood. Drinking regularly through the day can help improve decision making and reaction times, as well as giving you a general feeling of freshness and energy. Keep a bottle handy at all times and keep sipping away throughout the day!