Are you working hard to improve the health of your business?
Students exercising with dumbbells, Western High School, Washington, D.C., c.1899. Frances Benjamin Johnston, photographer. Library of Congress.

As they say, health is wealth. The challenge is trying to sustain it. It’s not just about stepping on the scale, but applying a positive and healthy attitude to the many facets of your career and personal life.

Technology

You may never have nor need the latest technology, but being behind can cost you time and money. The key is not being too far behind. For Windows XP users, it’s your turn to upgrade. Microsoft terminated support of this operating system on April 8, 2014, which means that as soon as the next vulnerability is discovered, everyone still using XP will be exposed. Surprisingly, 20% of Efficio’s users are still using Windows XP.

If your phone still has a cord or it flips, it’s time to upgrade to a Smartphone. Your efficiency will significantly improve to justify the investment. If you have one and don’t use it, once a month do a search for top apps and tips for your device to help take advantage of it. Some folks are turning in their PCs and replacing them with a tablet. How well are you using technology to help you?

Physical Well-being

It’s no mystery that the key to physical health is a good diet and exercise. Doing something about it can be very challenging in a society where eating is a sport and many jobs require sitting in a chair eight hours a day. From an exercise perspective, many of us lack motivation.

The question to answer is what will create the motivation? Perhaps challenging a friend, accomplishing a goal you’ve always wanted to attain, or doing something for charity? It all starts with today.

Regarding diet, we didn’t develop bad eating habits overnight, so chances are they won’t go away at that pace either. Depending on how far you’ve strayed from a healthy diet, it’s only as far away as your next meal. Find something healthy that is sustainable, meaning that you will eat it more than once. Yes, a green smoothie full of kale, cucumber, lemon, and parsley is healthy, but if you can't handle the flavor, there are lots of other options besides that and fried food.

Work Relationships

It’s easy to assume that you have a good relationship with all your clients, but taking a step back can perhaps help shed light on clients that have not received enough attention or need development. This can be measured in a number of different ways. If you have an industry-specific CRM and analytics solution, it is easy to look for clients or prospects you haven’t contacted in a while.

To measure the quality of your client retention, one of many ways is to measure new, returning (attrition/growth), and lost business. Regularly review your relationships with clients and look for any gaps to fill. Work relationships aren’t limited to just clients. Co-worker relationships are equally as important. How well do you know your clients and co-workers?

Social Network

Your network will continually be growing, so taking care of it should to be part of your regular process. LinkedIn is a great professional way to connect with your business contacts and to get introduced to new contacts. Even if you aren’t comfortable or need to share your life with others on Facebook, you can still use LinkedIn professionally to keep in touch. You don’t have to send a request to everyone you ever met, but you do have to start somewhere. How strong is your network? What would happen if you lost your job today? Who would you contact?

The good news: it is never too late to work towards improving your health. It's a life-long journey that will always present challenges. With regular check-ups, you'll be able to help stay on track.

By Matt Longhouse, Co-president of Efficio, IT