Tag Archives: management consulting

TNF #019: Mindset of the athlete

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Welcome Professionals…

…how do you think of yourself?

In my first year of consulting, a colleague who was just 3 months longer in the business than I made the following metaphoric expression. “We consultants are just like prostitutes. We are selling our brains to our clients.” I thought that was disgusting.

athlete

I rather like to think of consultants as athletes. Everyday prepared and dedicated to highest performance, creating the highest value for our clients. The mindset of the athlete also embraces the need for continuous training, good nutrition, fair amount of sleep and mental preparation for the big competition. This picture serves best from my point of view. It combines a high performing craft with caring for physical and psychological health and fitness.

What do you think? Any other ideas?

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #013: Christmas sickness

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Welcome Professionals…

…today’s edition of Thursday Night Flight falls on Christmas Eve. For a couple of years in a row, I have felt sick on every Christmas break. I am not talking about all the social tension that typically occurs during that time of the year while sticking together with family members, in-laws and some distant relatives. I was feeling physically sick. I had a strong flu with headaches, fatigue, muscular aches and pains, and all the other sympthoms that typcially go toghether with a cold. I remember one night on Christmas Eve when I found myself lying under the Christmas tree at around 9 p.m. freezing and feeling terrible.

7007087-christmas-tree-wallpaper

This was a classical state of “leisure sickness”. The phenomenon has been first described by two Dutch psychologists in 2001. They discovered that especially people with an “inability to transition from the work to the non-work environment, a high need for achievement and a high sense of responsibility” are suffering from this state.

If you discover symptoms of leisure sickness as well, take it as a warning signal. Do not underestimate the effect or even glamorize it as the typical working hero phenomenon like I did for a while. This is in most cases related to a high degree of perfectionism combined with deprivation of sleep. Two subjects that I have been dealing with in Thursday Night Flight as well. Check out these two editions if you ever had a case of leisure sickness:

I am wishing you all a healthy, merry Christmas! Take care of yourself and your loved ones and have a good rest!

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!

TNF #012: Be your own gym – part 2

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Welcome Professionals…

…how to find your perfect exercise? In “Be your own gym – part 1” I postulated four principles for a management consultant’s workout:

  1. Have equipment with you anytime!
  2. Independent of weather and day light conditions!
  3. Independent of other people!
  4. Perform on a fixed schedule!

But how can you stick to all these principles in order to make your exercise a sustainable habit that fits your work schedule? I used to go running, but it is quite limited on cardio training and it is certainly not independent of weather, day light and other surroundings. The build-in gym of hotels I stayed in usually costs to much time for me getting familiar with the equipment or would not be open at the time I wanted to work out.

I found a solution. A friend made me aware of this. It is called “You Are Your Own Gym”. This is a bodyweight exercise by Mark Lauren who developed the program for US SpecOps soldiers. He transferred it to the civil life. All you need is your own body. For some of the exercises you will need a table, a chair or the door frame – available in every hotel room. It is the perfect allround fitness program for the consultant, matching all principles.

bodyweightapp

Bodyweight fitness is as old as mankind, everyone knows the classic push-up and pull-up. There are many variations of the same idea and thousands of programs available. Great about Mark Lauren’s program is that he offers an app for your smart phone that leads you through it. You do not have to read books, remember exercises or even configure your own set. The app leads you through the workout like a personal trainer. 150 different exercises are varied in ladders, interval sets, supersets, stappers and tabatas. This variation and periodization stimulates your body for continuous development.

Go and try it! You can download the app on www.marklauren.com.

Let me know how this works out for you

Malte

Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!