À Votre Santé!

A common enough throwaway toast when knocking back the third Grey Goose, but it may be time to really talk about actual personal health—and its importance to sustainable supply chain excellence.

Say what?!?! Think about it. Everyone has work challenges, pressures and stress. But, the SCM space is chock full of artery-clogging misadventures, what with demanding customers, bosses who don't get it, hostile workforces, suppliers of varying degrees of reliability, and service providers who may not give you the priority your performance imperatives merit.

So, further spurred on by the "doing more with less" mantra, we arrive early, stay late, gobble Cheetos for lunch, relax with a six pack upon returning home, and abandon the family in favor of urgent emails into the night, soothing ourselves with a quick nip of Jack Daniel's and a quart of Chunky Monkey before retiring. Our only run is to the toilet about 2:30 am.

STOP IT! What you are doing is not giving the best to your employer, your family, or yourself. How can you when you are exhausted, hungover, and just one more pack away from a coronary adventure?

To be your best on the job, you must be reasonably fit, in decent health, alert, and resilient—all byproducts of living right and taking care of yourself. That is not selfish, BTW, and doing it is not robbing time from those who demand and deserve your best.

The investment in good habits, relaxation, meditation, exercise, meditation, whatever gets a big league payback for all around you. And for you. Things like longer life, better health longer, the energy to get and give the best to faith and family.

If you are a magnificent machine on all fronts, you've got to do what it takes to maintain the equipment. You owe that to everyone in your life - and to your career. On a side note, you'll think better and be smarter—more positively productive and more influential - when both brain and body are well-maintained.

Taking the elevator to get down to the taco truck for lunch every single day just won't cut it. Nor will a quick energy boost from a box of Twinkies.