Mark Mohammadpour — We must put on our oxygen masks first to thrive as communicators

It’s only 4:30 p.m. but feels like Midnight. You just wrapped up your eighth conference call of the day. Your morning to-do list has been reprioritized due to a new crisis in the wings. You haven’t stood up from your chair in four hours. Your only sustenance today was two slices of cold pizza from a lunchtime training event in the conference room.

You have another two or three hours of work. You’re not thinking about dinner. Or exercise. Or anything else but meeting that next deadline. And once that deadline hits, dinner will be something heavy, seemingly rewarding, yet highly caloric and immediately regretful.

Sound familiar? I used to feel that way. And it nearly killed me.

Let’s rewind to 2006. I was preparing for a week-long, bi-coastal media tour. Three cities in five days, in the middle of a very hot summer. But the most stressful parts of the trip weren’t related to the tour objectives. To me the most stressful parts were things like: how am I going to survive sitting in the middle seat in coach on a six-hour flight? What if the elevators are broken in the hotel or in the Time-Life Building we’re visiting, and I’ll have to walk up a dozen flights of stairs? How am I going to handle 100-degree heat while walking from meeting to meeting in Midtown Manhattan?

These are the things you think about when you weigh 350 pounds.

During the first seven years of my career, I went from 250 to 350 pounds. How? After college, I started working full time at a firm in downtown Portland. I was on the road constantly. Traveling for business is never glamorous, but when you’re in your 20s and get to fly, stay in hotels and expense meals, it suddenly feels like you’re a member of the royal family.

And when I wasn’t traveling, I still ate way more and exercised way less. But mostly I ate too much, too late in the day, and had no idea on how to make simple choices to make a permanent change.

As I gained more weight, true red flags started to emerge. I had to go to “big and tall” clothing stores. I started to accept that I had to wear size 50 jeans, and 4XL t-shirts and sweaters. It was also a relatively painless process. What I couldn’t find in the store, I could easily find online and have it shipped, discreetly, and arrive in days. So, while embarrassing, it wasn’t an emergency. Yet.

But serious issues were on the way. When you weigh too much, comfort becomes an issue. The cabs we sit in, the plane seats we squeeze into, and the restaurant tables suddenly look very small. I would always ask myself: can I sit in this restaurant chair and be confident that it won’t snap in two? Upgrading to a more comfortable seat in first class was never an option. To make matters worse, I’m 6”1’ and couldn’t put my tray table down in front of me.

I was also dealing with sleep apnea and was afraid to go to the doctor, concerned that I would be diagnosed with a serious medical issue. By the time I proposed to my now wife, Christine, in December 2007, I knew I had to make a serious change to my personal and professional life. And change I did.

From December 2007 to when I got married in September 2008, I lost more than 110 pounds. And now in 2020, I’m proud to say I weigh 200 pounds. In all, I’ve lost and kept off a total of 150 pounds over 12 years.

You’re probably thinking, “So how did you do it?” When people ask, I tell them that I ate less and exercised more. But, in reality, it’s about the decisions we make, day in and day out.

We must put on our oxygen mask first and get tactical if we are to be mentally and physically prepared in our industry

When it comes to making a permanent change to health and wellness, establishing your tactics first should be your priority. This may be a surprise to fellow communications professionals, however as someone who has lost and kept off 150 pounds since 2008, here is why.

The best objectives follow the SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-based) approach. We develop these so we have a true north star for what we want to achieve. It is a proven method to ensure we show the impact we have on meeting business goals.

When it comes to permanent changes to health and wellness, we try and take the same approach. As an example, you might say to yourself “I am going to lose 20 pounds in four months,” or “I am going to fit into these size 34 jeans in three weeks in time for my high school reunion.”

On the face of it, this approach makes sense. I spent a lot of time telling myself that I will lose a certain amount of weight in a certain amount of time, or that I’ll buy this new suit on sale that I WILL fit into in three months. Unfortunately, I never succeeded in taking that approach.

Much like the objectives we develop, sometimes we don’t have control over whether or not we get we reach them. Throughout my life, I have learned that weight loss and other permanent changes to our health and wellbeing can be impacted by a number of factors. Water retention, hitting plateaus, sodium intake, adjusted sleep patterns, muscle gain, and many other factors come into play when you are making changes to your body. Through my journey, I often hit plateaus and frustrated me when I did not see results. Ultimately, I felt disappointed, unaccomplished and many times went back to square one.

Another issue, unique to communications professionals where we are under constant stress, so much happens at once, priorities shift, and we’re constantly struggling to overcome daily, if not hourly, shifts.

I have experienced this firsthand. What originally was scheduled as a normal Friday suddenly turns upside down; your fun weekend becomes an exercise where you and your work email are attached at the hip. A 4:45 p.m. urgent email impacts your ability to get to the gym for that 5:30 p.m. workout. You couldn’t make time to eat for lunch because of a conference call that ran over, so by the time the office happy hour starts, you’re clamoring to eat and drink everything in front of you.

So, as strategic and big picture as we want to get, what we don’t do first, however, is get tactical when it comes to making permanent changes. Think back to the plans you’ve developed and executed. And out of all those plans you’ve written, the one thing that you ultimately can control are the tactics.

That’s essentially your commitment to what you’re doing to DO.

I told myself that I would no longer eat close to bedtime. In my 20s, I spent many Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights ordering large pizzas while playing video games at 11:00 p.m. I made an immediate – still tough - but necessary change. I stopped eating food 3-4 hours before bedtime.

I incorporated at least 60 minutes of exercise per day, whether it was walking, running, lifting weights or some other kind of activity. I used to exercise; however, I still ate poorly, and it negated my efforts. I knew that if I ate better and exercised, the two combined would be unstoppable.

I’d also take mental and written notes to help track my progress. I found patterns. Over time, I knew that eating late at night impacted me significantly. I knew that exercising early in the morning helped keep me in check for the rest of the day.

If you’re looking for a permanent change to health and wellness, here’s my advice. Focus less on objectives that are out of control, such as:

I’m going fit into these size 34 jeans in two months
I’m cutting out all sugar in my diet
I’m going to lose 50 pounds in three months

Instead, start by saying you will do things that you can ultimately control. For example:

I’m going to drink 10 glasses of water
I’m not going to eat after 8:00 p.m.
I’m going to host three 30 minute walk and talk meetings each week

As business leaders, our counsel, our decisions and our influence have never been more important. And while gaining experience and learning practical skills are critical, we must be mentally and physically able to endure the challenge if we are to advance the profession and professional. I learned that the hard way more than 10 years ago, and now I want to help my fellow communications professionals.

Together we can apply our planning and implementation acumen to our personal lives. Start by avoiding that cold pizza, get up and moving, and making your mind and body a priority.

Mark Mohammadpour, APR | Owner, Chasing the Sun Health Coaching | Chasingthesunpdx.com | mark@chasingthesunpdx.com | @markmoh