Why Fitness is Critical to Leadership Development?

That's me after doing 12 minutes 30 seconds of plank on 14-Aug-26 at 52 years 9 months - happy and grateful 💜

My original personal best was 12 minutes on 5-Dec-22 at 49 years 1 month.

Couple of observations:

1. The body doesn't necessarily grow weaker with every passing day. I feel stronger today than I felt three years ago. I was more exhausted after 12 minutes at 49 years than after 12 minutes 30 seconds at nearly 53 years.

2. The pain is more in the mind than in the body. The resistance is more in the mind than in the body. It's the mind that wants to give up, the body simply follows.

Earlier this year, a month before this attempt, my mind gave up at 6 minutes. 

3. It's the beliefs we carry that create our reality. I have daily trained my mind to believe through my Daily Prayer of Gratitude that I am growing younger, healthier and more beautiful with every passing day.  

In 2022, my fitness coach told me it wasn't my body that held the plank. It was my mind. This time, I feel the body is stronger as confirmed by my fitness coach. I didn't have to use as much will of my mind to hold the plank. My lunges are also stronger. Burpees don't make me lose my breath. My push-ups have better form and go deeper. I recently stepped up from blue to brown belt in my Karate journey.

4. It is moment-to-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, energy and sensations in the body that gives us access to our infinite Power to Create our reality in alignment with our reality-defying intentions and impossible, unimaginable, crazy-big dreams.

When a month ago, I gave up after 6 minutes, I had the awareness that it was my mind that gave up, not my body. I gave in to my mind wanting to give up. I had the awareness that my mind made the choice to give up and that next time, I can make a different choice.

​5. It's in relating to our own self as whole, complete and perfect in the face of everything and anything that we transform from Good to Great, from Fear to Love.

It's because I didn't make myself wrong for giving up at 6 minutes that I had the space of grace to go all the way to 12 minutes 30 seconds the next time around.

6. The journey is longer than the destination. The destination lasts for a few moments. Therefore, if the journey is not meaningful, the destination has no meaning.

One Wow from my son, one proud smile from my fitness coach, one moment of joyful gratitude in my heart — that was all the 12-minute-30-second plank lasted. After that, it was lost forever. Until I picked it up to share my story, inside of my commitment to hold space for my coachees and mentees — for them to go on their own journey of being at the highest level of health, fitness and joyous well-being.

Though I deeply enjoy my well-being journey moment-to-moment.

7. When we don't have the need for applause, then we know we have grown.

In Dec 2023, I didn't forget and remained in awe of myself for a long time, and shared about it a lot more with people in my space.

I feel I have grown a bit more since then.

8. We get greater strength to lift mountains when we are doing it for a cause bigger than ourselves.

I don't think I would have bothered to hold the plank for more than a minute, if it wasn't to hold space for my coachees, my mentees and my kids; and if it wasn't for my commitment to our shared Purpose to raise human consciousness from Fear to Love for people to Have It All, and be happy, healthy and prosperous.

9. The tumour in the stomach remains the same size since Dec 2023 when it was first discovered but haemoglobin has increased from 6.4 to 10.2, and I feel healthier and stronger.

From a prognosis of Cancerous in Dec 2023 to an assessment of Benign in Aug 2026, all these seem to have come together in some way to create this - water-only fasting (11-day annually, 3-day quarterly, 1-day weekly), Psychotherapy, Yoga Therapy, Nutrition, RYD Growth Habits and Transformative Practices, Homeopathy, Functional Fitness, Karate.

This is not to discount modern medical science. I have sincerely kept track of the markers using its power. My experiment of One is merely to open the space to consider that the mind is bigger than the body. And, possibly, we can accelerate our healing to joyous well-being by including our mind as a powerful ally.

10. It is also a personal exploration of my belief that - Our Outer Reality is a mirror of our Inner Reality. 

I use everything on the outside to turn the torch of self-awareness inside to discover my fears and embrace them with love to dissolve them by leaping across the inner chasms expressed through taking actions that I resist, taking those actions from a place of love. The increase in self-awareness and inner strength to take those leaps has come through doing our RYD Growth Habits and RYD Transformative Practices. 

As per Louise Hay, the limiting thought and emotional state that causes a Tumour is - Nursing old hurts and shocks. Building remorse.

The limitless thought pattern and emotional state is - I lovingly release the past and turn my attention to this new day. All is well.

The limiting thought and emotional state that causes Cancer is Deep hurt. Longstanding resentment. Deep secret or grief eating away at the self. Carrying hatreds. "What's the use?"

The limitless thought pattern and emotional state is - I lovingly forgive and release all of the past. I choose to fill my world with joy. I love and approve of myself.

I feel happier, lighter, and more at ease with myself and people around me today than I did in Dec 2022, when I first set my personal-best 12-minute plank. From years of resenting my mother-in-law, I enjoy being with her. From a lifetime of feeling irritated with my dad, I enjoy listening to him and feel love for him in a way I have not felt before. From a lifetime of feeling sorry and sad for my mother, I feel love and reverence for her. From a Dutiful, Burdened, Superhero Martyr Daughter, I feel the inner shift to being a Loving, Caring, Happy Daughter.

My heart is happy in my relationship with my husband. As my relationship with my parents is shifting, I am experiencing a shift in my relationship with him - Instead of feeling irritated with him, I enjoy listening to him and feel love for him in a way I have not felt before. Instead of feeling sorry and sad for myself, I feel love and reverence for myself and for him.

Creating our highest level of health, fitness and joyous well-being across all our five bodies - physical, energy, emotional, mental and spiritual - is a game. The idea is to play the game for the joy of playing, irrespective of what the outcome may be.

In spite of all that I do, I could very well breathe my last in the next moment. Going beyond the current plane of existence is another adventure. 

Yet, I believe it is a beautiful game to play. More so because with every passing year, we have greater work experience to make a much bigger difference. Therefore, it is our responsibility to play the game to grow younger and healthier across all our five bodies with every passing year. 

Leadership Development is the journey of our growth to make a bigger contribution to our people, our customers and through that – to the communities we belong to, the country we call our own and the world we have the privilege of sharing. Longer we live, greater Massive Positive Impact we can be a channel of. Therefore, fitness and joyous well-being are critical to our leadership development and growth.

As I progress on my journey towards higher levels of health, fitness and joyous well-being, my ability to be a Space for making a bigger difference in the Karam Bhoomi of my work has expanded - work on building a new tech platform, process excellence and onboarding new coaches to increase the impact of our work has progressed. I had a lot of resistance for these growth initiatives because fear of success is bigger than the fear of failure.

Let's keep playing the game to be at the highest level of health, fitness and joyous well-being to realize our dreams and have it all by joyously leading – ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our team members, our businesses, the communities we belong to, the country we have the privilege to call our own and all of humanity – from good to great; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.

Loving you,
j.