Fredi Founders Share 5 Reasons Why Putting Your Wellness First Will Advance Your Career

The #1 reason that employees leave their jobs is due to a lack of career advancement opportunities, according to a recent employee engagement report. In fact, 78% of employees who have left a job said they would have stayed in their previous role if they saw a career path within that organization. 

Many have subscribed to the idea that in order to get ahead and to create these advancement opportunities for themselves, they need to adopt a “hustle” mindset. Head down, no excuses, show up early, stay late, do whatever it takes to get to where you want to go. 

With 77% of employees reported experiencing burnout in their current role, this strategy clearly isn’t working. This means that the majority of professionals have reached a point of overwhelming stress, fatigue, brain fog, emotional exhaustion, and/or cynicism and mood decline. Clearly, this is not conducive to producing your best work and putting forth your best effort— nobody can perform their best when they feel like that! 

So, what’s a better career advancement strategy than subscribing to the “hustle” mindset? Focusing on your health.

Chelsea and Mitch Glaser are the sibling Co-Founders who launched Fredi in 2020 as a wellness company helping to remind us all to put our wellness first as we strive toward our goals.

“Hustle culture tells us that to get what we want, we need to work hard, push ourselves to the limit, and be relentless in pursuit of career advancement,” shared Chelsea.

“You might see quick gains,” Mitch elaborated, “but this is a quick path to burnout and is an unsustainable growth strategy. We say you’re going to go further if you prioritize your wellness, rather than working yourself to exhaustion and guilting yourself out of taking breaks.” 

The reality is, when you put your wellness first, you feel better. When you feel better, you’re able to produce better work and move more steadily toward your goals. 

Slowing down and putting wellness first has become a struggle for many ambitious people, and Fredi is here to change that.

To help us understand the benefits that can come from prioritizing wellness, the Glasers have shared 5 reasons as to WHY a shift in focus will not only do wonders for wellbeing, but will further advance career aspirations beyond what’s achievable when nearing burnout.

“When you focus on taking care of your mental and physical health and feeling your best, there is an upward spiral of benefits you experience that lead to sustained career growth,” advised the Fredi Co-Founders.

When you put your wellness first and are feeling good, you:

1. Have more focus and energy.

“When you prioritize things like getting enough sleep, eating enough nutritious foods, managing your stress, fitting movement into your day— you’ll have the energy you need to be able to stay focused on your daily to-do’s while remaining motivated throughout the process.

Much like a marathon, if you expend all of your focus and energy within the first 100m, you will not have enough to carry you across the finish line. By recognizing your limitations and planning your path to success accordingly, you will be able to improve your career stamina, tackling tasks with consistency. 

In the The Compound Effect, a #1 New York Times bestseller, author James Clear defines the compound effect as ‘…the strategy of reaping huge rewards from small, seemingly insignificant actions.’  Hustle culture often emphasizes doing MORE, but in reality, doing less with more accuracy will accelerate your career further overtime.” -Fredi Founders

2. Stress becomes far easier to manage.

“When you keep your stress levels low, you’ll be able to be less reactive to things that come up during the work day and more intentional about how you approach them. Being stressed for long periods of time keeps our bodies in fight or flight more, which inhibits our creativity and critical thinking.

Many studies have proven that burnout leads to poor stress management. A team of psychological scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden recently conducted a study in which they compared a group of individuals who were diagnosed with burnout to a group of individuals who were not. The study found that when presented with a trying situation, the group diagnosed with burnout had dramatically stronger negative reactions than the group that was burnout free. 

As opposed to crumbling under the pressure of a stressful situation, individuals who are experiencing career advancement are the ones who can provide value in such scenarios. This can begin with a mindset shift from “getting through the day” and “there’s not enough time in the day” to “how can I have a good day?” Embracing this shift with clarity of mind will allow you to be the person that people want on their team when sh*t goes down… is that a promotion I hear?” – Fredi Founders 

3. It improves your overall mood.

“Are you able to show up as the best version of yourself when you’re overworked and underslept? Probably not, and definitely not consistently. Eventually, the fake smiles you’re using to mask your stress and fatigue will give way to how you’re truly feeling inside – miserable.

And let’s face it, being miserable will sabotage your personal and professional connections and relationships. If networking events have taught us anything (aside from the art of small talk) it’s that connections are key to success. Focusing on your wellbeing will allow you to engage with others, both in and out of the workplace, positively. To show up as the person that other people want to be around, you first need to focus on showing up as that person for yourself.” – Fredi Founders  

4. It increases your confidence.

“The combined result of doing good work and forming quality relationships that ultimately turn into a support network will be a major boost to your confidence. It will help you to feel happier and empowered, cultivating an abundance mindset. 

Part of the problem of hustle culture, which embraces taglines such as ‘Hustle Harder,’ ‘Rise and Grind,’ and ‘Don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done’ is that it promotes the message that you are never enough. Frankly, that’s BS. You’re worthy of down time, even if you haven’t achieved your goals yet. Take the time to reflect on your accomplishments and appreciate your wins. Give yourself the opportunity to feel confident about where you’re at along your marathon to success, it will make the journey so much sweeter.”- Fredi Founders  

5. You level up.

“Once you feel confident in your role and relationships, you can begin to take on more responsibility and level up your game by taking a big leap toward your goals!

This is where wellness really comes into play when advancing your career. You’re tackling your tasks with clarity of mind and confidence in your abilities, and it’s showing. Recognize how you got to where you’re at, how you felt along the way, and how much more you enjoyed getting to this place when you made your personal wellness a priority.” – Fredi Founders

*REMINDER*

Once you level up, you might find yourself feeling the burn again…this does not mean you should start neglecting yourself and funneling all your energy into your work again! Continue to take care of yourself so you can make the climb in your new role and sustain your growth momentum! 

We’ll leave you with one final anecdote. In a study of long-distance running (greater than 3000m), the biggest predictor of injuries was overrunning. Not improper footwear, not mechanical errors such as tripping or the rolling of an ankle, but simply running too much. And though running is an exercise frequently recommended for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it can also lead to intense injuries when overdone. This shows that it is possible for a good thing, like hard work, to have an inverse effect. You are the athlete in the marathon of your life, give your body the wellness it deserves in order to enjoy (and succeed) in the race. 

Discover Fredi’s solutions for how you can prioritize your wellness here