There was a time in my life that just one more …probably meant just one more beer….one more chicken wing…or one more bag of chips. Earlier in my life… the one more may not have added much value to my life…and in some cases probably harmed my health.

It’s funny as you get older your one mores and your priorities change.

Now my just one mores tend to be one more hug from my wife and kids before heading off to work, one more glass of water before lunch or one more phone call to a client or prospect before heading home for the day.

This winter when we were tobogganing down the street at the park my daughter Kara asked (a bunch of times) if we could do just one more run down the hill…the smile on her face when I said yes and the belly laughs we had that day will be something I will remember for a very long time.

Last week at our Driving for Profit seminar held in Mississauga, we held a panel discussion on Health and Wellness.  The panel focused on what they were doing at their respective companies to educate their Drivers and O/O’s  on what they can do both on and off the job to get healthier.

Some of the stats that came up were very eye opening for everyone in the room.

Did you know that 86 percent of US Truck Drivers are overweight or obese, or that the average lifespan of a professional truck driver is only 61 years?  Now those are some very scary and eye opening statistics.   Over the next few months, I’ll be writing about what some proactive fleets are doing to combat this issue.

In early March, our company decided to do something about the health and wellness of our staff, and began a health and wellness program.   The key was that everyone started at the same time communicated their goals to their leader and started talking internally about what they are doing.   The results so far have been incredible as everyone has become more active and agreed to start watching what they were eating have lost weight and feel better.   Not only are we all down some lbs, but they seem to have more energy and I believe productivity has even gone up.    Sometimes it’s as easy as drinking one more water and one less pop or having my coffee today with milk instead of the vanilla flavoured cream.   The changes don’t have to be major to have a major impact.  It could be something as simple as taking one more walk around the block at lunch.  It’s really exciting to not only watch the transformation but to also be personally involved.

So what other just one mores can you add to your day?

Let’s look at a few examples.  If you’re going to the gym to work out, do you go in inspired with a definite plan of what you want to accomplish or do you just wander around doing the exercises that have become easy for you.   Sometimes it’s easy to just go through the motions (which is better than nothing), but you may not get the results you are looking for.

I know even when it comes down to weight lifting, it’s easy to set out with the goal of doing 12 reps

and drop the weights early because I’m running out of steam.  I can tell however that when I feel like I  haven’t got another one left, if I push myself to do just one more, the result I get that day are much better than if I just quit when I was tired.

If you’re in sales, you obviously know making calls every day is key to your success and the success of your company.   The funny thing is I’ve found that I have had more success lately by just making one more call.    Two fairly large clients that came on board last year, originally felt they were comfortable with their current situation but I kept in touch with other value added ideas (not selling our product) and sure enough my call came at an opportune time and was awarded the business.

There was one more call that I made last fall at 5:30PM where I really just expected to leave a voicemail message. I was pleasantly surprised when my contact picked up on the first ring.   After having a great chat and getting caught up he suggested that he’d be willing to sit down again.  Turns out, the timing was perfect and he agreed to set up a meeting, which turned into a sale.  When I think back, they are now a client because it was a time that I chose to make one more call before leaving the office that night.

What about you?   Do you have some things that if you did one more it could bring dramatic results?  You know they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing day in and day out and expecting different results.

Why not try it for a week or two?     Try adding a few of the good for you “one mores” to your day and if you stick with it…whatever it is, I’m sure you may be pleasantly surprised with your results.

By Glenn Caldwell