5 Ways Martial Arts Can Improve Your Office Life

Many of us spend upwards of 40 hours per week at the workplace, and therefore we share the same space with our colleagues more often than we do with our friends and family. 

That is exactly why we should nurture those relationships. As a matter of fact, because we spend so much time with these people in the office, it is in everyone’s best interests to have positive relationships with one another. This can increase productivity, as well as our emotional well-being.

Martial arts offers us many ways to become a better colleague so that we can have better interactions in the workplace. Here are just five ways martial arts can help make you a better work colleague, and improve your office life.

#1 You Will Be Physically Healthier

On first glance, it appears that your own physical health is purely a personal pursuit, but the benefits extend to all areas of our lives. So how does it make us a better colleague?

For starters, it means you will actually be able to show up. Being active and fit helps to keep us healthy. If you spend the day sitting at a desk with poor posture while building mechanical flaws into your anatomy, a night in the gym doing martial arts will help to correct your posture.

Without the physical activity, you are asking for chronic problems down the line, which could sideline you from work for long periods of time. If that were to happen, then you would be of no use to the team. And, as they say, teamwork makes the dream work.

#2 You Will Be Less Stressed

The endorphins released after a training session helps to decrease your stress levels, and keeps you in good spirits. Just a little bit of time spent grappling, wrestling, or hitting the pads and bags will certainly instigate the release of these neurochemicals, with side effects such as euphoria, pain-relief, and a sense of well-being.

Instead of being irritable, quiet, or anxious, you will be more focused with a clearer head and a happier mind. You will be a much more pleasant person to interact with, and positivity spreads!

#3 You Will Take More Responsibility

When working as part of a team, it is easy for some to shun responsibility or pass the buck at every opportunity. Not only is this a negative and toxic characteristic, but it is also detrimental to your colleagues.

With martial arts, it is taking personal responsibility that will truly allow you flourish. Nobody else can do the rounds for you, or repeat the new technique until you have it down. It will all come down to your own will, and when you do not improve or reach the next grade as soon as you thought, that lies solely on your shoulders.

Once you start accepting this in a single area of your life, you will embrace it in other areas, too. By shouldering your own portion of the responsibility when it is necessary, you will then look for practical ways to overcome issues.

#4 You Will Respect Others, Regardless Of Status

There is often a hierarchy in the workplace, from the presidents down to the management, the supervisors, the entry-level staff, and the interns. It is quite easy to get lost in this and forget that everyone is in this together.

Martial arts teaches us respect for our coaches. The best bosses and coaches who get the most out of their teams tend to motivate them and inspire them. They do not bring them down or make them feel like they are somehow lesser people.

In martial arts, the skinny teenager can submit you, or the older, unassuming lady could give you a kernel of advice that helps correct the technique you have been struggling with. Everybody has something to offer, and anyone can have a solution to a problem you might not have been able to previously think of. By respecting people and listening to them, everybody will benefit.

#5 You Will Be More Confident

By practicing martial arts, you will be more confident and self-assured, but also used to humility and putting aside your ego. Confidence in martial arts stems from both our increase in physical ability, and the psychological lessons it teaches us.

When you know you can master a technique from scratch in the gym, you also know that you can apply the same process to your professional life. Because you are now more adept physically, things that would previously cause you to take a backseat no longer seem to have the same impact.

Additionally, you can carry yourself with conviction, which will help when you are showcasing the project your team has been working on, and it will help you to be forthright in group discussions to help contribute ideas. Confidence, and not arrogance, will have benefits in all of your encounters throughout the workweek, and even in your personal life too.