CSS CEO Publishes New Book on Fitness, Work/Life Balance Written by: CSS Marketing Team Consolidated’s CEO Publishes New Book on Fitness, Work/Life Balance Consolidated Sterilizer Systems’ very own CEO and President, Art Trapotsis, has published a new book called The Everyday Athlete: How to Balance Work, Family, and Fitness for Life. The book addresses an important topic about weaving fitness into work and life obligations. Questions addressed include: How can individuals find time within their busy schedule to put their fitness goals into practice? Is regular fitness the key to a balanced life? What can business leaders do to help their employees achieve those goals? Those are just a few of the questions that Trapotsis and his book aim to answer. We sat down with Art in advance of the book’s June 7th, 2022 release date to ask him a few questions about how “The Everyday Athlete” came to be. What was the original inspiration for “The Everyday Athlete”? Art Trapotsis: I was an endurance athlete at the time I became CEO of Consolidated and found it challenging to juggle those two roles. I had a few friends who seemed to be successfully managing their careers, starting families, while remaining healthy and even competitive, which led me to wonder how they balanced it all so well. That curiosity led me on a larger journey, where I interviewed as many people as possible to learn how they balance work, family, and fitness. Since I began that journey, I’ve interviewed over 100 people from all walks of life, many of whom consider themselves athletic, and many of whom don’t. It was a really interesting experience and served as the foundation for this book. Can you tell us a little more about your athletic background? AT: I started my career as an endurance athlete in college as a rower and sort of maintained that competitive fitness lifestyle, through triathlon and cycling, after I graduated and entered the workforce. It’s just become part of my DNA, you know, to have exercise be part of my life. These days, I do a lot of cycling with my teammates from Keep It Tight Cycling, an amateur cycling club I founded in 2010. You mention conducting over 100 interviews — what were some of your key takeaways from that experience? AT: There were a few things that consistently came up during those conversations. First, folks tend to feel out of balance with life when they don’t get consistent exercise. That could be a walk, run, swim, bike, yoga, etc. If they don’t consistently exercise, they begin to feel overwhelmed and out of control. I created a short assessment that measures your current life-balance score on my website, but you can find a full version in “The Everyday Athlete.” Second, you need a strong support system — family, friends, whomever — that sees the value in what you do and consistently encourages you. Third, people who have achieved a good sense of balance squeeze in exercise whenever they can. It doesn’t have to be this epic or particularly structured workout. Just do a little when you have the time — before work, during your kid’s naptime, on your lunch hour, whenever. The last thing I’ll mention is knowing where you fall on what I refer to in the book as the “Crabbiness Index.” It’s a slightly silly name, but it’s basically a question of how many days you can go without exercising before you become irritable. For some of the people I spoke to, it was just 24 hours; for others, it was four or five days or more. It’s an important thing to know because it can inform how often you need to exercise and help you create a fitness routine that works for you. I think it’s worth noting that some of the people I interviewed don’t exercise at all — but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own way to reset. Whether that’s volunteering, playing an instrument, reading, meditating, painting, or anything else, exercising is just one way to recenter yourself and find balance. I chose to focus on fitness because that’s what really speaks to me. Your book talks about how business owners and managers should create a culture of wellness. What have you done at Consolidated Sterilizer Systems to promote wellness? AT: Our journey into wellness, as a company, is still a work in progress but we’ve done a couple of things. When we moved into this facility a few years ago we had a small gym installed. We added weights, yoga mats, a treadmill and for very little cost we managed to set up a nice space for employees to exercise. The other thing we did was establish an Employee Wellness Program. The goal of the program was to promote well-being for our employees in many areas. Not just physical fitness but financial, emotional, and social wellness. We’ve done some fun events around gardening, meditation, juice-cleansing, and financial planning. I think all of these things help with employee engagement, productivite, and of course, wellness. Last question — how have you incorporated the principles from “The Everyday Athlete” into your own life? AT: I try to be “ready to go” at any time so that I can seize any opportunity to exercise; that means I always have a bag with gym clothes and a towel in it with me. I’m also better about guarding my time and prioritizing myself. Right now, that looks like carving out time in my Google or Outlook calendar for exercise.. The last thing is that I’ve learned how to stay ahead of irritability based on my “Crabbiness Index.” If I go a couple days without exercising, I need to make sure to get in a workout on that third or fourth day. It helps me stay productive and be the best version of myself. — And now, a brief excerpt from The Everyday Athlete: How to Balance Work, Family, and Fitness for Life: So, if we know how important fitness benefits are to helping us live longer and happier, why is it so difficult for us to incorporate them into our lives? If fitness is so good for us, why does it constantly fall out of our routines? What’s missing? Quite simply, we don’t give it the priority it deserves, nor do we realize its far-reaching effects on both our daily lives and our long-term health. This book is about finding balance and nurturing and developing an athletic mindset. When we have balance in our lives, we’re able to devote the right amount of time to our work, our families, our friends, and our fitness—whatever that may be for each individual at any given point in time. Those requirements will change, so it’s up to each of you to figure out when you’re feeling out of balance and adjust accordingly. Just remember that prioritizing fitness and thinking like an athlete, no matter where you are in life, provides that pathway forward: balance requires fitness, and fitness leads to balance. If you’d like to read more, you can order your copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble today. Don't Buy An Autoclave Until You Read This Find out the 17 questions you need to ask before buying your next autoclave. Download eBook Tweet Like Share
CSS CEO Publishes New Book on Fitness, Work/Life Balance Written by: CSS Marketing Team Consolidated’s CEO Publishes New Book on Fitness, Work/Life Balance Consolidated Sterilizer Systems’ very own CEO and President, Art Trapotsis, has published a new book called The Everyday Athlete: How to Balance Work, Family, and Fitness for Life. The book addresses an important topic about weaving fitness into work and life obligations. Questions addressed include: How can individuals find time within their busy schedule to put their fitness goals into practice? Is regular fitness the key to a balanced life? What can business leaders do to help their employees achieve those goals? Those are just a few of the questions that Trapotsis and his book aim to answer. We sat down with Art in advance of the book’s June 7th, 2022 release date to ask him a few questions about how “The Everyday Athlete” came to be. What was the original inspiration for “The Everyday Athlete”? Art Trapotsis: I was an endurance athlete at the time I became CEO of Consolidated and found it challenging to juggle those two roles. I had a few friends who seemed to be successfully managing their careers, starting families, while remaining healthy and even competitive, which led me to wonder how they balanced it all so well. That curiosity led me on a larger journey, where I interviewed as many people as possible to learn how they balance work, family, and fitness. Since I began that journey, I’ve interviewed over 100 people from all walks of life, many of whom consider themselves athletic, and many of whom don’t. It was a really interesting experience and served as the foundation for this book. Can you tell us a little more about your athletic background? AT: I started my career as an endurance athlete in college as a rower and sort of maintained that competitive fitness lifestyle, through triathlon and cycling, after I graduated and entered the workforce. It’s just become part of my DNA, you know, to have exercise be part of my life. These days, I do a lot of cycling with my teammates from Keep It Tight Cycling, an amateur cycling club I founded in 2010. You mention conducting over 100 interviews — what were some of your key takeaways from that experience? AT: There were a few things that consistently came up during those conversations. First, folks tend to feel out of balance with life when they don’t get consistent exercise. That could be a walk, run, swim, bike, yoga, etc. If they don’t consistently exercise, they begin to feel overwhelmed and out of control. I created a short assessment that measures your current life-balance score on my website, but you can find a full version in “The Everyday Athlete.” Second, you need a strong support system — family, friends, whomever — that sees the value in what you do and consistently encourages you. Third, people who have achieved a good sense of balance squeeze in exercise whenever they can. It doesn’t have to be this epic or particularly structured workout. Just do a little when you have the time — before work, during your kid’s naptime, on your lunch hour, whenever. The last thing I’ll mention is knowing where you fall on what I refer to in the book as the “Crabbiness Index.” It’s a slightly silly name, but it’s basically a question of how many days you can go without exercising before you become irritable. For some of the people I spoke to, it was just 24 hours; for others, it was four or five days or more. It’s an important thing to know because it can inform how often you need to exercise and help you create a fitness routine that works for you. I think it’s worth noting that some of the people I interviewed don’t exercise at all — but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own way to reset. Whether that’s volunteering, playing an instrument, reading, meditating, painting, or anything else, exercising is just one way to recenter yourself and find balance. I chose to focus on fitness because that’s what really speaks to me. Your book talks about how business owners and managers should create a culture of wellness. What have you done at Consolidated Sterilizer Systems to promote wellness? AT: Our journey into wellness, as a company, is still a work in progress but we’ve done a couple of things. When we moved into this facility a few years ago we had a small gym installed. We added weights, yoga mats, a treadmill and for very little cost we managed to set up a nice space for employees to exercise. The other thing we did was establish an Employee Wellness Program. The goal of the program was to promote well-being for our employees in many areas. Not just physical fitness but financial, emotional, and social wellness. We’ve done some fun events around gardening, meditation, juice-cleansing, and financial planning. I think all of these things help with employee engagement, productivite, and of course, wellness. Last question — how have you incorporated the principles from “The Everyday Athlete” into your own life? AT: I try to be “ready to go” at any time so that I can seize any opportunity to exercise; that means I always have a bag with gym clothes and a towel in it with me. I’m also better about guarding my time and prioritizing myself. Right now, that looks like carving out time in my Google or Outlook calendar for exercise.. The last thing is that I’ve learned how to stay ahead of irritability based on my “Crabbiness Index.” If I go a couple days without exercising, I need to make sure to get in a workout on that third or fourth day. It helps me stay productive and be the best version of myself. — And now, a brief excerpt from The Everyday Athlete: How to Balance Work, Family, and Fitness for Life: So, if we know how important fitness benefits are to helping us live longer and happier, why is it so difficult for us to incorporate them into our lives? If fitness is so good for us, why does it constantly fall out of our routines? What’s missing? Quite simply, we don’t give it the priority it deserves, nor do we realize its far-reaching effects on both our daily lives and our long-term health. This book is about finding balance and nurturing and developing an athletic mindset. When we have balance in our lives, we’re able to devote the right amount of time to our work, our families, our friends, and our fitness—whatever that may be for each individual at any given point in time. Those requirements will change, so it’s up to each of you to figure out when you’re feeling out of balance and adjust accordingly. Just remember that prioritizing fitness and thinking like an athlete, no matter where you are in life, provides that pathway forward: balance requires fitness, and fitness leads to balance. If you’d like to read more, you can order your copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble today. Don't Buy An Autoclave Until You Read This Find out the 17 questions you need to ask before buying your next autoclave. Download eBook Tweet Like Share
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