Although far too many people in this country aren’t exercising enough, some people are exercising obsessively to the point where it is an addiction.  For a person with “exercise dependency” working out has become an obsession which dominates their life much like an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

A compulsive exerciser is different from a serious athlete in three fundamental ways.  The serious athlete is:

• Working out towards a specific goal, event or season
• Looking for performance-related results from their training (beyond weight loss/management)
• Taking breaks and/or decreasing in their training when they are off-season

A compulsive exerciser is doing none of these. 

Exercise addicts begin to experience symptoms of withdrawl within 24-36 hours when they are not able to exercise due to circumstance beyond their control.  These symptoms include:

• anxiety
• irritability
• nervousness
• guilt

Exercise addicts are most often women between the ages of 35 and 60.  Typically, these women started working out in adulthood to lose weight and get in shape. They tend to have a history of issues with low self-esteem and are perfectionistic by nature.  Working out has given them a sense of power and self-confidence they hadn’t experienced before.

Sharon Stoliaroff, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist based in Chevy Chase, MD, developed this checklist to screen for addiction to exercise.  Rate yourself as honestly as you can on the checklist below:

Invest in your network

Have you ever walked into a bank where you do not have an account and attempted to make a withdrawal?  It’s a ridicules idea, they would simply look at you and tell you “Open an account, make a deposit, then you can make a withdrawal.”

It works exactly the same way when you are networking.  You must first invest into your network before you attempt to make a withdrawal.   Consistently I have people approach me and ask me to connect them, give them a referral or do business with them, but they have done nothing to build a relationship with me.  They have made zero deposits.

Think about your network, how much time have you spent investing in that network?  All to often we are quick to go out and add more people to our network believing that quantity is the most important thing.  While you are busy adding to your network you don’t stop to nurture the network that you have already built.

Take a look at your current network.  Who is in it?  How much time could you spend investing in the people you already have in your network, making deposits into their accounts?  This would be time better spent than adding hundreds of new people to your network whom you never really invest in.

When you invest in others it makes it much easier ask them for a withdrawal when you need it. Take the following actions over the next few weeks;

Pick 3-5 people in your network whom you would like to develop a deeper relationship.

• Schedule time to meet with each one of them, invest time in getting to know them better.
• Find multiple ways that you can help them, invest in them and their businesses.
• Schedule regular ways to stay in touch with them, drop them notes, articles, emails, and connections.
• Buy their products, take their classes, contribute to their success, invest in their future, in return they will be willing to help you when you need to make a withdrawal.

Spend more time nurturing the relationships that you have and you will be able to spend less time running around town adding more people to your network.  When you are ready to make a withdrawal, your network will be there to help you.

Hazel  owns and operates a franchisee of Referral Institute, a worldwide referral marketing training organization. As a Master Trainer, Hazel provides business-expansion expertise to entrepreneurs and corporations by teaching business professionals comprehensive referral marketing stratagem. In 2006, her franchise earned both the Top-Grossing Franchise award and the honor of hosting the Referral Institute International Conference.