Lately seeing a lot of people my age focus on fitness. Yes, health is important and it was inevitable that people would start caring about their fitness. But I think another reason people have been getting into fitness is that compared to everything else in your late 20s/early 30s, health is something you can have more control over.

Let’s compare to career growth.

The machinery. Your boss. Office politics. Macro factors. These will probably have a higher impact your growth than you grinding. You will get ahead by working hard. But the magnitude will depend on a lot of external factors.

How much you can lift? How long you can run? It is all about your commitment to your fitness goals and the absolute hours you put in. There is some genetics involved, but it is far more straight forward.

There is no way to fake it. No one else to blame but yourself if you miss your health goals.

And it is not zero sum. You getting promoted does not mean someone is not. You are not competing with someone for scarce comapany resources. You don’t have to throw someone under the bus for your own career advancement.

It is simply wonderful. I find a lot of joy in working out.

And there is positive mimetic behavior when it comes to fitness. People get inspired by seeing others. In career, you compare your growth with peers, your comp vs your colleagues, your status in the bengaluru startup tech bro heirarchy, but in fitness everyone is hyping each other. No one gets jealous. Everyone is cheering each other’s fitness updates. Pushing each other.

The vibes are just different. And I like it a lot.