With spring around the corner, I’m ready to shake things up and make full use of that extra hour of daylight. Slumbering through the winter months gave me a cold dose of reality that it’s now time to break away from some of the stubborn routine and habits that caused me to pack on a little extra here and there. Despite my continuing efforts at the gym running on the treadmill and doing some cardio on the elliptical, I gained more weight and unfortunately, I could not attribute the extra weight to muscle mass. Poor eating habits, marathon long stretches at the office and reckless trips to the grocery store were some of the culprits. At the same time, I also found those unfriendly pounds were also my body’s unresponsiveness to physical activity that became routine. As Tony Horton, Creator of PX90 would say, I hit a ‘plateau’ and the true secret to weight loss, in addition to eating healthy, is the science of muscle confusion, differentiating your training with targeted phases and zones, so your body keeps adapting and growing.

The next few weeks were not going to be easy, but with a steady commitment and some perseverance I ‘busied’ my body with a combination of pilates, interval training, boot camp and outdoor jogging. The results were minimal, but if I can turn this into a healthy habit and kick out half of the unhealthy eating, I may be able to make more progress. According to Gretchen Rubin, “Habits are the invisible architecture of daily life. We repeat about 40 percent of our behavior almost daily, so our habits shape our existence, and our future. If we change our habits, we change our lives.”

As important as it is to commit to a healthy habit and design a workout program that exercises your body, it’s just as important to exercise your mind and develop your work habits. Whether you’re in marketing, cloud computing, big data or IT, we’re all impacted by the evolving digital landscape and changes to technology that can compromise people’s skill set, influence key processes and workflow, and hinder everyday business matters — and project management is no exception.

Charged with leading your team, managing expectations, dealing with unforeseen circumstances and acting as a team player, project managers play a critical role in organizations both small and large. To succeed as a project manager, you’ve got to be relentless about moving with the speed of change and staying on top of your game. You’ve got to kick that ‘one-size-fits-all’ mentality and routine, and throw it out the window. You’ve got to invest in yourself. Keeping up with project management trends, staying current with the Project Management Institute and learning about the latest developments in your industry will not only groom you to be a more confident and knowledgeable practitioner in your field, it will also enable you to stay competitive in the marketplace.

Competition in the job market is steep, so if you’re thinking about getting comfortable in your role, it’s time to get uncomfortable. Today, there are more than 745,000 certified Project Management Professionals in the world and not everyone is lucky enough to include a project management job title to their resume. Project managers can no longer afford to be complacent in their roles nor can step back and let things fall into place. They need to shake up their routine, develop customized project plans and tailor their communications to their team and their customers. They need to be more flexible, agile and nimble in the face of change — and they must develop their skill set in order to stay competitive.

Alongside the competition, many project managers are not shy to flex their project management muscles and will do and say what they need to land that job. If you feel you lack the skills or competency, or struggle with asserting your project management credentials, there’s no better time to begin developing those muscles and strengthen your core. With spring training just weeks away, here are just a few ways I’m exercising my mind and maintaining my agile posture:

Diversify your existing skill set. With learning at your fingertips, it’s easy to reinforce existing skills or develop a few others that are necessary to keep you on your toes. I don’t know about you, but when I took the PMP exam, the results spoke for themselves saying I excelled in the Planning and Execution phases of a project, but needed to work on Closing. It’s easy to rush to the finish line when completing a project, but those loopholes can easily be a show-stopper for you, your team and much worse, your customer if you don’t properly close out a project. That’s why it was important for me to brush up on quality management and glean some lessons learned. And all of this was accessible at the convenience of my own home with videos, tutorials and templates via e-learning companies like Lynda.com, General Assembly, Udacity, Coursera and more.

Pick up a new skill all together. When you’re deeply entrenched in your role or racing to meet a deadline, many project managers tend to zero in on their job, gravitate to what they’re familiar with and lose focus on other practical ways to approach the same problem. While it’s important to develop your existing skill set, it’s critical to expose yourself to fresh ideas and new disciplines. One of the ways I like to challenge my mindset and become more agile is by getting in touch with my inner 12 year old self. Taking a painting class, trying a new workout at the gym and playing in a softball league are just some of the ways to flex your mind and inspire new ways of thinking. By pushing your boundaries, you’ll be surprised at how painting can elevate your attention to detail, how learning a new dance move can strengthen your agility and how playing on a team can heighten comradery and mindfulness — skills that are acquired outside your day-to-day routine and your nine to five profession.

Never say no to coffee. Besides thriving off of caffeine and relying on it to fully function throughout the day, I stand firmly that no person should ever deny or say no to a coffee invite. We’ve all got five or ten minutes to spare out of the day, so take the time to meet with someone new, talk to a stranger or catch up with your colleagues and peers. You’ll be surprised at what you can learn and pick up from a five minute conversation, how your mind can reboot and refocus after a short coffee break and how you can grow personally and professionally by exposing yourself to new people, new topics and new places. Plus, it just feels good.

These are a few of the workouts I created to help me stay in shape during Spring. What are you doing to flex your project management muscles? How do agile workouts keep you fit? What other spring training habits or routines are you picking up to get into shape for next season?

Before I push you to your limit, you’ll want to make sure you heed the advice of my good friend, Jeremy Lin: “Learning to rest is as important as learning to work.”