Terry Crews on Well-Being: ‘One Wonderful Thing Can Change Your Life’

After retiring from the NFL in 1997, Terry Crews didn’t know what to do next. 

The former linebacker and defensive end had spent years focused on football, only to find himself struggling once that chapter of his life ended. 

“When I retired, I was severely depressed,” Crews recalled June 18 during a discussion on workplace well-being at SHRM26, held in person in Orlando and virtually. “I gained like 30 pounds. I wasn’t working out. It’s a death; that part of your life is gone.”

After coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t taking care of himself and had developed unhealthy habits, Crews heard, then leaned into, the simple idea that repeating one habit consistently for 21 days could begin changing a person’s life. 

The next day, he joined a local gym, not to train as a professional athlete but simply to start moving. He sat on a recumbent bike, read a magazine, and moved for a few minutes.

“I almost wanted to cry,” said Crews, now an actor, host of America’s Got Talent, and ambassador to WellHub, a workplace wellness platform. “I said, ‘I’m not an athlete anymore. But I got that day in.”

Crews kept returning to the gym and jumped back into a health routine that not only improved his physical health but his mental health, too. “Fitness starts to infect, in a good way, everything else in your life,” he said.

As he became more disciplined with exercise, he found himself becoming more intentional in other areas as well. “I could be more productive,” he said. “I can do better at my work.”

The progress was gradual rather than immediate. “It’s like a seed, and you can’t dig up a seed when you plant it, because it’ll stop growing,” Crews said. “You just have to water [it]; you just have to take care of it. You just have to continue and be consistent.”

For HR leaders facing rising levels of employee stress, burnout, and workplace uncertainty, Crews’ story carries an important lesson: Well-being is rarely about dramatic transformations. It’s more about creating the conditions that allow people to take one positive step forward.

That, Crews said, is the “difference between winning and losing.”

“One wonderful thing can change your life over time,” he said. “It’s the law of compound interest.”

Toolkit: Designing and Managing Effective Wellness Programs

A Strategic Priority

That lesson comes as employers increasingly view workplace wellness as a business imperative rather than simply another employee perk. 

During the June 18 SHRM26 panel, Mike Daoust, head of North America at WellHub, said HR leaders are increasingly elevating wellness conversations to the executive level. “About 89% of HR executives and CEOs now see it as strategic,” he said.

Still, many workers struggle to build healthy routines because they lack the resources or support systems to do so.

That gap between intention and action is where employers can play a significant role. Daoust pointed to WellHub data showing that 61% of members who join the platform are visiting a gym for the first time. The finding suggests that many employees are looking for accessible ways to get started rather than an advanced fitness program.

“A lot of employees need help,” Daoust said. “They haven’t built that, they haven’t had the money to do it, they haven’t had the time, they haven’t had the flexibility.”

Employers can play an important role in encouraging those behaviors, particularly as workers navigate rapid workplace transformation.

As AI reshapes jobs, workflows and skill requirements, many employees are experiencing uncertainty about what comes next. Daoust said organizations should think about well-being as a way to help employees build resilience during periods of change.

The challenge for employers, Daoust added, is figuring out how to help more workers build that same foundation.

“What are we going to do to enable your workforce to absorb that and embrace it?” Daoust asked.

For Crews, the answer starts with consistency rather than intensity.

Whether it's a trip to the gym, a walk around the block, a meditation session, or another healthy habit, he encouraged employees to focus less on immediate results and more on showing up.

“When you take responsibility for your own life, it gives you energy,” Crews said.

That energy, he argued, can transform not only personal well-being but also how people show up for their work, their families, and their communities.

“It starts with you, it starts here,” Crews said. “Ask yourself, ‘What is it I can do today to change my situation for the better?’ ”