Are you one of the many who feel you do not have time to exercise? I hear it all the time. “I have a job, kids, parents, housekeeping, ____fill in the blank____, I can’t exercise regularly.” I am with ya. I’ve got kids, a husband, extended family, work, housekeeping, a yard, but here is a secret, if I do not make time to exercise, I will have to make time to be ill. Pretty heavy words. I don’t even like the way it sounds. If not exercise, illness. So what can you do about your time issues?
First, be honest about them. Write down your daily schedule for a few days. Once you have a list of daily activities look for time sappers. Is there things you do regularly that suck your time up? One of mine is reading. I’ll grab a magazine for a break and do not put it down when it is time. Reading in itself is not the problem, its my ability to block out the other things that need to get done to finish an article I may not care much about. Many see this problem with TV. They sit down for a brief break and end up watching an entire episode of a show they do not care about or rather than leave a co-workers office when other things should be getting done you linger to gossip about items you could give a hoot about. No matter what your time sapper, the end result is the same: you still have the same chores to get done leaving you no time to do the things you want. What if you stuck to the brief break and turned the TV off after 10 minutes? Or if I put down the magazine when it was time to go back to work? I think over the course of a day you would probably find an extra thirty minutes.
Second, GO TO BED! Make sure you are getting adequate sleep. Our bodies rely on it to rebuild and when you cheat it you cheat yourself. You create a deficit which results in less productive days. These less productive days add items you were too tired to complete back on your to do list again resulting in the feeling of no time left. When you wake up with enough sleep you are focused and ready for the day’s challenges leaving you extra time because you’ll be able to get your list done early!
Third, are you good at time management. Even if you wake up refreshed you must be a good time manager if you are going to really get enough done in a day. Many interchange the word stress with busy. If you find yourself always busy you’ve got a problem. I don’t mean this mean, but if you are always running behind, find yourself in the never ending to do list, feel that as soon as you finish one project you must begin the next you may be inefficient or you need an assistant. Nobody can do it all. I see many people like this. They run around like just been butchered chickens, where do just been butchered chickens go? In circles. Then they talk to me about how stressed out they are, how everybody else needs them first, and how they could never take the time to lose the extra weight because they have absolutely no time to workout. Hmmmm….If you do not take time for yourself no one else will and on top of that most say nobody appreciates the extra work they do. I would say, no one appreciates the work they do because no one knows what they really do, how they do it, or why they are doing it. I know I have put on my yelling voice, but what I am really saying is; your time is yours, manage it well and it will serve you well. Your time is your most precious commodity and you are worth a lot so make sure what you spend it on is worth it. If you are always too busy examine why and then delegate jobs that are no longer worth your time and focus your attention on the tasks which are. I speak from experience, as I have 3 small children, own a business, write weekly, run a household, and am still able to take a bath most nights of the week, meet up with my friends, and spend quality time with my husband and kids. Delegation is key.
Finally, your time is yours. If you do not find time to move often you will have to find time for illness. Personally, my very valuable time is better spent walking in the park, working out, playing with my kids, hiking with my husband, and enjoying this glorious thing we call life.
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