Finding time for fitness – Part 1
I talk about time management often here. The truth is, with the correct time management you will be surprised how much you can do in a day!
With time management comes success and discipline.
Before you start time management, you need to monitor your daily habits. You can do this by timing each of your activities. This can be done using a stopwatch or an apps. aTimeLogger is my favorite, which can keep track of your activities.
Monitor your daily habits and doing so you may be surprised how much time you are wasting! One of my clients was shocked to discover she was wasting up to 10 hours a day on trivial things. This was someone who always complained she has no time to exercise.
Here are some of the typical activities that you may be spending more time on than you think:
TV: Most people will switch on the TV to “relax” for a “bit” or catch up on a specific program. Most likely you will spend more time on the TV that originally planned and you won’t even realise this has become a habit. TV is a perfect distraction machine. You are very likely to watch a random program that follows after your intended program. And if it is news, or a documentary, you fool yourself into thinking you are becoming educated by watching the program, and it is necessary.
Things to time using your stopwatch or App include:
- Shower and bath durations
- Social media browsing
- WhatsApp and other messaging services
- TV / Netflix and other online streaming websites
- YouTube and other video sharing websites
- Sleep
- Cooking and eating
- Cleaning
- Commuting
- Emails
- News
- Shopping
Monitor and write down the duration of these activities for a week. After you have some data, try to find a way to cut down the time spent on each activity.
Unfortunately, this could seem very hard at fist. It is most likely that the excess time spent on all the above activities has already become a habit.
Set yourself new daily rituals. Don’t try to get rid off all your bad habits at once. Start with spending 5 minutes less on each activity and cut down daily.
If self-control is hard for you, switch off your Internet access few hours a day to avoid wasting time on social media. Read a book instead or exercise. You can download and print our offline workout guides.
Remember, always plan your day ahead. Set your rituals, set the time you will workout tomorrow and change can happen. You need to be consistent.
Good luck
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