How to Get in Shape With an Insanely Busy Schedule

Time.

Its probably the number 1 reason that is given when you ask the question;

Why is it so hard to get in shape/exercise/diet/meal prep?

Time. I don’t have enough time.

“figure it out” is hardly a productive solution. Especially to someone who works non-stop, has kids, a family and responsibilities that take up large parts of the day.

I’m not here to convince you to create more time. I’m here to show you how to make better use of the time you already have available.

But first, you MUST buy into the fact that you have all the time you need.

Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands to fill the amount of time you have allowed to complete it.”

In other words, things become harder to complete when more time is given to complete it as the build-up to the task becomes stressful and daunting.

For example, if you give yourself the whole day to finish something that would only take an hour to complete, then that one-hour task will grow in complexity, requiring more time and resources than were originally needed

Sound familiar?

“I’ll exercise later”

“I’ll food prep this evening”

“I’ll go walk tomorrow”

The extra time that you are putting in the task by avoiding it is wasted time and energy. Eventually when you do get around to doing it, you say to yourself “wow, that wasn’t so bad.”

You may be thinking “Ok, cool. I get putting it off takes more time and is more stressful, but I still have a full day of work, family, etc.”

Indeed. This law also applies to work.

Research shows that most people are typically productive for 2-4 hours of their 8-10 hour workday.

Even if you are working more it doesn’t necessarily mean the work is done well or productive.

Honesty is key here as well. How much time do you spend scrolling, researching other jobs, researching vacations, gossiping?

Research says MOST of the work day!

The solution may lie in the Pomodoro Technique.

This is a technique designed to break your day down into bite size increments to help manage your time, attention and focus.

Here’s how it looks in action.

The key here isn’t thinking what can I accomplish today, its what can I accomplish in the next 30 minutes.

This can be an incredibly effective tool in your work (prioritize work tasks) as well as your fitness (food prep, workouts, journaling, walking,etc.)

The benefits are being able to focus on one task at at time, for a short time to maximize concentration an focus.

This can be most effective for those who:

-Find little distractions often derail the whole workday

-Consistently work past the point of optimal productivity

-Have lots of open-ended work that could take unlimited amounts of time (ex. studying for an exam, bookwork, invoices, emails, etc.)

-Are overly optimistic when it comes to how much you can get done in a day

You won’t get more hours in your day. If getting in shape is indeed important to you then you must figure out a way to make the best use of your time.

Hope this helps you do that.