Time for Health: Structuring Your Life for Fitness Success

You must realize this very important principal of healthy living:

You make time so you don't have to find time.

The problem that so many people encounter in creating a lifestyle around health and fitness is that they leave too much up to chance.

You know that you need to exercise, meal prep, go for a walk but you don't know how or when you'll get these done.  When you don't have clarity in the execution of these things, they just remain stuck in your head and never actually get done.

As I've said before, the perfect plan isn't perfect if you don't do it.

To create habits and an identity around health you must be discipline around creating structure for your brain to follow.

Planning out your day is less about having every hour of the day mapped out and more about removing decision making fatigue so that you can execute the important tasks each day.

If you went to work each day without knowing what you were going to do.

Imagine your boss asking "what're you working on today?" and you answering "I don't know, ill figure it out."

It won't end well.

Winging it rarely works in your favor.

We accept making appointments in every other area of our life with no problem, but when it comes to our health and fitness why do we struggle so much?

You make appointments with your doctor.
You make appointments for your hair.
You make appointments with mechanic.

Everything but your fitness.

Your health and fitness must be as important (If not more) than anything else in your life. You must carve out and schedule the time it demands, just like you do everything else. Making this switch is the first step in actualizing real change and not doing good for a little while and then falling back into old habits.

Here is how to make your fitness and health a priority with ease.

1. Use a calendar or notebook to get your day out of your head and in front of you. I prefer Google Calendar.

2. Start by listing out the non-negotiables of the day. For many it'll be work, kids school/sports, appointments. Get these on the calendar first so you can see where your time is going. From here you can see how much time you have to work with. Maybe you think you have no time but find out you have 2-4 hours per day available, or little pockets of time (20-30 minutes here and there). You don't know until you look at it.

3. Schedule in exercise/meal prep/meals/etc. based on priority. Once you've got the non-negotiables in you must then schedule out based on priority. Exercise, food and healthy habits need to be prioritized! It's that simple. Schedule these in around the other things in your life. Getting it in front of you will help to take the guesswork and the decision making process out of it. The more clear you are the more confident you'll be. The more confident you'll be, the more likely you are to succeed.

Remember, it won't be perfect. Perfection is a myth and you need to get it out of your head. If you really do only have 20-30 minutes a few times a day then you will have to make the most of that time. No excuses, you must make it work.

Here is an example of what your calendar may look like.

You can see where this persons time is being spent and what they prioritize. Yours will obviously look different so don't get caught up in the specific details of this persons schedule vs your own.

Other things to note: You will want to consider any "roadblocks" that may show up. Plan ahead for things that may make executing these things difficult and remove them. 

There's a saying " the man who is seen as discipline isn't more discipline than you or I, he has just removed any temptation to be undisciplined ahead of time."

I'd suggest taking time each Sunday to map something similar out so that you have intention and focus towards your goals each week. Over time, this will seem less restricting and more freeing. 

After a while this will all become more intuitive and easier to manage, but until then, you owe it to yourself to make it as easy as possible by mapping things out.

Remember, easy is earned. Give it time, make it a priority and adjust as your lifestyle and goals change.

Hope this is useful.

Have a great week.

-Alex