Fit Body, Focused Mind: 5 Steps to Get Your Exercise Back on Track
“Claim your calendar before someone else does.” – Michael Hyatt
In today’s fast-paced world, we often find ourselves juggling multiple responsibilities and struggling to find enough time to fit everything in.
Despite our best intentions, exercise and physical activity are often the first things to get pushed aside when our schedules get too busy.
It happens slowly and low-key.
Before we know it, we are already feeling the effects of not having exercised for a week, two weeks, or even many months.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Sure, life happens and we need to roll with the punches.
But at some point, we need to stop and figure things out before it’s too late…
If you don’t take care of your schedule, you won’t take care of your body
It’s not that you aren’t trying.
You’re a high achiever who likes to get things done.
New and exciting projects always seem to find their way to your capable hands and you enjoy producing great work.
But if you’re anything like me, you struggle with saying “No”.
Soon, new priorities begin to slowly creep onto your schedule and start crowding out the important stuff.
And before you know it, you’re feeling…
- Less focused
- Lower energy and productivity throughout your day
- More irritable and mentally drained
- Stiff, slow, and weak
This was my life.
Ironically, the worst season of my life – exercising the least, eating poorly, not getting enough sleep – was when I first became a Physical Therapist!
I was helping others prioritize their health and activity while neglecting my own.
But, looking back, I took some major steps in the right direction.
Now I’m exercising regularly, accomplishing more, and feeling more energized, motivated, and focused!
What surprised me was that my success didn’t have much to do with my exercise routines, type of exercise, or latest fad.
It had everything to do with getting control of my schedule.
Since then, I’ve identified the 5 major steps I took to get my mind focused and my body fit and I want to share those with you.
5 Steps to Get Back on Track:
-
Assess your week
I mean it. Get a blank spreadsheet or calendar with every hour of the week shown (Hint: there’s 168 hours in a week). And start tracking what you are currently doing throughout the week. No week will be exactly the same. But you’ll be surprised where you might be wasting time. Or you might see where you are doing things which would be better done on a different day and time.
-
Decide what kind of exercise you want
Next, you need to determine what your needs and desires are for exercise. What kind of activities do you like? How long does it take? How often do you want to exercise? What season of life are you in? Are you wanting more strength or do you want more endurance? Be sure to tie it into things that you actually enjoy or are interested in so you can tap into that intrinsic motivation. No point in getting into running just because your friends are doing it…unless you want to!
-
Schedule your exercise first
Start a new blank spreadsheet or calendar and start creating your week around your exercise. Obviously, you’ll need to consider other important areas of your life (sleep, work, rest, relationships, community, etc). If you’ve ever seen Stephen Covey’s rocks analogy, you’ll understand the significance of this step. Design your weeks around what is most important and be sure to make space for your physical activity and exercise.
-
Set a goal
When I started making changes to incorporate exercise into my life, it didn’t really take off until I set a goal. A goal will help to ground this part of your life into a repeatable habit that you look forward to each week. I recommend starting with a habit goal such as “go to the gym 3x/wk for 12 weeks starting May 8.” You can be even more specific by identifying a time of day and how long you plan to exercise. But the point is that you start making this a part of your weekly rhythm and routine.
-
Track your progress
And as with any goal, it’s important to track your progress. Use whatever you need to consistently get your eyes and attention on your goal to improve your health and activity. There are countless tracking apps as well as written templates and pdf’s available for download to make it more fun and exciting along the way. If you aren’t progressing, you’ll have clear vision on it and be able to make changes quicker than having a vague notion of how you are doing.
If you want help getting back on track to start prioritizing your health and exercise, book a call or leave a comment below.
When you get control of your schedule, you prevent others from dictating your priorities.
By prioritizing your health and physical activity to care for your body, you simply feel better, are more productive, less stressed, have greater energy and focus, move better, and get more quality sleep.
This will lead to not only greater health and wellbeing, but drastically improve your ability to focus and get the RIGHT things done.
What other strategies have helped you get back on track with your health? Let me know in the comments!