54% of women think about weight and fitness while they are taking a shower. They long to take a break and to workout regularly. They long to have that time to themselves, but there are so many things to do in a day and there are just not enough hours. Your time and your energy are reserved for your kids, your husband, and your parents and just about anyone else that needs you or asks you to do something. You lack what psychologists label ‘healthy’ selfishness.
People who practice ‘healthy’ selfishness find creative ways to meet the wishes and desires of those around themselves and while also satisfying your own needs. This is a hard level to maintain for even the healthiest person. It’s important to stay on track while concentrating on the multitude of tasks that you have to juggle.
You may feel that this sounds good, but the reality is you have a lot to do and you need to get it done. Spend some time considering exactly what it is you want to do. Visualize it, then imagine the best way that scenario would happen. Write it down if you need to, write down what tools you’ll need, what things you might have to give up and where you could start.
Once you’ve done this, you have an action plan. It’s time to take that action plan and fold it into your day. If you can make your fitness work in the morning, it helps to get it out of the way for the rest of the day. It also helps get your day started off on the right foot. If time is a concern in the morning then start small, schedule yourself 30 minutes in the morning. You rise 30 minutes earlier in order to get your 30-minute workout in.
30 minutes is a small number. But 30 minutes of time to yourself to walk, jog, bicycle or do a light yoga or fitness routine in your living room or at a gym is worth the investment. If that means you need to go to bed 30 minutes earlier at night, it’s a great time investment.
Trim the excess from your day by identifying the key things that you absolutely have to do and the things that you do because there is an expectation that you will. For example, you have to take your kids to school. You don’t have to run errands for everyone else because it’s something that will save them time.
It’s hard to tell people no, but one lesson I’ve learned is that when you don’t learn to use the word no you can and do over commit yourself. You will offer or say yes to adding numerous stops to your day in order to help someone else out or to save them time. For example, if your husband needs some items mailed, you may offer to head to the post office or go to the store to pick up items they need. This is a great thing, but sometimes you need to say no to adding these extra items to your day. It’s especially important for those who deplete time from his or her own schedule in order to do it.
Employ the following time management practices to help you shrink your mountains to molehills and add those extra precious minutes you need to your day.
· Starting Small
· Chunk the Work
· Apply the 2-Minute Rule
Don’t try to do every large task that needs to be done in one fell swoop. Choose one major task per week such as deep cleaning a room or sorting out the garage. On that day, don’t just clean the area, but organize it so that it will minimize how much day-to-day work you’ll need to spend on it.
Chunk the task of not only your fitness, but all large personal tasks. Make up a wish list of all the things you’d like to get done. Take 25 minutes a day and work on eliminating items from that list. This plan of action will allow you to see progress being made. Success breeds success.
Invite your family along with you to employ the 2-minute rule to their daily routines. If a task will take less than 2 minutes to complete, do it and get it out of the way. That means if it takes you and your spouse under two minutes to rinse off a dish and put it in the dishwasher, just do it. If it will take you two minutes to make a call or answer a piece of mail, do it. Get it off your plate and get on with the rest of your day.
Time management lets you get things done. It helps you develop ‘healthy’ selfishness. That ‘healthy’ selfishness reduces stress as it makes time for you and let’s you work on the fitness program that achieves your goals. When you’re happier, your health benefits and so does your family.