How to Get Started on Your Health and Fitness Journey When Time is Tight
It seems that everyone is busy these days. Whether it's overwork, overcommitment or just plain overwhelm, you might have a hard time envisioning ever having success on your fitness journey.
Below are 3 strategies for kick-starting your health and fitness journey even when you're crazy busy:
1. Talk to your boss about your health and fitness goals, struggles and the obstacles that are created by your job
Depending who your boss is, you may even want to talk to someone higher up to share your struggles with them. Sometimes middle managers can get caught up in projects and lose the overall vision of the company or maybe they're tied down by policies within their department. A manager above them may be free from these obstacles.
It's important to talk it through with your boss. They may not be aware of the struggle you are having with balancing everything, especially if you're good at putting on a strong outward appearance. Most companies are beginning to think a lot more about employee wellness, so perhaps if you make your struggles known, they will be willing to help you to make time for health and fitness. (People are often much more helpful and understanding than we realize!) Often all it takes is communication for solutions to present themselves.
2. Start with small habits that take little or no extra time
This could be as simple as doing 5 push-ups every time you return from the washroom or eating 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking. Not only will this help you towards your fitness goals, it will also likely help you to focus better at work since getting activity and balancing blood sugar are critical to mental function. Alternatively, maybe you'd like to go for a bit bigger impact, but still avoid any extra time committment. If this is the case, maybe start by exchanging your food choices at every meal for healthier, but equally quick alternatives.
After a few months you'll be amazed at the difference it makes as you add these habits bit by bit. In 5 years, you won't care how fast you made progress this month, what you'll care about is that you made it there by continually progressing forward - no matter how slow the progress. If you keep progressing forward at a sustainable pace, rather than sprinting, burning out, falling back and restarting, your 5 year goal will be easy to obtain. You just have to trust the process and be consistent.
3. Increase your financial investment to reduce the time or emotional investment
If you have the money, but you're strapped for time and motivation, try paying for personal training (if you need something to get you to the gym), a personal chef or house cleaner (if you need time freed up and healthier food choices) or hire a coach (if you just need guidance through the confusion that is in the health and fitness world.)
If you're working that much, that you don't have time to cook or get to the gym as often as you'd like, you likely have some extra cash to spare. If that's the case, it's probably a good investment to use some of it towards increasing accountability or decreasing time spent on chores.
In general it takes either time or money to incorporate fitness into your life, so if you are currently finding it difficult to make time for things and stay motivated, spending a bit of extra money to free up time or add motivation may be a good investment.
Our personal choice with building our business while trying to stay fit was to sacrifice some money to hire house cleaners. Was it expensive? Absolutely, but now we're at the point where I've been able to quit my full time job and focus on the business full time.
Great accomplishments often take great sacrifices. So if you need to get in shape, cut back on the frappuccinos and new patio furniture and go pay someone to help you do it!
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- Derek
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