Ever feel like there just isn't enough time in the day? You may not want to hear this, but you have the same amount of time in your day as someone running a multi-million dollar company, the same amount of time as someone with the six pack abs you dream about and the same amount of time in the day as someone who comes home from work and prepares a home cooked meal for their family.
The unfortunate truth is that we are all becoming busier and busier. "Busy" is often worn as a badge of honor, but what is your "busy" actually doing to improve your life? If you are filling your time with activities that don't make you better, you need to take inventory of what is filling up your time so that you can prioritize things like sleep, meal planning and exercise.
1. Take Inventory of Your Time
Take a few days to be honest with yourself and track how much time you spend on mindless junk (ie- scrolling social media, watching Netflix). Once you narrow down your biggest time-sucks, see if you still feel as though you "don't have time" to workout. You'll be able to visualize how much extra time you actually have to accomplish your goals.
An easy way to visualize where you are spending all of your time is by calendar blocking. Check out this video for a step-by-step on what exactly calendar blocking is and how to get started.
Once you have taken these two steps to 1) identify your biggest time-sucks and 2) visualize where you are spending each hour of your day, ensure you have time for the things you really want to accomplish by scheduling them on your calendar like an appointment. You wouldn't miss a doctor's appointment would you? Start taking your health seriously and treat it the same way.
2. Have a Reason Why
You wouldn't wake up early just to stand around in your underwear and scroll Instagram would you? No! If you don't know WHY you are waking up at the butt crack of dawn, you won't be motivated to not hit the snooze button when 4:30 AM rolls around.
Maybe working out in the morning just isn't for you, that's okay. Mornings are often the most peaceful time of day, before everyone else wakes up, before traffic gets heavy, before your house sounds like a six-ring circus. Take advantage of this peacefulness. Use this time to either clear your mind (through activities such as meditation or journaling) or to use your clear mind to get ahead on work for that side hustle you are passionate about. Whatever it is, if you get to work on the things you've been putting off in the early morning hours, you'll be ahead of everyone before they even wake up.
3. Plan Ahead
I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but for some reason people still don't do it! If you are stumbling around half asleep at 5 AM looking for your workout clothes, water bottle, supplements and shoes you just might stumble right back into bed. Lay your clothes out the night before, mix up your pre-workout drink and have your bag ready to go at the door.
If you want to get some work done in the morning make sure you set out your laptop and materials in a separate room, so that you have to get up and get out of bed to get to what you need. Put a filter, grounds and water in your coffee maker so that you can just hit "on" when you wake up. Life hack: get a coffee maker that has a delay brew function, so you can literally wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
4. You Snooze,You Lose
Create consequences for yourself when you hit the snooze button. This could be anything from putting money in a jar to not allowing yourself to attend social events until you've finished the work you said you were going to accomplish in the morning. There are also tons of cool apps that make it hard to hit the snooze button! Check out Alarmy or Walk Me Up if you are having trouble getting out of bed.
5. Create a Bulletproof Schedule
If you know you are on a tight schedule in the mornings, make sure the expectations you are setting for this time are realistic. If you know you have to do things like take your dog out, get your kids ready for school, etc. plan time for these activities so that your extra time isn't causing you extra stress.
For example, I leave for work at 6:45 AM. In order to leave on time I know that I need to be back at my house at 6 AM to take my dog out, shower, get dressed and ready to go. I started out waking up at 5 AM, but quickly realized that this left me getting to the gym too late to have a decent amount of time to work out. So, begrudgingly, I started setting my alarm for 4:30 AM so that I could get dressed, tip-toe out the door without waking my snoozing pup, and drive to the gym to be at the doors at 4:59 AM.
I'll be honest, the first few weeks will suck. If you can't get paste your urge to snooze long enough to get out of bed and out the door, I promise you won't ever regret it.
If you don't know WHY you are waking up at the butt crack of dawn, you won't be motivated to not hit the snooze button when 4:30 AM rolls around.
Use my timeline below as an example, but build a timeline that you know will work for you and what you are looking to accomplish.
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