Fit For Life: Time is On My Side – Yes it is…

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Matt Espeut, GoLocalProv Health +Lifestyle Contributor

 

View Larger +

I haven’t had the time to get to the gym.

I haven’t had the time to call you back.
I want to see that movie, but I don’t have the time.
I want to start packing my lunch, but don’t have the time.
Haven’t had the time to stop over, but I will soon.
Does this sound familiar to you?


Heck, we can all relate to this, right? Well, here is another question. If the gyms always have people in them, and we always get phone calls throughout the day, and the movies are always busy, my clients usually have their food with them (they better), and I usually see my family members several days a week, and we were all given the same 24 hours in the day, how do others have or find the time to do these things? Why are some people working out regularly, eating healthy food, making phone calls that need to be made, and getting to enjoy a few of life's simple pleasures?

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

 

Excuses.

Because these people MAKE the time to do the things that are important or necessary to them.

They do not get extra time during the day, nor do they have some magic wand that gets things done for them. They manage their time so they can be efficient and accomplish all the necessary things that are part of their day. If you want something bad enough, you will make the time to do it; if it isn’t important enough, you will just make an excuse. I know that there are certain things that we can’t avoid. Kids sick and home from school, so you can’t get out of the house.

Your boss sets a deadline, and you can’t get out of it, so you need to stay late, or you get into a car accident, and are stranded for a day with no vehicle. These are extraordinary circumstances, and can’t be avoided, legitimate reasons to fall off track…temporarily. They are not part of our everyday routines, and happen infrequently, therefore we must deal with the temporary situation, fix the problem, and move on.

It’s when you say “I know I should be working out, but…, or I know my diet isn’t that good but..., or I feel bad that I haven’t seen this person in a while, but! These are the things you should be working on to try and fix. Saying you do not have the time is a self-fabricated excuse, because if others can find the time to do it, so can you.

So why don’t we do the things that are important to us? Why do we get discouraged when we don’t get enough done in a day? When you fail to accomplish what you set out to do, day in and day out, it becomes a habit. We are all still doing things that we know are wrong. We say it to ourselves, we say it to friends, heck we even say it to strangers.

My advice is to find one of those things that you know you are doing wrong and stop doing it. Time, it IS our most valuable asset; yet we seem to always be wasting it. There's a few ways to stop wasting time. One way to self-improve is to get better at time management.

Manage your day; don’t let your day get away from you.

Here are a few things that will help you manage your time and get a few things that are important to you done.


1. Make a list of everything you need to accomplish in any given day. I remember back to the days when I was a paperboy, my supervisor used to tell us “keep your book, you will always collect more money that way” and he was right, I always remembered who owed me when it was written down. The same holds true for your eating. Write it down, and you will be surprised at the empty calories going onto that list.


2. Prioritize your list. Put your important items on top. This way you will accomplish these items first.

•    Market
•    Drop off Jr. at practice
•    Edit article for GoLocal
•    Gym
•    Car Wash
•    Pick up Jr. from practice

 

3.  Delegate the things that someone else can do for minimal cost. Housekeeping, landscaping, small odd jobs like painting, and washing the car. Use the time that you have to do the things only you can do, like making money, and taking care of your health.


4.  Execute the things on that list. Nothing feels better than checking off things you have accomplished. An even better feeling is crumpling up a bunch of sticky notes that are complete.

 

There’s only one good excuse.

So, next time someone asks you why you didn’t do something, do not say I didn’t have the time, instead reply, I mismanaged my day, and didn’t make the time to do it. It wasn’t important enough for me to get it done. Or even better, tell them you were at the gym, and that was the priority!

View Larger +

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one

 

Related Articles

 

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

 
 

Sign Up for the Daily Eblast

I want to follow on Twitter

I want to Like on Facebook