I’m sure you’ve been in this position before, where life just gets way too busy! I’ve not posted any articles for a few days, because it has been one of those weeks for me – super busy, leaving me with barely any time to myself. It’s times like this where you need to ask yourself: are you prioritizing your time, keeping enough aside to spend on important things like your health? This article is for all you busy people who want to learn how to fit exercise in, even when your schedule is full and it seems like you have no extra time left.
What are Your Lifestyle Priorities?
When we get busy it can become easy to forget our priorities in life. If you have a clear set of priorities and know what you value, then great job – you’re one of few who actually have stopped to think about this!
For those who haven’t, I’d like you to stop and think for a moment about what you really value in life. For some it may be family, a career, friends, money, material possessions, or maybe even a combination of these things. But one thing that is easily forgotten (and often taken for granted) is your health.
Most don’t even pay attention to this factor until they start to notice it because of ill-health. Only then do they start to think that they ought to pay some attention to this body that might be causing them grief!
Your Health is Important!
Health is important because good health allows us to enjoy life in a pain-free body. Keeping your body in good condition is just like keeping a car in good condition – you need to perform regular maintenance/servicing.
Exercise and healthy eating is the maintenance that you need to keep up in order to have your body performing at its very best. So let’s look at how we can keep up with exercising our bodies even when we get busy and have limited time.
It’s easy to get caught up…
In my case, the cause for my hectic schedule is currently due to a few pressing demands: I’m finishing up at my current job, starting at a new one, moving house, and trying to apply for a new position as well! In the midst of all this, it can be very easy to drop everything else in an attempt to focus on the task at hand – in fact, it’s very natural to do so.
Ever had a busy week and things like dirty laundry and dishes start piling up? You neglect those tasks because you run out of time, and have prioritized other tasks. It’s all too easy to do the same with exercise, neglecting to exercise your body when you get caught up with other things.
The whole thing can become a vicious cycle, because stress caused from being overly busy can lead to poor health. Excessive stress can lead to burnout and can have a massively negative effect on your health.
How to Fit Exercise In
So how do you fit exercise in on a busy schedule, if you’ve barely got time to keep your house clean? If you are feeling like you simply don’t have enough time to exercise, here are a few tips for how to keep your health from deteriorating when you get busy in life.
- Mentally Prioritize. You’re obviously busy, but even just thinking about how you want to make health a priority can be enough to get you focusing on the fact that you need to fit exercise in somewhere. The alternative is to push the thought out of your mind, and once you do this, you may as well kiss any idea you had about exercising goodbye as it will be very quickly forgotten.
- Do Quick Routines. So you may not have an hour or even 30 minutes to spare, but what about 5 or even 10 minutes? Even the busiest of schedules could be squeezed to allow a 5 or 10 minute break – and you can spend this doing a few bodyweight exercises or even go for a quick walk. Added bonus – Exercise counteracts the stress that can be brought on by being too busy, and reducing stress can in turn boost your productivity and efficiency.
- Make Exercise a “Must”. This comes back to priorities. Commit to making exercise a ‘must’ instead of a ‘should’. When you make this mental shift, you will no longer excuse yourself from exercise, as it is a must-do activity. You won’t find yourself constantly pushing the daily task to tomorrow in the classic act of procrastination.
- Wake Up 5 or 10 Minutes Earlier. If you’ve made exercise a ‘must’, then all you need to do to fit that in is just wake up a little earlier to fit it in. Couple your earlier wake up time with a quick 5-10 minute exercise routine, and you’ve gotten your required exercise out of the way first thing in the day. Trust me when I tell you that if you do this, you’ll feel amazingly successful and productive before you even really start the day.
- Use N.E.T. (No Extra Time) for Exercise. Here’s where you can get a bit creative. N.E.T (no extra time) is a concept where you can multitask to help achieve your goals. For example, I like to bust out a few bodyweight squats while I’m brushing my teeth – for a result of no extra time spent doing a little bit of exercise! There are other things you can do also – try isometric exercises (tensing/contracting your muscles without actually moving them by lengthening or shortening the muscle), which can be 100% unnoticeable and done even while seated – a great little N.E.T. exercise to do on your daily commute to work for example!
Even the Busiest of Schedules Needs to Fit Exercise In for Health!
I hope you’ve found some tricks and tips in the above to help you still fit exercise into your life, even during those times where things do get busy.
Remember, you shouldn’t run yourself into the ground by not taking any breaks for a little rest & relaxation – don’t feel guilty about taking some time out for yourself and your body!
Exercise is one of the best ways to de-stress, and you can use this to your advantage. By taking short breaks for exercise, you can combat stress as well as get in your daily exercise quota.
Maintaining your body in peak condition requires constant care in the form of healthy eating and exercises. Make your health a priority, and you’ll be able to fit more into life!
What do you do to fit exercise in when you start to get really busy? I’d love to hear your tips!
Ha! I liked your NET exercise idea. Pretty funny imagining someone squatting while brushing their teeth. Might be dangerous with a toothbrush in your mouth though.
I’m super busy as well. My way to fit exercise in is the “must” version. I try to prioritize the gym at some point in the day. I just drop everything I’m doing and go to the gym for at least 30 minutes. Too bad my gym closes early on Friday-Sunday. When I had a 24 hour gym I used to go at 11PM sometimes just because that was the only time I could prioritize it (over sleep apparently).
Haha, thanks Nathaniell, you make me realize I may sound a bit silly, but desperate times call for desperate measures! I forgot to mention they are slow and controlled, so the risk of jabbing my toothbrush into the back of my throat is minimal 🙂
Sounds like you have the prioritizing thing down pat! 24 hour gyms are great, I used to go at all kinds of odd hours (the added plus being that you beat all the gym traffic), but now that my gym access is limited, I usually stick to home work outs.
I like the net idea.I know this would be helpful to many people with busy lives.This goes great with your tip on quick routines too
Thanks Jess!
Outstanding post and really great content. making time to work out despite a busy schedule is extremely important to your health. Working out reduces stress, lowers your blood pressure, and add years onto your life in my opinion. Again, great job and I learned a lot from your site.
Thanks for the comment Tony, agree totally. Look after your body now and it will look after you in your later years.
Agree 100% Tony, taking care of your body now will definitely add years to your life, and ensures they will be good quality ones with a body in good health!
Health really is something many people forget about until they fall sick. Then they are forced to take a break because they’re too sick to work.
Too true Martina, which is why I am of the opinion that prevention is better than cure – it’s essential to take care of your health right here and now!
I really liked reading you post. It has great value and information for people who want to start exercising. In my opinion the N.E.T system is a very cool and practical way to fit in small exercises during the day. I can just imagine myself Chest pumps in the bus on the way to work, lol.
Love it Roman, hahaha! You totally could, it would be the most productive bus ride ever! If anyone says anything, just act oblivious, or of course you could always go for an eccentric response: “oh this? My chest always pulsates involuntarily as a byproduct of my naturally superior fitness level.”