Two ways to fit in exercise when you are really busy

Do you find it difficult to fit in exercise to your day when you are really busy?  I know I do. I was talking to a friend who is in the same mastermind group as me. She was saying how hard it is for her to fit exercise into her day when she is particularly busy at work.

I’ve also faced this issue about looking after myself when I’ve got my head down and obviously with what I do with my wardrobe styling I find this a really interesting topic. I’m sure it’s also a problem that other women face. I mean she just told me that this is a problem she faces.  And I’ve been exactly there as well. So the chances are that you face it too.

I decided for myself that even though I am really busy right now, and I can’t always do an hour’s exercise at home, I need to do something. I do have hand weights at home but I just don’t get to them every day and plus of course I have the dog to walk so that takes up a lot of time each day. The boys will help me but one of them is away during the week and the other is really busy at school preparing for his mock GCSE exams so I’m trying not to put too much time pressure on him.

Remember what you want to prioritise and what you love doing

Basically the dog needs walking every morning and I absolutely love being outside. So in theory the dog walk shouldn’t be a problem. But of course when I get really busy I ask the boys to take the dog out in my place and so I don’t go. Even though mentally and physically it’s the best thing for me.  So, throughout all this recent time that I’ve been busy creating reDRESS which is the membership group for women to create their unique style, organise their wardrobes and learn to manage their clothes well, I’ve decided that I would prioritise the dog walk as something that I absolutely want to do. I mean, the reason I got a dog is that we can enjoy being outside together. Being outside restores me and recharges my batteries and I love being out with the dog. Iget some of my best ideas when I’m dog walking. But it’s so easy to forget that it is something I really wanted when faced with the day to day pressures of work and life.

 

So the first step for you is to remember what you want to prioritise.

For me I take the dog for a walk, every day, first thing in the morning, quite early and get some of those early morning sun rays. And then again at lunch time I’ll pause from working and take him out for a shorter walk.  At the moment I am really busy and I am quite tired so some lunch times I don’t have the energy to walk another couple of miles. But a brisk walk around the block seems to give me another boost of energy. Or sometimes I take him at 5pm instead.

So what I realised is that when I’m really busy short periods of exercise is fine.  In fact it’s great for you.  And the consistency you’ll develop in doing something for a short period of time every day will really add up.  If you went for a run for 20 minutes each day, that’s 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of running a week.  Developing the habit of consistency is probably even more valuable than trying to exercise for an hour every day.

Add a healthy sprinkle of discipline into your habits

The other thing I have done is this. I get up in the morning and I have a cup of coffee and I do some work. But the deal with myself is that I’m not allowed my second cup of coffee until I’ve done some form of exercise.

And it can be anything for any length of time, but it can’t be walking the dog. Walking the dog has to be seen as something I enjoy doing so it can’t be conditional on anything. As you might or might now know, I do Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. Every day when I’ve had my first cup of coffee my immediate instinct is, “Oh it’s so brilliant I’m into my work I’ll have another cup of coffee and sit here and keep going”, but I can’t do that. I have to do some exercise before I have my second cup of coffee.  I also love Sleek Technique, they are on YouTube too.  You can subscribe to both of them. (I’m not an affiliate or anything like that, they are just programmes that work for me and that I really enjoy).

Small acts of discipline make it easy to fit in exercise

I can do 5 minutes, I can do 30 seconds, I can do an hour’s exercise if I want. There are some days where I am really, really busy and I’m just all about doing two minutes of exercise and just getting on with my day. That is totally fine. It’s more the discipline of making myself doing it. And honestly, it’s been brilliant to keep me consistent.

Your brain trying to wriggle out of doing what it doesn’t want to do

There are some days where I think, “Oh today will be really nice I’ve got a bit more time, it’s Saturday” and I can pick a slightly longer video. There are other days where I fight with myself. My brain tries to find excuses not to do it. “Oh just this once, it’ll be fine, you’re really busy” “just have a second coffee and get on with your day” all of that stuff comes up.  It’s really funny because I can see my brain trying to talk me out of something I’ve already decided to do.

I just say, “no” to my brain, go downstairs, put the tv on, get YouTube on the screen get my mat out. Once I’ve got my mat out I’m away. It’s really brilliant.

So there we have it, two strategies for exercising when you are busy.  They’ve worked for me so I hope they work for you too.

Let me know in the comments what you do to stay regular with your exercise, and what exercise you do and how much better you feel when you’ve spent time working out.

I mentioned above about reDRESS.  reDRESS is a new membership group for women.  It is a place for you to come detox your wardrobe, build a collection of clothes that suit you, find your signature style and engage with life from a place of your true identity.  You can join the wait list now, doors open in a couple of weeks time.  If you join in November you’ll be able to take advantage of founding member rates.  You can sign up for reDRESS here.

Have a great day!

Sarah