At first you may not realize what a daily routine has to do with health, but it is really important if you expect to get results when it comes to your health program.
If you want to get results with any workout program, the key is consistency. I don’t care how hard or intense you work out for 2 weeks, it’s not going to matter if you don’t keep it up for a sustained period of time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Everybody knows somebody, maybe even yourself at some point, who decided they were going to get into shape. They bought a bag full of workout clothes, new shoes and headphones, and then went out and joined a gym.
They decided they were going to eat rice cakes, oatmeal and broiled fish, and drink only water. They bought a fitness magazine or book and came up with some ridiculous workout that would require 2 hours per day 6 days per week. They had the best of intentions and enough enthusiasm to fill a room, but the fitness train didn’t take long to derail, and now those new shoes are in a closet while that fancy gym keeps deducting money from their account every month.
Besides going way to big from the start, which usually leads to burnout, one of the most common reasons people are unsuccessful with their health programs is because they don’t successfully fit them in to their already busy schedules. How are you going to eat your chicken breast for lunch, if you never bought any chicken? Or bought it, but never cooked it? How are you doing to go to the gym right after work if you forgot your gym clothes?
Let’s face it. Working out and eating right requires more than just will power. It takes planning and discipline. You have to make sure your gym clothes are clean and packed. You have to have enough gym clothes to so you don’t have to do laundry every other day. You have to plan your time to account for the drive to and from the gym, and extra showers. It will be nice to have a travel case with mini shampoo and soap bottles, but what good will they do if you forget to fill them up?
If you’re trying to eat right as well, then you’ll probably have to pack your own lunch, which will probably need to be done the night before, which means at some point you’ll have to go shopping. You’ll have to place healthy snacks in strategic places so they’ll be there when you need them. Eventually these healthy snacks will get snacked on, and won’t be there anymore. Did you have a plan to replace them? What happened?
You should understand that you not only you have to fit you actual workout into your schedule, but you also have to integrate all the other related or accessory activities into your schedule as well. This may seem like common sense, but if it were, then more people would be doing it. Many working professionals have an organizational system, but it doesn’t go far enough to help them in this situation.
The people I see that are the most success in integrating all of these accessory activities into their daily routines are the people who already have a system. Their system allows them to account for all of the “little things.” They don’t have to remember to do this, or remember to do that. Once they determine that an activity needs to be added to their system, they just determine when and where it goes. Once it’s added, it’s almost automatic.
In the case that you think an organizational system makes a person less flexible, less spontaneous, and less fun, I would say that once you have a system that allows you to pass menial tasks off to your system, and know that you no longer have to remember them, it frees up your mind for bigger and better things. But this requires that your system is more than a day-planner or to-do list. I’m talking about a comprehensive system. A day-planner won’t cut it.
So the point is this.
- Everybody has a daily routine, weather you know it or not.
- If you don’t have a comprehensive system that can take any task and integrate it into your daily routine, then get one.
- If you already have one, then add to it all of the accessory activities involved with your health goals so that it will actually be helpful.
If you do this, you will find that accomplishing your health goals will come down to the knowledge of what to do, and the will to do it. This will still be a challenge, but at least you won’t find yourself having to skip workouts or eat garbage because you forgot to pre-cook your lunch or re-stock your snacks, and hopefully you won’t find yourself standing in your gym parking lot staring into your empty trunk and wondering where your put your gym clothes.
** Feel free to subscribe to the blog and be notified of future posts. You can subscribe from the top right of this page by email or RSS. It’s easy and free.
