Holistic Health and Fitness:
Five Tips for Finding the Time for Fitness...

Keeping fit, and having fun in the process, is an integral part of my holistic health lifestyle.

Alas, I just don’t have the time.

The day I wrote this, I knew that I needed (and wanted) to go out for a run sometime during the day. But realistically, I just did not have the time. I had already spent more time than I wanted answering some emails that I had been putting off, I had a looming rigid deadline, I hoped to get this blog post written, I planned to shoot a video that afternoon, I hoped to post a job opening on the internet, I needed to go into town to buy some cat food, and, as if all that weren’t enough, I had a class to go to that evening.

No time for a run.

But I went running anyway!

I’m guessing that finding the time for fitness is just as big a challenge for you as it is for me. So here are five tips to help you find the time:

1. Follow the First Rule of Fitness. “Play First!” Fitness must be fun. You’re busy! If your fitness regimen is a drag, you will not stick with it. Why would you pull yourself away from the long list of things you have to do, to go do something you don’t like to do?

2. Always remember: “It’s as important as anything.” Recognize that your fitness is a non-negotiable priority in a holistic health lifestyle. Even if you don’t feel that fitness is that important to you, at some point (and this is inevitable), you will be forced to make fitness a high priority.

3. Put fitness high on your daily priority list. Balancing your work with your health is an important part of a holistic health mindset. A mistake I used to make was to try to finish everything else first, so I could then go out and get some exercise with a clear mind and no stress about matters left unfinished. What happened too often was that I ran out of time and didn’t “get around to it.” In so doing, I constantly reinforced the message that fitness, in reality, was a low priority in my life. The day I wrote this post, my run was #3 on my priority list for the day. And I assigned a time to it. Noon-ish. After I handled my email, I did the writing I needed to do to meet my deadline. Then, at 12:21 PM, I went out for my run. After I got back, I shot my video. I didn't finish all of the tasks on my list but, no biggie, I can get the other stuff done in the next few days. If I had tried to clear my list first, I would not have gone running. I would have sacrificed a high priority for lower priorities.

4. Make fitness visible on your weekly planner. Have a set of fitness goals that you want to accomplish each week, and make sure those goals are a prominent part of your weekly plan. In my weekly planner, I write my fitness goals for the week, in checklist form, right at the top of each week’s page. If, for some reason, I hadn’t been able to go out and run yesterday, it would have been simple for me to find a time later in the week to get it done.

5. Stop wasting time! If you’re like most people, you probably fritter away a lot of your time on meaningless or marginally important junk. Quit doing that! For example, if a lot of people traded Facebook for fitness, their life would change. I’m not suggesting that you never go on Facebook. I’m on it...briefly...almost every day. It’s a great source of material for me, and a fun way to keep in touch with those who are interested in what I have to offer. And Facebook is just one example. You might consider checking your email just a few times each day rather than 87.

Now you know how to find the time for fitness. Following these five simple tips will help you keep fitness at its rightful prominent place in your holistic health lifestyle.

Check out this article, too: Five Tips to for Staying Committed to Fitness.

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