If you’re struggling to get yourself out the door for exercise or simply can’t find time for the gym whatsoever, you’re probably thinking one of two things. 

1. You need more time in the day
2. You need more motivation

The thing is… neither of these are true.

You don’t need more time or motivation, you need time management.

Much of the fitness industry will tell you that the best way to exercise for busy people is to squeeze exercise into your day. They call these micro-workouts and they look like this:

1. Morning walks before work
2. 1 minute of push ups as soon as you get out of bed
3. Air squats as you wait for your breakfast to cook
4. Taking the stairs, always and forever

These are all great ways to get more movement in your day but they all insinuate that having a lack of time is the issue, when it isn’t. The issue is the fact you aren’t using your time effectively.

This is where time management strategies come into play. 

This is where telling people they need to “try harder” goes to die. 

You don’t need to try harder to get more time, you need to be SMARTER with the 24 hours you have. 

Here are our top tips:

• Focus on the big stuff first
  These are what’s truly important in life. Family, friends, health, work. If you don’t start with these, you won’t have any room left for them.
  
  
• Get off social media
  You know how we said to focus on “big stuff” first? Well social media is the epitome of “small stuff” and by small stuff we mean meaningless, low-value activities. We often fill our days with these tasks/activities leaving us no time for the important stuff like exercising!
  
  

If it’s in the diary, it’s happening. No schedule conflicts. 30 minutes to 1 hour of total YOU time. Lock it in every Sunday for the week ahead and don’t change it. You must believe that these blocks of time are as important as all other blocks of time in your day!

This is for those moments when the temptation of a low-value activity like social media seems more enticing than a walk outside in nature. In these moments, make a rule to say 54321 in your head or out loud and as soon as you get to 1, you must move.

Everyone is different, life is hectic but everyone has the same 24 hours. It’s about how you use it. It’s easier to say that you don’t have time, it’s impressive to make that time work for YOU.