Prioritize Your Life

"I just don't have time to workout."
"I am too tired to cook when I get home from work."
"I want to lose weight but my schedule is too busy."

Ever heard one of these? I know I have...hundreds of times. People are always talking about how they want to lose weight, they want to get stronger, they want to be healthier, yet they always have a billion and one excuses on why they can't achieve it. Well guess what...it's all bullshit. If there is something you want, there is always a way to get it. It may take a lot of hard work but you can get it. And with the new year around the corner, and the ever-so-popular "New Year's Resolution", why not make it now.

This is what I want you to do. Sit down with a piece of paper and a pen. Write down your goals and number them from the most important and urgent to the least. Under those goals, I want you to write down the things that need to be done to achieve those goals. Once all this is written (with detail) sit back and think about your typical week and the things that you do on a daily basis. Write down these activities and label them as mandatory (such as work or family) or wasted time (such as watching television or facebooking). Now that you can actually see how much time you waste in a normal day start scheduling your week by taking out those spaces of worthless activity and filling them with the things that you need to do to achieve your goals. This is all called prioritizing your life. I'll give an example:

Let's say your goal is to lose weight and become healthier. To achieve this goal you need to do the following: Go to the gym at least 3 days per week. Eat healthy meals. Get good sleep at night. The mandatory things in your schedule week to week would include work, time with the family, time to prepare meals, and some time to your self. Things that are to be avoided or limited would be watching t.v., playing video games, or browsing the Internet for worthless stuff. Now just schedule in about 30-60 minutes 3 or 4 days a week of exercise. This can be done before work, right after work, Saturday or Sunday, and so on. To save time with meal preparation, pick a day where you have only a few, if any, things to do and cook a number of meals so that you have them ready for the rest of the week.

This is a simple example of planning out and prioritizing your life. Do this now. Have it all on paper so that you can SEE it. Just thinking about it doesn't make it concrete but writing it does. I realize that it's almost Christmas and times are crazy right now but have everything written and thought out and then come January 1st start putting the plan into action. You will be amazed at how much more productive you could be if you just took some time to prioritize your life based on your goals.