OK, so you’re convinced that it’s time for you to move more, if only you can find the time to exercise. That’s what you’ll learn how to do in today’s episode. It’s part of a week of episodes on moving more. Not necessarily exercising more, but just being more active and getting more movement into your daily life.
After all, temps are warmer, flowers are blooming, it’s time to get up off the couch or out of the desk chair and get moving. It’s also a busy time of year–every spring I remember my mantra from the year before–that May is cray. There’s end of school stuff, and yard work to be done, and work is typically going gangbusters as businesses know that things slow down in the summer so they’re trying to pack in all the events and meetings and deadlines now. So even though our bodies are ready to move, chances are your schedule may not be so accommodating.
You’re reading the transcript of an episode of the How to Be a Better Person podcast. If you’d rather listen, click the play button below.
Listen to the Podcast Here
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Question #1: What part of the week is your time most your own?
Are you usually kicking it on Monday nights? Reveling in your you time on Sunday mornings? Those can be good times to treat yourself to something that will help you embody the way you want to be feeling in those moments. Like, if you just want to relax on Monday nights, you could do some stretching while you watched your favorite show and you would feel really, really relaxed. Or if you like reveling in the fact that Sunday mornings are quiet you could do some yoga and really help things quiet down in your brain, too. I’m not trying to ruin your good time by suggesting you work movement into these moments–I’m trying to help you see that weaving in movement can help you amp up the good feelings!
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Question #2: When are you just naturally not in the headspace to be ‘getting things done’?
Do you have an afternoon slump where you are just piddling around on the computer? Go for a walk after lunch. Are you allergic to doing anything adulting related on Saturday afternoons? Do some kind of fitness pursuit with a friend and enjoy doing something for play, whether that’s an actual sport like tennis, golf, or basketball.
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Question #3: Can you tie exercise into your watching routine?
Building new habits is easiest when we tie them to something we’re already doing habitually. So if you’re in a groove of streaming something most nights after dinner, can you spend the first 10, 15, or 20 minutes of your favorite show doing something active–like push ups, squats, lunges, and/or leg raises? Like Forrest said when I interviewed him yesterday, the couch feels really good after you’ve worked out.
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Question #4: Where in your house can you set out some exercise equipment that will help remind you and entice you into using them?
I keep a yoga mat rolled out either in my bedroom or my office so that I can do a child’s pose and a down dog before bed, or in between calls. In fact, I just bought a second yoga mat so that I can have one in both places. I’ve got tight calves, so I also bought two half-dome foam rollers and put one in my office and one in the kitchen, so I can stretch those suckers while I’m waiting for my tea to boil or while I’m on the phone.
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And question #5: Is there a class you can commit to, or a trainer or physical therapist you could work with, and plunk some money down?
Nothing holds me accountable like having some money on the line. If free Youtube videos work for you, great, but for me, I need to pay the yoga studio and show up at a certain time or else I don’t do much beyond a child’s pose and a down-dog. And even though I love my short at home circuit training workouts, I seriously doubt I would do them if I didn’t pay Forrest to tell me what to do, and if I didn’t know that he was wondering when I was going to send him a fist bump emoji to let him know I’d done it. Whatever works for you, it’s worth it. Movement is so important that you want to do what it takes to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. You’re investing in your health, and health is wealth.
Daily Tiny Assignment
Your tiny assignment is to do some good, objective thinking about when and how you can find the time to exercise. Is there a certain time each week when you’ve got more time to yourself, or when you just aren’t in the headspace to be adulting or working? Where in your home can you put out some exercise equipment so that you’ll be reminded to use it? What could you do when you’re watching your favorite show to build in movement? Or what kind of class could you commit to to get you more roped in to showing up?
And be sure to come back tomorrow when I’m sharing 5 secrets to sticking with exercise.
