Now, this is something that everyone struggles with. Time. That old phrase of: “Time is Money,” is so true. We all have limited time on our hands, and we want to spend it doing something that makes us happy. Our days are usually structured with eight hours at work, eight hours in bed, time cooking, cleaning, and taking care of kids. There’s seldom time for anything else. So, how do you find time to make healthier choices when your daily life is busy and leaves little time for any productivity? Well, that’s what we’re going to tackle in todays blog post: What If I Don’t Have Time?
Now, I’m sure many of you have heard that whole: If it’s a priority than you’ll find time to do it, or it’s not a priority. And while I agree that there is some truth to this, it’s not always possible for people, and it’s not very encouraging either. For example, what about the nurses and doctors and other people who have jobs right now that are working overtime and more than five days a week? When can they find time to manage? Or the people who are working multiple jobs, days at one, nights at the other? Or even moms. They are always busy and rarely have time to themselves. It’s not easy to manage the time then, and being told if you can’t manage it it’s not a priority, is probably the best way to kill someone’s motivation. So, I have four simple steps that you can use to better manage time, and make better choices.
1. Early To Bed, Early To Rise, Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise.
Try going to bed earlier rather than later if you can. I know this sounds like an interesting suggestion, but it helps. If you can prioritize getting to bed earlier, and getting up earlier in the morning, your energy levels will be better, and you’ll have more time to do things. Now, everyone is different. There are a lot of people out there who feel that they thrive when they are up later and they get up late in the day. The “Nightowls.” But I will share an interesting scientific fact with you about that. You see, when you are up all night and you’re sleeping until noon or even afternoon, your circadian rhythm is all out of wack. Your circadian rhythm is what signals your body that it’s time for bed, or it’s time to get up. It’s in control of your energy levels, helps with your brain health, and your immune system. And during this difficult time with Covid, you really want a strong immune system. So, try to modify your sleeping pattern if you can, to go to bed early and get up early. I personally like to be in bed at nine pm, and get up at five am. Then, I have the whole day to get to the things that I’d like to. It’s not easy to get everything that you’d like in, but I find that getting up earlier, helps you get more done. And then, you’ll have more time to relax later.
2. Meal Plan
Here’s ome you might have heard before: Meal Planning and Food Prep. This can be somewhat time consuming, but it’s so worth it. For those of you who have time schedules, if you can set aside some time on perhaps your day off or before a shift even depending how much you work, to prep food for yourself ahead of time, you’ll save yourself time later and get the benefit of a good meal.
Plan what you want to be on your menu for the week, write it out if you’d like so that you won’t forget. Then, you’ll also have the ideal set up to keep you on track. Then, make sure you have the ingredients to make what you need, and start prepping. If you plan to take a lunch to work instead of eating something there, then you can plan that, make it, and store it to go. It could be a salad, a veggie platter, a gluten-free sandwich with lots of organic produce, and plenty of water. Plan it out so that all you have to do is either just grab and go before your shift, or put the ingredients for whatever it is together so that you can have it done in minutes rather than the longer time it would take otherwise. You can do this with all your meals. Put something in the crockpot or the fridge so that when you get home from work, dinner will be about ready. Then you won’t be tempted to pick up fast food on your way home. Plan these things out, and you’ll see the benefit in the long run.
3. Gym Time!
What’s the best time to workout during the day? There’s a lot of “scientific” information on this subject, about what hour of the day is best for working out, and what type of workout you should do depending on what time it is, for maximal result. Well, the answer to the question of “what is the best time to workout” is; Anytime that you can get it in. Just get it done. There are plenty of people who like working out in the evening, I personally enjoy it in the morning, before I’m worn out from a long day of work. But, either way works as long as you do it. For those of you who are having a hard time getting started with workouts, I personally reccomend training in the morning before your body has a chance to figure out what you’re doing to it. Plus, then it’s done. And if you don’t enjoy working out, then you don’t have to go throught the whole day dreading it in the evening.
One thing I will say about the time frame though, you do not want to workout four to five hours before you go to bed. Otherwise, it will get your heart rate up, your adrenaline will be pumping, and you will have a harder time gettimg to sleep. That’s the only preference I suggest. And of course, the one you grew up with: Don’t workout after eating until it’s been at least an hour.
4. Turn off the TV
What? The TV can be a time sucking demon? Did I read the title right? Yes, you did. Television is one of the most overused pleasures in our society. Instead of watchimg TV for hours on end when you get home from work, spend it with your family. Play a game, read a book together, maybe go for an evening hike. Spend your time with the people you love. Your kids will love that they get to play with you, that you’re taking this time to be with them, and you’ll feel happier that you got to spend your evening with them, and you’ll feel so much more fulfilled than if you’d spent the evening fighting over what channel, movie, or show you wanted to watch.
Well, there you have it, four time management tips to help you make your time more productive. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to take the time for yourself and manage with such a tight schedule. I’ve been there. But these tips have helped me out as well as many others. I hope you will find them just as helpful. I know this post isn’t as long as some of my other ones, but considering this one is about time management, I figured the bullet points would be better than long winded explanations. For those of you who would like to see more tips and more information on living the SuperHuman lifestyle; I have a Facebook group that I post all of my tips in. If you’re interested, click the link to check it out! Have a great day, and make the right choices!