Adding “Exercise” to your To Do List

By Elizabeth Perez

You’re having a strange dream. You can’t identify the sound but it just won’t stop. Finally, the noise wakes you up and you realize your alarm clock is going off. Time to start another day.

You start the shower, wash up, get dressed and head out to the kitchen. Time to make coffee, breakfast, pack lunches and get the kids up and ready for school. You think about everything that you have to do today, which includes finishing that big project at work, interviewing candidates for a new position, stopping by the grocery store to pick up dinner, picking up the kids from school, taking the kids to sports practice, cleaning the house and checking homework.

No where on your list does it say anything about taking time for yourself to exercise. And how could it possibly say that? Where could you pencil that in between everything else that has to get done?

The truth is, if you don’t make yourself take the time to workout, you won’t. And you can’t really count all of your running around and house cleaning as exercise. You need to maintain a consistent increased heart rate for longer than it takes you to vacuum your house.

Finding the time to workout can be overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. According to an article published on Goodhealth.com, (http://www.goodhealth.com/articles/2008/09/05/how_often_should_you_exercise) “adults 18 and older need 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days a week to be healthy.” That is probably less time than you spend watching TV on a daily basis. You can find the time to get healthy and improve the way you feel. It is simply a matter of penciling yourself in to your schedule.

For the next two weeks, take a moment before you start your day and write out your to do list. Include everything that you have to do, and everything that you want to do. Set your priorities and make sure that you do what must be done. Make working out one of your top priorities. By seeing everything written out and knowing what you need to do, you will find that you have more time than you thought. Instead of the 25 minutes you spend surfing the net for new clothes, allot that time for a run. Rather than spending two hours watching the Seinfeld marathon, take half an hour and do yoga. You don’t have to travel to a gym to workout. There are literally hundreds of ways to workout at home for free. Simply doing an Internet search for “workouts at home” will provide you with pages of great, free workouts.

It’s time for you to make yourself a priority. And don’t feel guilty about it either. If you are afraid you’re taking time away from your kids or spouse, consider this: a healthier you makes for a happier you. Your family will appreciate the change and will respect the fact that you make time to workout. In turn, they will be prone to follow in your footsteps and make exercising a priority in their lives as well.

Elizabeth Perez is a freelance writer and blogger living in the Tampa Bay area. She holds a bachelor’s degree is mass communications from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Currently, she works for a non-profit where she writes press releases and web content. Follow her blog and see recent work at her website, WhosGotAPen.com.

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