The Time Crunch Solution: How To Stay Fit When You’re Crazy Busy

On Tuesday I was shocked.  One of my champion clients had her second “bad week” of the month – workouts were missed, crappy food was eaten and progress went backwards.  This is totally out of character for Anna (not her real name).

It turns out that the problem was a time crunch: she had started taking test prep classes for the GRE and started a second part time job.  All of the extra demands on her time pushed out her cooking time and her working out time.

Here are the 4 guidelines I gave her to get back on track:

#1.  Buy a paper planner: When Anna only had a handful of regular demands on her time she could manage her life in her head, but clearly that system has been overloaded.  At a certain point everyone outgrows what he or she can keep track of in their head, and they need to move on.

Whenever someone misses an appointment with me, I always ask them if they have a paper planner, and I usually get a response like, “I’m 40 years old and I’ve been keeping track of my appointments in my head my whole life.  I don’t need any help!”

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