If you want to be more accountable for anything, a plan is crucial. Planning doesn’t have to be complicated, but a little effort upfront will pay dividends in the long run. This could mean working out more, preparing healthy meals, or even just making more time for relaxing and hobbies. No matter what it is, something else will take its place unless we make it a priority.
Here’s a little example of how I plan my workouts each week. On Mondays I look at the following week and identify at least 3 times where I can workout and I block them off. I literally add a meeting to my calendar that says “workout”. That way nothing else can get scheduled in that time. I plan for time to travel, shower, and usually a 10 minute buffer just incase something happens. In a perfect week, I want to workout more often than that, but this essentially guarantees that I’ll get a minimum of 3 each week.
If this is something you’re going to use for yourself, here’s the hard part: follow through. You have to stick to your guns. This needs to be treated like a meeting with your boss. Unless the sky starts falling, there’s no way you’re cancelling.
Of course this is not always going to work. Things come up, plans get changed, that’s life. This is our best way to prepare for the unpredictability. This is how we make bad weeks look like 2 workouts instead of 0. It forces us to plan ahead and prioritize. Whether it’s for you, your job, or your family, the time is already set aside. All we have to do is stick to the plan when it pops up on the calendar.
The most important takeaway is that if you want to take care of yourself, you have to make time. Decide what’s most important to you and then make it really difficult to ignore.
