"I don't have time!"

One thing I’ve learned in life is that we all manage to make time for the things that we consider to be priorities, and we make excuses for not doing the things we really don’t want to do. I do it, too. Often times when we say, “I just don’t have the time for that”, we are really saying, “I choose not to make that a priority, and would rather be doing something else”.

A couple weeks ago, as I was doing some stretching after going for a run, I overheard some parents at the karate dojo lamenting the fact that neither of them can find time to do any exercise. Never mind the fact that I had just knocked off a 6-mile run in the time they had been sitting there (complaining about everything that is wrong with the world).

Sometimes it just takes finding the right slot in your week to make exercise happen, and sometimes it takes eliminating other less important activities to make time. But regardless of when you fit it in, I pretty much guarantee you will need to stop making excuses. Stop saying, “I don’t have time for that”; and instead say, “I’m going to make time for that”. Otherwise, “I don’t have time for that” can really be translated to, “I don’t really care enough about my health to make exercise a priority”.

Do you watch TV in the evenings? Plant a treadmill in front of it and walk for half hour to an hour. Do you have a Wii? Get Wii Fit and do a “step” workout while you watch your TV shows. Do you have a sidewalk that runs in front of your house? Go see if you can find where it ends. Do you have a dog? Have Fido help find the end of the sidewalk. Prefer to pedal? Get on your bike and ride. Don’t have much time during the day to leave the house? Try a High Intensity Interval Training program. Hanging out at your kid’s sports practice? Go walk or run – you don’t really need to watch every minute of the practice.

Stop making excuses. Start making priorities. Send those extra pounds packing.