How To Be a Badass and Get Shit Done
Frankly, I’m beyond impressed with the hundreds of women who have written to me asking for advice to incorporate a healthy lifestyle into their busy lives: single moms with two jobs trying to get fit, college students working part-time and training for their first bodybuilding competition, women of “the sandwich generation” who raise children as they care for ageing parents who feel their own health is being sacrificed in the mix.
Let’s face it, life has you playing a giant game of Time Management Tetris and you could easily use the “I’m too busy” excuse quite legitimately. The fact that you are not cashing in this excuse and are actively seeking to lose weight, exercise and get healthy makes you all supreme badasses in my estimation. For you, I have written this article.
Trying to figure out just the logistics of when I would workout, cook my food and get everything else done was a real struggle for me in the beginning of my weight loss journey. It took a lot of experimentation to coordinate routines with my husband and our kids. And just when everything was perfect our schedule changed because life is unfair.
Even today my life can be chaotic: homeschooling, paperwork for our real estate business, following up with my fitness clients, blogging, household chores, and training for my next bodybuilding competition (which requires me to do cardio daily, strength and glute workouts 5x/week, posing practice and cooking/eating clean 6x/day).
If you are like me and struggle to find enough hours in the day, take a deep breath and say these three mantras to yourself when you are feeling pressed for time:
3 Time Management Mantras
- “There is EXACTLY enough time to do what’s important to me.” – Sometimes the laundry will pile up and the mail needs to be opened and the floors need to be mopped and I won’t have time to do it, but by God I will MAKE TIME to watch Game of Thrones on HBO.
Same thing goes for exercise: make it important to you. Exercise releases endorphins and calms your ass down. View exercise as your “me time”. Do not answer emails. Do not talk with your kids. Do not answer your phone. For one glorious hour per day listen to your favorite music, lift heavy things in front of mirror and reflect on how strong your biceps are looking. Exercise is addictive and provides a powerful dose of sanity in an insane world. - “There are 24 hours in a day.” – This mantra helps a lot with guilt. Sometimes you see of stack of things in your to-do box but you’re exhausted and really just need to take a 20 minute nap. Most of us will ignore our needs, drink caffeine, eat a sugary snack and plow through our day, grumpier by the minute. Fight this urge to be Super Woman!
Exhausted Rather than feel guilty for taking a nap when you’re busy, tell yourself, “There are 24 hours in a day. I need to listen to my body; a 20 minute nap is barely a blip in time and it will take the edge off so I will wake up with more energy to make the best use of the remaining 23 hours and 40 minutes in the day.” When I worked in an office I used to drive to a nearby mall on my lunch break, park my car with the window open and take a nap. The alarm on my cell phone woke me up and I felt a million times more productive after just a few minutes of rest. Even if you don’t sleep, just closing your eyes and doing nothing can feel fantastic.
- “I am a Badass. I get shit done.”
– This is my current mantra. It makes me feel like a powerful warrior princess. What you’re really doing is replacing that negative speak (“I’m too overwhelmed to eat vegetables; I need fast food!”, “I can’t workout after dinner or before breakfast!”, “There’s not enough time!”) that makes you sound whiny and pathetic and full of excuses with language that motives you to take charge of your health and reinforces the fact that you are in control of your life and how you allocate your time. When you hear yourself begin to whine and pout, disrupt your thoughts by clapping your hands together, standing up tall with your chest out and say confidently, “I am a Badass. I get shit done.” Even if you feel ridiculous and begin to laugh, hey at least laughter breaks the tension, right? And then put on your sneakers and sweat on that treadmill.
Have faith in yourself. Make your own health a priority so you can be around longer for the people who count on you.
Lisa 🙂