Almost every man I talk to about fitness responds with the same excuse. “Life is so busy, I just don’t have time to workout.” I get it, life with kids, work, marriage, grad school, etc…. is crazy busy. There is barely time to breathe and often times you have to cut out the non-essentials. I would like to challenge your priorities and your perspective on fitness and personal health.
Priorities: I’m going to keep this short because I believe you are smart enough to understand what I’m about to say. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, are you any good to those around you?
“Well I’m not my best but I’m not bad.”
So here is the reality, we all know that exercise and a little personal time of reflection is beneficial, but most of us don’t do it. We also know that if we did exercise and take some time to self reflect on a regular basis that we would feel better and actually be better fathers, husbands and friends. So if that is true, I think we need a shift in our perspective of priorities. I guarantee that we all give time to things throughout the day that are not as important as exercise and taking time to self reflect.
Perspective: A lot of people think that if they are going to work out, it has to be 5 days a week of at least an hour at the gym. The truth is that most of the people that are doing that are failing. First of all they are going to the gym and doing ineffective workouts. They are also wasting time talking, looking for a good playlist, waiting on a machine, or a million other things.
TRUTH: you don’t have to live in the gym to get fit and feel better. Be realistic. Commit 3 days a week for 20 minutes (we can all find a spare 20 minutes, but it takes discipline). I could design a workout for you that would fit those criteria and along with some changes to diet, we could all be on our way to reaching our health goals and becoming better parents, husbands and friends.
The second piece of self care is taking time to self reflect each day or at least most days. This doesn’t mean taking an hour or two to leave the house or go do something that burns up your time and burdens your spouse. You can accomplish this goal in 10 minutes every morning or night. You know that time each day when you take 10-15 minute to look at social media or the news. Ditch that and make that your time of self reflection. Get a journal app (I use “Day One”) and ask yourself a few questions each day that will help you reflect on the past, become self aware of the present and plan for the future. Here are some questions I use:
1. How do I feel right now?
2. Why do I feel this way?
3. Highlight’s from yesterday? (Usually billeted)
4. Low points from yesterday? (Bulleted)
5. What am I thankful for right now?
6. What are the most important things I need to do today?
These questions work for me but everybody is different. Come up with a plan that works for you.
Let’s raise the bar and strengthen fathers! Email me is you are interested in a custom fitness plan, online coaching or just some help making a plan.
Strengthenfathers@gmail.com
Much Love
– Harrison
Strengthen Fathers 