Originally published by Karen on July 24, 2018.

What tops the list of excuses for not exercising?  “I don’t have time.”  Well, we all have the same amount of time, every single day.  And, many people have good, consistent fitness programs AND are also successful business people, family people, and social people.  How do they do it?  Here’s one way.

Schedule your workouts.  Schedule them like you would an important appointment.  Write it down in your planner, enter it into your digital calendar, put it on the “family” calendar on the refrigerator, or wherever you write down your appointments.  The key is to make it just as important as you would any other appointment you make and keep.  Doctor visit, business meeting, lunch date, you name it.  Your fitness is vital to your health.  Put it in its proper place in your life.

As a personal trainer, I live by my schedule.  I have blocks of times that I train clients.  I also block out times when I work out.  Believe it or not, working out (weight training) is not something I just love to do.  I love the results.  But, I would much rather play a sport or go running, hiking or bike riding.  However, I know just how critically important it is to my health.  So, I schedule a time to do my weight training.  No excuses.  If I happen to miss a workout, you can bet I make it up somewhere else in my schedule.

Find the time to work out.

If it helps you to hire a trainer, do it if you can.  Many of my clients would not “find the time” to work out if they were not scheduled with me.  And, many of my clients have been with me for over seven years, and quite a few far longer than that.  But, here’s the thing, and this is important, I typically train my clients one session per week.  They have to do their other workouts on their own.

I have found over the years that by placing responsibility back onto my clients to schedule time and do their workouts on their own, it leads to better fitness commitment on their part.  If they have the responsibility to do two workouts on their own before they see me again, they become more self-reliant and committed.

In the past, if I trained a client three times per week, their only workouts for the week, and I happen to go on a rare vacation, they would not work out while I was gone and drop down in their fitness levels.  Or, if something came up in their lives and they had to take a week or so off, many never made it back.  They never committed to being responsible and accountable for their fitness program.

I don’t want my clients to be so reliant on me that they won’t do anything unless I’m with them.  I know this sounds counterproductive in a purely business sense.  However, in my business over the years, clients working with me only once per week or less stay with their workout programs far longer than those who don’t work out unless I am with them.  Scheduling is a big part of that.

You are not too busy.

If your fitness is important to you, and it darn well should be, put it in your schedule.  Find the time.  I have trained clients ranging from the busy and wealthy to retirees with loads of time on their hands.  The one thing they all do is schedule their workouts, whether it is with me or on their own.  They are given the same sort of assignments as everyone else I train.  And, they do their workouts.

Schedule your workouts.  Make them as important as the flight you schedule that takes you on your vacation.  Get serious about your health.