We all know there’s stuff we can do to be healthier – like eating fewer processed foods and moving more. But when life’s already so full, finding time to make these changes can seem impossible

Finding time in your busy schedule for your health and fitness can often be difficult.

Picture the scene: you’re running late for work and you’ve got a manic day ahead. You’re already wondering how you’ll ever make time for the gym – let alone time to cook a healthy dinner.

Sound familiar?

For many of us, finding time to eat well and exercise better is an ongoing battle, but it doesn’t have to be. By thinking more about our priorities and making a few small changes to our daily routine we can make time to be fitter and happier. Here’s how to get started…

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1) Ask yourself why

Start by asking yourself: ‘Why do I want to exercise more?’ Then ask yourself ‘why is that important?’ and keep on asking until you find a reason that resonates with you.

Understanding why you want to exercise more, or eat better, will motivate you to actually do it.

2) Work out what your priorities are

Does you health and fitness represent the pebbles, the rocks or the sand?

You probably have a rough idea of what your priorities are, but that’s it. To help you really work out what’s important to you, think of your time as a jar that can be filled with rocks, pebbles and sand.

The big rocks should represent the stuff that’s essential to your life, such as having a job, sleeping and looking after your children.

The pebbles should represent the extra stuff that’s fun and satisfying, like your hobbies, or even excelling at work.

The sand should represent the bonus activities, the ones which are enjoyable but not crucial to your survival or fulfilment, like social media perhaps – or watching TV.

Everybody’s rocks, pebbles and sand will be different, and that’s fine, what’s important is how you fill your jar. Fill it with too much sand and your rocks and pebbles won’t fit. Now ask yourself, is my health a pebble, rock or sand?

3) Break your day down into 15-minute blocks

How much time you spend on things should reflect your priorities. So if you spend a lot of time checking social media, that should be a top priority for you. (Is it?) To help you realise how you much time you spend on what, divide your day up into 15-minute chunks and record what you do in them.

How familiar is this to you? How many people reach for their phone first thing in the morning?

For example:

07:00 – 07:15 Woke up, checked Instagram

07:15 – 07:30 Still on social media

07:30 – 07:45 Made coffee and breakfast

07:45 – 08:00 Brushed teeth, got ready for work

Once you’ve tracked your schedule, analyse it and ask yourself: does this reflect my true priorities?

4) Add health and fitness activities into your new schedule

Getting outside into nature is a great way of increasing activity

Once you’ve broken your day down and analysed it, draw up a schedule – keeping with the 15-minute time blocks – and add in the stuff you want to accomplish. Do this by replacing lower-value activities with higher-value ones that align with what’s important to you, one 15-minute block at a time.

For example:

12:45 – 13.00 Replace 15 minutes of social media with a 15 minute walk

19.30 – 20.00 Replace 15 minutes of TV watching with 15 minutes of healthy meal prep, or 15 minutes of exercise

5) Put your exercise sessions into your calendar

If we always waited until we felt like doing something, instead of booking it in, half the things we do wouldn’t get done. So book your exercise sessions in too. Think about it: when you book appointments with your doctor, mortgage advisor and dentist, you stick to them. Why? Because they’re booked and therefore important. It should be no different with exercise, book it in as an appointment, because that’s exactly what it is: an appointment with your health.

At OPEX Fitness Bristol our team of professional health and fitness coaches specialise in helping their clients with the behaviour changes need to prioritise health and fitness.

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