If you’ve ever watched an hourglass, you’ve witnessed an optical illusion. At first, the sand seems to pass through the narrow opening slowly. But the more sand passes through, the faster it seems to progress.
The same is true with time. The older we get, the more quickly time appears to pass. We know that this is not literally true, but the fast-paced adult life seems to fly by more quickly than what we remember as children, when the last hour of the school day or the final weeks before the winter holidays seemed to go on forever.
Time is the limiting factor for everyone and the biggest obstacle to leading a healthy lifestyle. After all, everyone wants to exercise, but they can’t find the time. Everyone wants to eat healthier meals, but they only have time to grab something quick. Everyone wants to get more sleep and rely less on caffeine, but who has the time?
Now that we’ve addressed these challenges, we need to look at time from a broader perspective. We need a framework to execute these new strategies. Everything we do within our Core Essentials sphere will only work if it’s an integrated lifestyle.
Most of us purchase day planners and desk calendars in December, mapping out all of the important events for the following year. These days, it’s possible to do it all electronically.
In theory, this exercise is supposed to provide structure and organization to our lives, and to some degree it does. But it also causes us to look short-term, at the upcoming day or week, and be reactive, like a goalie.
Instead, why don’t we map out the year on one sheet of paper? (See the planning calendars provided on pages 198 and 199.) You can still use your daily or weekly planners, but it will be easier to concentrate on the most important things and find chunks of time where you can make a difference.
You have Monday through Sunday at a glance. This will help you be more proactive. Take a highlighter and block out the week between Christmas and New Year’s, Thanksgiving week, and any weeklong vacations in the school calendar if you have children or are a student yourself.
When you do this, it not only makes things seem more manageable, but it enables you to see smaller 6-week and 8-week windows where you can set up process-oriented goals. For instance, for the first 6-week block, we already have set realistic goals of working out three times a week, along with purging your pantry of unhealthy foods and stocking it with better choices.
Break this up into chunks, adapting it to your lifestyle. Otherwise, it might seem over whelming. You might figure, “Wow, I’ve got this trip coming up in March, and then the kids are out for a week in April, and we’re traveling over the holidays this year. There’s just no way.”
If you break up the time, your plan doesn’t seem so ambitious. It also speaks to the key component of recovery. You can’t work out diligently or go to the office 7 days a week, every week. Your body and soul would not allow it. You have to know that there’s some built-in reward in the form of weekends and vacation. That time allows you to recharge and come back even stronger.
Think of how hard you work before vacation. You scramble to make sure everything is done at the office and that someone covers for you in the event that something comes up in your absence. At home, you put the house in order, arrange for pet care, and stop the mail and newspapers. You move at a furious pace because of that dangling carrot of vacation.
The same is true with this program. If you know there’s a break in the workout routine or a break in your schedule, in the form of vacation, it will inspire you to work that much more efficiently.
No matter how we structure our lives, we have to work hard. Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach of the Green Bay Packers, famously remarked that “the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
No matter how proactive we are in terms of scheduling and structuring our lives, there will be things we can’t control. There’s a part of every day where you just have to stand up to the demands of life, even if that means playing goalie. I run several successful businesses, with employees and clients that require attention, and some days I’m just stopping shots.
NAME: JANET OJA
AGE: 44
HOMETOWN: KAYSVILLE, UTAH
Janet Oja always considered herself a pretty good athlete. The Core program alleviated some recurring shoulder problems, but the biggest benefit she received was finding the confidence to try sports that require not only core strength but also mental toughness.
These days, she enjoys “canyoneering,” exploring the canyons near her Utah home through a combination of hiking, swimming, rappelling, and rock climbing.
“I had always wanted to try rock climbing, but, like a lot of women, I didn’t think that I had the upper body strength,” she says. “Now I know that anyone can generate this tremendous core strength.”
Not long after starting the program, she began to outpace her husband on bicycle rides. She noticed while hiking that her balance was significantly better. Climbing hills was much easier. The most telling sign came when she started outdriving her male counterparts on the golf course.
“I always thought I was centered and balanced on the golf course, but now I’m not falling off the back of my shoes,” says Oja, a medical technologist. “I feel the difference constantly, whether I’m picking up a bag of groceries or if I slip while hiking. Now, I automatically catch myself and don’t miss a beat.
“It’s like rediscovering sports all over again. Every time I participate in a sport, whether I’ve done it before or not, I always anticipate how the Core program has enhanced how well I ‘play.’ I am never disappointed.”
Oja, who does her core training in the basement of her home, has introduced the program to her two sons, who play football and baseball. Having completed marathons and triathlons, she’s hardly lacking in competitive drive, but she says her core training has given her the confidence to attempt anything physical.
“Even in my forties, I can still pick up new things, which is amazing,” she says. “This program has allowed me to dream bigger.”
The key is to improve our efficiency—our quality of time—and work smarter. A friend of mine once gave me a terrific compliment, saying he was continually amazed by my ability to show a greater capacity for work. At first, I was taken aback. I make it a priority to spend time with family and friends and on things I enjoy. I don’t think of myself as a workaholic.
But what my friend meant was that I find a way to get more done in the same period of time; I continually work more efficiently—and it starts with my health. No matter how busy I become, I must get that daily exercise in and eat properly.
So, I schedule that time like any other appointment. In addition to my one-sheet, 365- day calendar, I keep a weekly calendar that includes a weekday workout at 6:15 a.m. I exercise for no more than 60 minutes, and usually just 30, but I’m able to make that workout progressively more efficient and thus more effective, along with an active day.
For many people, the only time to work out will be the first thing in the morning. That sets a good tone for the rest of the day and provides you with a powerful endorphin rush to tackle the tasks ahead. For stay-at-home parents, that’s the worst time of day since there are kids who need attention. Perhaps you can schedule your workout around school or naptime. (If that’s too unpredictable, a growing number of fitness chains provide the equivalent of 1- or 2- hour daycare right in the gym.)
No matter how busy you are, there is a window of opportunity. Start by looking at the broad, yearlong picture. Set some manageable goals, and then find that one period of the day where you can make it happen, and schedule it. This is no different from what I do with professional athletes. We take their yearlong schedule and daily routines of practice and games and work in training around it.
I know, I know; if you had an exciting, high-paying job contingent on being in top physical condition, you too would feel inspired to work out harder. But here’s the funny little secret of my business: Most athletes, because of the grueling travel and rigid schedule of competition and practices, plus family, do not have much time for day-to-day conditioning. The reason they are world class is that they find the time in their day.
That’s great for my business since they take advantage of 4- to 6-week visits to my facilities for some intense training. The rest of the year, we support them with programs to maintain their bodies throughout the season.
When you look at your yearlong calendar, you will find periods where it might be impossible to do much. That’s okay. The point is to have a program in place where you can do something during those periods and be focused the rest of the time.
The goal, of course, is to have goals, not to just play goaltender. How many times does New Year’s Eve roll around and we wonder where the year went and what we have to show for it? It’s like the person who has worked in the same position for 15 years. Has his career seen steady progression, or does he just have 1 year of experience repeated 15 times over?
We don’t just want to maintain our lives; we want to constantly make them more efficient and productive so that we can enjoy more. It starts with our physical health. Our bodies are the vehicles for our success, and it’s a lot easier to stay motivated when you know that it’s not just about you. As a centered self, it’s about how you can help and elevate others.
Chapter 12 Summary: We want to make the most of our time by looking at the calendar in terms of measurable chunks. Whether finding time to work out or looking to fit in all of our work and personal commitments, we want to find windows of opportunity and set manageable, process-oriented goals. You’ll find that within this structure you can accomplish almost anything.
2006 ANNUAL PLANNING CALENDAR
2007 ANNUAL PLANNING CALENDAR
