5 Ways to Balance Work and a Healthy Lifestyle
So you’re reading this because you fall into a trap of having time to work out and then when times get busy and stressful you stop quit. You’re looking for a way where you can integrate your fitness and health so that it can complement your life. If that is what you want then keep reading. If that is not what you want then I suggest you stop reading this because it will be a waste of your time.
If you already have the belief that you can only do it when you have more time or you are waiting for the right time then you have already failed. There is no right time, the best time is right now. I know it sounds like a quote that I stole from someone famous but that is just the truth. Remember the last time you got really fit but fell off the waggon because times got tough and busy then you relapsed and had gone back to the starting point.
Do you really want to live your life that way? Do you want to only have results when there is time or when it is
the right time then go back to where you are again? That is what we call yo-yoing. Where you get results and then you lose the results and then you get the results again and then you lose it again so on and so forth.The only difference is each time you do it it gets harder and harder. At some point you may quit. Am I right aren’t you feeling that now?
Good news is there is a way to still maintain your results from all your hard work. Don’t you know someone that does this already? Do you have a friend that is fit all year around regardless of what is happening around them? You see, they aren’t special they just know something you don’t. Figure out what that is and you can have what they have. And that is why I am writing this. To spill some insight of what they know. Here is a big secret, are you ready? You have to handle your ‘stress’. I know, you here all the time but just because you know doesn’t mean you know. What I mean by that is you are aware of it but you’re not doing anything about it. At least you’re not doing the right things.
Handle your stress and you will be able to manage everything else and you will reach greater heights than you can imagine. Possibly beyond fitness. It is all mindset. However, if you don’t handle this or manage your stress then it will haunt you for the rest of your life. You could’ve done so much more but yet you can’t because this part of your life is holding you back. Make sure you take action because only action can get you to your goal.
So how can you control your stress?
5 Ways to Balance Work and a Healthy Lifestyle
1. Turn off notifactions when not working
Often times you feel like you’re working all day when in reality you’re really not. What I mean by this is you are only half working because you are not totally focused on what you’re doing and this causes unfinished business. You are looking through your phone for texts, scrolling through social media or just looking up random stuff while cooking or even just hanging out with family. This can also cause one activity to take longer than it should. Think about it, you’re in the middle of doing something, let’s use washing dishes as an example then your phone rings or you get a text so you go to your phone and check the text. After you go back to washing dishes but then you get another text so you stop to check it out but instead of finishing your chores you end up scrolling through social media. Before you know it you haven’t finished washing the dishes and it’s already been an hour.
2. Schedule in fun activity once a week
It is easier said than done. I mean, why schedule something that’s not really that important? Wrong! it is important. Anything important and anything you value you make time for. Anything you ignore, ignore is your back and worse it actually abuses you. Think about it, if you neglect your bank account, your children, your relationship with your significant other doesn’t it bite you in the butt soon or later? It does doesn’t it? This is all part of handling your stress because if all you do is work then that’s how you’re going to see life. All work and no fun, this will cause you to have anxiety and later on depression. And another reason for this, in terms of human psychology, is that any behaviour that is immediately rewarded will be repeated. So treat scheduling a fun activity once a week as a reward so that you repeat your good behaviours.
3. Have daily periods of downtime
This is an important habit to develop. This will increase your chances of being relaxed throughout the day. When I say relax I don’t mean lazy I mean calm in the mind where you can think clearly and stop fearing the future. Also, downtime doesn’t just have to be at the end of the day you can schedule this throughout the day. Downtime can look be spending five minutes to take deep breath’s or it can be going for a walk during lunchtime to clear your mind. Throughout the day when you’re working and even during a workout our hormones go up and down. Your body is always in the fight or flight mode because it thinks it’s trying to survive so having some time to breathe and go for a walk will help your body realize that it is not under attack and it is time to rest and digest. Yes, your body can still be trying to survive when you’re not doing anything physically. The mind is a powerful thing.
4. Focus on work that really NEEDS to be done that day
Eat the big frog first. That is just a metaphor for you should get your biggest task done as soon as possible. Whatever it may be, it could be getting your car fixed or doing the laundry or even just washing the dishes. Whatever you see that is the biggest task get it done because if you don’t you will be thinking about it throughout the day and doing that will ruin your day. You’ll probably get it done but it will be sitting at the back of your head like a ton of bricks. Do yourself a favour and unload that weight as soon as possible so you can feel lighter on your feet.
5. Prepare everything you need for work and after work
One of the greatest things you can do to decrease your fear and anxiety is to prepare. You may think that doing these little things like making food is very insignificant when it comes to your stress but the fact is it is something small that is added onto every other thing that you haven’t done that day. So the small monster is being fed by all the things that you haven’t done and it gets bigger and bigger. And it doesn’t just have to be food he can be your gym equipment or gym clothes that you haven’t gotten ready the night before or it could be the trash that you haven’t taken out or it could be that you told yourself that you would workout for 30 minutes today and you haven’t done that. All the same, they add up. By preparing the things you need the night before will give you ease the following day. You see it all comes down to being confident with preparation that give you an increase to your confidence.
Now when you start to take action know that it will be a grind in the beginning. It is supposed to be hard at first. You have to fall out of balance before you get balance but you can’t quit.
Click this link to learn where to start your journey. The 5 Minute Method will build momentum for you and once you have momentum then it is hard to stop, just like a train.