Like him or loathe him, it must be an incredible feat managing each day as president of the world’s most powerful nation.
Have you noticed that Barack Obama stays trim and apparently fit? How does one of the busiest people in the world make time for exercise?
Isn’t time our biggest excuse for not exercising? Things just get in the way.
One little anecdote gives us a hint about how he does this. In order to avoid decision fatigue, he creates set rituals, like exercising at the exact same time every day.
“You have to exercise,” he told Vanity Fair . “Or at some point you’ll just break down.”
It’s the same with his suits. He only wears blue or black suits, and no doubt the suit, shirt, tie and shoes are laid out the night before.
So what’s the lesson for us? The #1 lesson is to create a weekly plan pre-deciding exactly what exercise you will be doing and when. To do this, consider creating a default diary. This is where you enter a recurring session in your diary at the same time, same day each and every week. It’s like making an appointment with yourself.
At the barest minimum plan on attending two exercise sessions per week. It might be a circuit or your favourite class, and it might even be as simple as going for a walk before breakfast.
You may wish to go one step further. Make a habit of getting your exercise gear ready beforehand, so it are ready as soon as you need it.
Your success, and achieving great results comes not just from the program but from you being consistent showing up.
“Eighty percent of life is showing up” Woody Allen
Let’s face one thing that you may need to deal with in order to make this idea work. You may have family obligations. These have a habit of jumping up at the worst time. You may need to have a family meeting: “I want to pre-schedule my exercise spot every Monday and Wednesday at 6:00 pm, and so I won’t be here to help. In return, I’m happy to commit to being home at other times to help, to enable others to do their thing or for us to do things together.”
What gets scheduled gets done.