In my last video I talked about the five things you need to be doing in order to achieve your goals in health and fitness for once and for all. They may seem simple and they may be things that you already know you need to do, but you actually need to do them in order for them to work.

Being consistent in your actions is one of the most important keys to seeing results.

If you haven’t reached some of your goals yet, one of the reasons may be because you’re not being consistent enough. And, even though it may seem incredibly simple, it can be hard. I’ll put it this way:

Most of my clients are very successful in one or more areas of life

and they hire me so they can become successful in implementing their health goals. Even still, most are surprised when they finally understand that planning and scheduling are just as imperative to success in all other areas of life as they are to success in work.

One of the five points that I made last post was that you need to put things in your calendar if you’re going to stay on track with anything. I talk specifically in this video about why that’s so important with exercise and I share some of my life-lessons in that area.

Watch the video above or read on for the rest.

 

When you start a new exercise routine it’s necessary

that you decide which days you’re going to exercise and what you’re going to do on those days. You have to look at your calendar, and see what time of the day it make sense for you to change your clothes into your exercise gear, get to the gym or outside, do at least 40 minutes of exercise, that includes warm-up and cool down, and then come back to start the rest of your day.

Once you have that in the calendar you must not change the appointment

especially in the beginning. Once you feel that exercise is an integral part of your life and you’re at the point where you don’t quite feel yourself when you don’t do it, then you can shift your workout in your calendar successfully – once in a while.

But I’m telling you, most people who exercise regularly don’t change that appointment. In fact, they usually exercise at the same times on the same days every week. It’s the only way it works for most people, and it’s probably the way that it’s going to work best for you.

 

 

One of my first experiences with scheduling exercise was during triathlon training.

I needed to get a certain amount of running and swimming and biking practice in every week and I needed to supplement that with stretching and strength training. If I didn’t keep my appointments with myself for my workouts, I wasn’t going to get the amount of practice that I needed.

What happens when you don’t get enough practice for your race? You don’t do well in your race. And it feels terrible while you’re doing it! So, why do it at all?

You might not be training for a race

where you need to complete a certain number of practices to build up your speed or your endurance. But if you’re reading this, you’re probably working towards some kind of fitness or health goal.

If you want to reach that goal, you’ve got to keep putting your body through the movements it needs to go through in order to make changes and get to that new healthy state. The faster you want to reach your goals, the more often you need to move.

 

 

If you don’t feel you can stick to your own schedule yet, think about finding a workout partner.

This can be your spouse or significant other it can be your parent or your child, it can be your neighbor or friend. It can even be a personal trainer or a coach. But having someone to meet you for your workout can really help you to stay on track.

At different times in my life I had different workout partners

with whom I’d make appointments to exercise. We were both busy and yet made space in our schedule to exercise with each other. If there was a time when one of us didn’t feel like exercising we would do it anyway – to avoid being rude and canceling last minute on our partner. Of course if someone is expecting you to be there for them, and you want them to be there for you, there’s motivation not to let them down.

A big learning experience I had in keeping my workout appointments was in Washington DC.

We would start training for a run race in the middle of the winter or early spring. It would often rain or snow on the day and time that we were scheduled to run. If it were just me I would probably have cancelled my run. But my workout partner and I would evaluate the situation and most of the time decide that we were going to go out in the snow or the rain anyway. Why? Because we only had a certain amount of time to train and we weren’t going to let rain or snow get in our way of doing well at that race.

Even though I’m not competing in races right now, I kept the habit of not letting the weather determine whether or not I’ll get my workout that day.

This is how I want you to think for yourself: Don’t let the weather, or your mood, or some other outside factor determine whether or not you’re going to reach your goals. You are worth it.

If it’s cardio day, you do cardio, because that’s what’s in the calendar. If it’s strength day, you lift weights. If it’s biking day, you bike.

 

That lesson served me for years in a large start-up operation where I worked 70 hour weeks without holidays or weekends.

I would set an appointment with myself for when I was to exercise. I had the specific workouts that I’d be doing each day written preemptively in my calendar. I knew that if I kept to my plan, and completed each one of those workouts each time it was in my calendar, I’d maintain the fitness, the body, and the health that I wanted without thinking about it any more than that.

This is how you need to be. You need to put your workout in your calendar. you need to do it when it’s scheduled.  And if you do that, then you don’t need to think anymore about it.

I’m challenging you to be that person for yourself. Be that person who shows up when they say they’re going to.

That’s how you get to greatness with your body with as little stress and as little complication as possible.

What is your schedule like around fitness, nutrition, and health?

Talk to me in the comments section.

If you liked this article, you may like my new book, Eat to Lead.