Don’t hope for movement—
plan for it!

How many times have you hoped to workout or take a walk only to realize at the end of the day that your hope didn’t become a reality? How many times have you signed up for a free trial, only to discover at the end of the trial period, you never even gave the thing a try?

The struggle is real.

This is something I’ve dealt with in my own life time and time again. It wasn’t until I started working with my favorite time management guru, Samantha Lane of Origami Day, that I learned “what gets planned gets done.”

The hard truth is, that if you simply HOPE to move more in a day, you probably won’t.

Changing or creating new habits take a lot of energy and planning—but not so much that it’s insurmountable! My friend Samantha’s tips have helped me so much, I asked her to write up a blog post I could share with you. So here it is! Read on for time management tips that will help you make your movement practice a priority!

In my years as a time management student, advocate, and consultant I have found the best way to make something a part of your life is to include it in your calendar. Many of us have hopes for what we want to do with our lives and each day held within it. However, we don’t always live out those hopes, especially as it relates to our personal health and well-being.

Perhaps you have experienced a day where you hoped to walk or catch a yoga class, but instead you sat at your desk for 9-soul-crushing-hours. This used to be a common occurrence for me so I understand your struggle. I also learned how to change this reality, so I know you can too.

Shift Your Mindset

The first step is to shift your mindset.

I used to think movement was a treat and a luxury, when it is really an essential part of living a peaceful and productive life.

Many years ago, I broke several vertebrae in a cliff-jumping accident. This experience kicked off my life-long relationship with movement and helped me re-frame it in my mind.

What I learned over the years is that moving throughout the day is a critical part of ‘protecting the asset’ aka you. When we don’t care for ourselves we lose the ability to keep up the essential parts of our lives, like being a good spouse, mom, or employee.

Incorporating movement into our days is not a selfish gift for ourselves, but a critical part of how we perform and contribute.

Plan for Movement

Once you mentally commit to regular movement, you must also commit time to this practice. This is where most people lose steam as managing our time for balance versus bottom line is not common in our culture.

So how do we ensure our calendar matches our intentions? Weekly planning!

This is a simple practice of taking time each week to write (on paper) a plan for the coming week. I recommend doing this every Friday so you are able to wrap up your current week and prep for the week ahead. During this time, you can list current commitments like work, family, appointments, or anything else that already has a time assigned to it.

Once your obligations for the week are mapped out, you should have some remaining ‘white space’ in your plan. This is where you will schedule your movement.

Again, scheduling time to move will drastically increase the likelihood of it happening. In fact, you’re 42% more likely to reach a goal that is written down.* And moving regularly is one of the most important goals you can set! Including regular movement in plans alongside a work project or doctor’s appointment also ensures that you are valuing and prioritizing it as much as those other aspects of your life.

Try Habit Stacking

Whether it’s movement or weekly planning, implementing new habits into our days can be challenging. One truly effective life hack for this is something called habit stacking. This is the practice of using an established habit to help build a new one, since up to 40% of what we do in a given day is habit-based.**

The simple way to use this trick to incorporate movement is to start with a list of your personal established habits. For example, brushing your teeth each morning or making a cup of coffee. Then you want to identify one of those habits to connect with your desired movement habit to create a stack.

For example, while my coffee is brewing I will do morning stretches.

Thanks to synaptic pruning, the established habit will help you build the new habit. In fact, I currently habit stack two regular movements each day: pushups with every restroom break and lunch break dance parties.

Conclusion

As you start implementing these three tips, you will find your days shifting from ones that hope for movement to ones that include movement.

When all is said and done, we control a lot more of our days than we realize.

Therefore, making the commitment to move in our own way each day and including that promise in our weekly plans will yield huge results in the long run.

Samantha Lane is a time management coach and the creator of Origami Day, a business focused on shaping time for work-life balance. You can find her on all social channels at @myorigamiday and visit origamiday.com for a free weekly planning sheet.

* Study by Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University, California.

**2006 Duke University Study presented in the book The Power of Habit.

You Might Also Like…