I truly believe that time management is the most critical skill in life, not only in health and fitness, but in personal and professional aspects of life too. You could have the most perfect workout designed by some Ph.D. guru who specialises in Strength and Conditioning, however, if you don’t plan the time to apply this, then it is worthless. You would reap more benefits with the most basic of workout programmes applied consistently in an organised fashion.

I’m not going to pretend that I am some sort of control freak that has every minute of his day organised to the millisecond; life often gets in the way. The main purpose of this blog is to highlight potential tools for you to use, to see what works for you, and to plan out times throughout the day/week/month that you can take for your health. Here are 4 time management tools that can help you take control of your busy schedule.

Tool #1 - 168 Planner

The 168 planner is very simple.

In a week, there are 168 hours. In the picture below you will see this is designed on an excel spreadsheet, with each cell representing an hour of the week. Next to the weekly planner is a colour key, designed to let you know what/where you will be spending that time in the week. This will give you a birds-eye view of how you’re spending your time throughout the week; it will help you identify blocks of time where you can make time to go to the gym, go for a run, yoga, whatever exercise you love, as well as when you can cook your meals. It’s perfect for those of us who don’t like anything too text-heavy and it is full of colour to make it is easy to digest and keep your attention.

Source: Author's own

Tool #2 - A Bullet Journal

I don’t use bullet journals myself, however, from multiple sources I’ve been told of its benefits. It is a little more on the extreme side of organisation, but there is no doubting its uses. Here is a video link for you to check out more about Bullet Journaling.

Tool #3- Phone Reminders

Simple strokes for simple folks.

I’m a very forgetful person, I need constant reminders for events. Whenever there is an important event or appointment coming up in the near future, I put a reminder straight into my phone for 1 week before the event, 1 day before the event and 1 hour before the event.

This may seem excessive, 3 reminders for the one event, but like I said I’m a forgetful person. When starting out in the gym, a Yoga/Pilates class, or whatever your exercise preference, you may actually forget about it. Set reminders for an hour or a day before you plan to exercise. Better yet pick a weekly time to stick to in order to create a habit of that time being your time for exercise that eventually you won’t need the reminder.

Source: iPoneFAQ

Tool #4 - Daily Diary

Again K.I.S.S., Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

Take 10 minutes the night before or the morning of a particular day to write a list of priorities or items to do. Simply put those with the greatest significance at the top of your list. If you find yourself pushing certain events on to another day, then they probably aren’t that important to you. Only focus your energy on the events, appointments or people that matter to you. I’ve discussed in previous blogs to treat each exercise session like an appointment to yourself. Who is more important than you and your health after all? Make that appointment in your diary and don’t cancel on yourself!

Source: Etsy

These are four very simple tools that can help you manage your time more effectively and efficiently. It’s important to be productive with your time when planning out anything. If you find yourself spending your time in the gym to be very time consuming, greater than 1 hour, and you aren’t breaking a sweat, then you’re probably spending too much time resting between sets or exercises, looking at your phone or getting distracted by somebody else. Set the time you have for YOUR appointment, get in, smash your session, and get out feeling great, ready to tackle the next obstacle in your day.

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About the Author

Darragh's philosophy includes balancing hard work and enjoying the process, and what better way to do that than with delicious, healthy food.

Email Darragh at darragh@ffs.ie

Find Darragh on Instagram at @darragh.henry