How do I fit my gym in my daily chores

Morning chores or gym – I know it’s a forever kind of battle. Working out is less about looking good and more about having a healthy relationship with your own body. But it often gets neglected in your daily list of priorities. So how do I complete all my daily chores yet find time to go to gym? How do I fit my gym in my daily chores?

​I came across this wonderful youtube video by Laura Vanderkam which is all about smart time management. ​

I loved the story of flooded basement as told by Laura Vanderkam. It is true in case of festivals also. During the festive season, we make extra time in our daily schedule to do some decorations, prepare some delicacies, etc. So, this proves that if we really feel that a certain task is important then we do make time for it.

Simple pickle jar theory of time management:

Ref: toolshero.com

​You take stones of different sizes – rocks, pebbles and sand. How do you fit all of them in your jar? If you start with sand, then the pebbles, then obviously you will have very less space for the rocks.

• So the rocks should ideally go first in the jar
• Then the pebbles will follow
• And then when you pour the sand, it will fill in the remaining space in your time.

I have always followed this in my professional life. The crux is bifurcating our tasks into rocks, pebbles and sand.

Essentials of time management: Is everything we do important?

​We all like to be perfectionists. Hence, we tag everything as important and under ‘need to be done’ category. Then we stress ourselves to make it all happen at once. It is important to realise that all the tasks are not equally important, and it is ok to leave out certain tasks you don’t feel important. There is no need to feel guilty about dropping out such low priority tasks.

Essentials of time management: How do we find out whether a task is important

There is this easy checklist you can follow –

• Allocate these categories to the tasks to find out whether it is important for you – self, husband, kids, career, friends, family
• Grill other family members to list common tasks. Ask others when they might need you and when you will need them.
• Update due dates against all the tasks to define when they are to be prioritised

This will give you the list of tasks and their prioritisation in your schedule. Communicate everyone in the family about the prioritisation you have made for your own tasks. It is essential that they understand how much your tasks are important for you.

Maintain an organiser

You can have a handy old-fashioned organiser or you can go techy and get an app for the same. But it is necessary that you put these tasks in the organiser.
Before you put these tasks, schedule some metime and fitness time in the organiser. Self-care should always fall under rocks category.

Do a weekly review and planning

Do a review of week that has gone by. Check which tasks you have accomplished and highlight tasks which are yet to be done. Do the planning for the coming week again in the manner given above.

So this way each task on your organiser will be your own choice. Those tasks will not be there because you have to do them, they will be there because they deserve to be there!! Better prioritisation will help you achieve an impossible feat – fit in your gym in your daily chores! Start right away and let us know your experiences after you implement the above things.

Happy organising!!