Fitness PM - Setting Priorities (or "Waahhh! I don't have enough time to do my workout!")

Your time is finite.  You probably have a job, kids, perhaps you go to school, have hobbies, social responsibilities, need to maintain your household, the toilet has backed up, your car is 2000 miles overdue for an oil change, you've got a rash and need to see a doctor, and for crying out loud call your parents.  I get it - you're busy.  How on earth do you squeeze it all in? 
The answer is:  YOU DON'T.  It's not a popular answer.  For instance, Politicians, when faced with budget cuts and tough decisions, will actually trim and reduce ALL budget line items rather than make decisions about removing spending items entirely.  Large corporations will "do more with less" - meaning they will assign even more work to already overtaxed resources - they can't say "no".  In other words, the easy choice is to shortchange everything and ultimately you see the results of this shortchanging everywhere.

"Multi-tasking" was/is a buzz word which basically means you are doing many things in small chunks.  Many new job postings will say "must be able to multi-task".  This is analagous to asking a perspective employee to "must be able to avoid holding self and others accountable for getting the right work done in a timely manner".  Be an accountable grown-up and figure out how to reduce multi-tasking!  Here's a little drawing by yours truly that will explain why multi-tasking is killing your effectiveness:

Multi vs Single Tasking

This is just a simple example - the reality (not shown in the picture) is, tasks will take less time if you work on them until completion.  Your output will probably even be of higher quality.  Sometimes this is impossible, but if you are reducing the amount of set-up time between tasks, you are becoming more efficient. 

How does this apply to making time to work out?  It's all about setting priorities and working in priority order.  The only time you get out of priority order is if an opportunity arises.   Note that I work in a "hierarchy of needs" order, where my base needs are met first where absolutely possible, and "wants" or "nice to haves" are absolutely dead last in priority order.  Obviously this is oversimplified, but I include working out as a "Health" need, and I hit it very early in the morning.

Regular Guy's Hierarchy of Needs

Everybody has this sort of hierarchy, but not everybody puts it into a powerpoint slide and pastes it into a blog.  I work from the inside out, that is, my most core needs are in the center, and the things I need less (wants) are on the outside.    Can you apply this to yourself?  How about to your job?

When you work on a task, you do it as effectively and completely as you possibly can so that you are not half-assing it through your day.  I go so far as to time-block things; ie. say "from 5-6am I work out.  Period."  I do this with pretty much my entire day - here's an example of my daily schedule.



This regular guy's day...time boxed

 This is an over-simplification of a concept called "Theory of Constraints".  In my case, I apply my full resources to the area which needs them the most.  In other words, I kick as much ass as humanly possible on my workout from 5-6am.  I don't stop to wash dishes, my kids stay in bed, my garage stays dirty, and I don't cook breakfast.  Workout.  From 5-6am.  That's it.  If it's important, the task gets done.  If it's less important, it waits (or gets dropped entirely).  You do not have time to do everything in the world.

One other thing - I must admit my evenings do get muddy; it's much harder to time block them as there are more variables.  However, all of those variables (wife, kids, dog) fall under the "family" need, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

How do you box your day?  How do you prioritize your day?  Is this helpful or a complete waste of time?  Give me a shout on my blog, or send me a tweet at @PMGeekAndy.