Everyone is busy these days.

People have work, businesses, kids, extracurricular activities, meals to make, houses to clean, laundry to fold, grass to cut, walks to shovel, and the list goes on and on. Quite often I will run into someone from my past and one of the first things I hear is “Ya I need to start working out, I’ve just been so busy!”. Well, and I don’t mean this to be disrespectful, but everyone is. It is all about what we prioritize in life. Some people prioritize watching television because it helps them to unwind after a long day (and I am just using TV as one example). Others choose to watch 1 hour less of TV and prioritize their health. 

Now this doesn’t mean these people don’t watch TV but they either: A) watch a little bit less; or B) get up a little bit earlier in the morning or stay up a little bit later in the evening to get certain tasks done like exercise or preparing balanced meals for themselves.

Author Gretchen Rubin talks about the 1 Minute Rule, Essentially, her rule is that anything that can be done in a minute, you should do now, no postponing. Whether it’s putting your laundry basket away, hanging up your coat, etc., just do it. All of these little tasks add up quickly, and the satisfaction of completing these small items throughout the day can actually do a great deal for your peace of mind and happiness. Or if you’re a little OCD like me, it lets you check off some of the items from the (never-ending) to-do list! I have actually made lists that contain things like: -take out the garbage. In the time it took me to get my pen and paper and write it down the garbage would have already been in out the bin!

Think about it. How many of you have come home after a long day of work and felt like you had a million little things to accomplish? Probably all of us.

We rushed out in the morning and didn’t have time to make the bed. We left our cup of coffee or tea on our desk. The blanket on the couch is still unfolded from last night’s movie. Our mail is opened on our desk, along with all of those other little papers that just haven’t been put away yet. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe you are awesome and do everything right now, when it needs to get done. More likely than not, though, there’s quite a few of us out there that fall into this category.

Her point is that is that if we tackle each one of these smaller tasks as they come up then we won’t have to a spend longer part of our day later on going around completing them. That might be an extra 20-25 minutes that we would have to ourselves to do something that promotes our health.

Our health is the most valuable thing that we own and a lot of people find they just don’t have time for it. People also need to find what works for them. If walking on the treadmill while you watch a show or listen to an eBook is what works for you then fantastic! There really is no wrong way to start as long as you enjoy it enough to make it a consistent habit in your life.

Now I am sure there is someone out there that is going to read this and be offended by it. That is not my intention. All I would like to do is provide people with all of the “what if” information and however they choose to interpret that is up to them. If I can inspire even 1 person to change a habit that promotes their health then I am a happy gal! If there is one thing that everyone can agree on it is that our health is important. 

– Ashlyn