How to Balance Workouts and a Busy Schedule

It’s no secret that the majority of us nowadays live insanely busy lives.

And, as a result of this, finding time to exercise can be, well, really hard.

I get that. Tons and tons of people struggle to even think about finding the time in their day to exercise.

Believe me, I understand. As college student who also works, blogs, and works out, having down time feels like a luxury.

That’s why I wrote a post on the best time efficient workouts for women in tech.

Although it might feel impossible, there are ways to make staying fit even with a busy schedule a whole lot easier.

Why It Feels Like Some People Have So Much More Time to Workout

For a lot of us, we might often find ourselves comparing our own lives to someone else’s.

For example, you might see someone who appears to really have this whole fitness thing figured out.

They’re in great shape, follow a consistent workout routine, and always look happy and healthy.

It’s in times like these that we think to ourselves, why is it that this other person can spend so much time prioritizing their health, but we can’t?

Often chalking it up to the fact that well, they’re just not be as busy as we are.

Their work or school must not be as demanding as ours. Or, they must not have as many personal matters to deal with as we do.

But be careful, you don’t want to fall into the trap of making these kinds of excuses for yourself.

Sure, some people may have less commitments and responsibilities. Ending up with loads of time to take care of themselves.

But the reality is, majority of people, even those who appear to have tons of time to take care of their health, all have similar responsibilities in a day.

So although these might not feel like excuses, we have to really take the time to reflect on if we’re actually filling our days to their fullest potential.

Because the truth is, we all have the same amount of time in a day. And most of the people who seem like they have so much more time than you do, they really don’t.

So how do they appear to have so much time for themselves? The answer is, they create this time.

It’s Not About Finding Time, It’s About Creating It

If you feel like you don’t have enough time in your day to workout, that’s most likely because something else is eating up all your spare time.

To start creating more time for yourself, you’ll need to figure out what it is that you do each day that’s consuming most of your extra time.

If this is a mindless activity that’s not bringing much value into your life, things like scrolling on social media or watching TV, then you may need to give up spending your time this way.

But that’s just part of the journey. Embarking on any kind of journey to better yourself will usually require some type of sacrifice.

The good news is, you don’t have to sacrifice how you spend all of your free time, you just need to learn how to spent it more wisely.

For example, learn how to first fit in your top priorities. Then use the remainder of your free time doing whatever you want.

In the moment, things might feel really hard, you might struggle to stay consistent with your workout routine.

But as time passes, it really will be worth it.

Once you start seeing the results and changes you’ve been working so hard for, it’ll be so motivating and so empowering.

Spending your free time working out and bettering yourself will always be so much more rewarding, it almost becomes addicting.

My Top Time Management Tips So That You Can Prioritize Your Fitness Even With a Busy Schedule

Two women doing kettlebell swings workout.

Give Up “Doom Scrolling” on Social Media to Make Time in Your Day for Your Workouts

This is definitely a big one that really gets the best of a lot of us.

You might know this feeling all too well. You get home from a busy day, decide to relax on social media for a little while, and before you know it, hours have passed you by!

When this happens to me, I’m somehow just as shocked every time.

As shocking as it may seem in the moment, in reality, this is really what apps like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram are designed for.

They’re designed to grab your attention and keep it for as long as they can.

The longer you’re on their app, they better they look, the more ads you see, things you buy, and the money they make.

Now, you don’t have to give up social media entirely. There are times it can be relaxing, motivational, and even inspiring.

But what’s really important is that you learn how to moderate the time you spend on these apps. Otherwise, they can really eat away a huge chunk of your time if you let them.

How to Moderate The Amount of Time You Spend On Social Media

What I like to do is check the time before I get on any of these apps. Then I decide exactly what time I’m going to get off.

I’ll usually pick a time around 15 to 20 minutes from the current time. This gives me just a little downtime without losing hours of my day.

And, I know exactly how long I’ve spent on social media, and there’s no losing track of time.

The trickiest part here is actually holding yourself accountable to get off when you said you would.

But once you get this down, you learn to become a lot more disciplined with the way you spend your time.

This hopefully opens up a huge chunk of your day, giving you time where you can now easily fit in some physical activity.

Spend Your Down Time Actually Resting and Improve Your Productivity

One of the biggest lessons I learned when learning how to budget my time better is learning how to spend my down time actually resting.

A lot of times, when we come home after a long day, we want to hop on our phones, TV or some other screen in an attempt to relax.

And yes, these can be relaxing in moderation, but they can also be extremely draining.

This could’ve been from a stress management class I recently took in college, but I learned that finding ways to actually rest your mind are far more rejuvenating than spending time in front of a screen.

When you think about it, if we want to relax, it makes so much more sense to do activities that calm our minds instead of activities that keep our minds constantly active.

Things that allow our minds to relax and get ideas out are so much more effective at relaxing us than things that constantly bring in more information.

That’s why activities like journaling, meditating, sitting in nature, and even taking an actual nap are so much more effective than scrolling on social media or watching TV.

Although both of these options do end up giving you some downtime, you’ll often find that the more mindful, first set of options will leave your mind and body feeling much clearer and more refreshed afterwards.

And, they’ll often take less time out of your day to achieve these better results.

Giving you more time and energy to fill the remainder of your day with productive activities.

Wake Up Earlier to Create Time in Your Busy Days

Another super effective way to create time in your day for your workouts is to wake up earlier.

This might seem like I’m just stating the obvious, “yeah if you want more time in your day just spend less time sleeping!”.

But there’s actually more that goes into it than that.

For me personally, I’ve always felt that waking up earlier to workout is so much better than having to workout later in the day.

When you wake yourself up early specifically to workout, it becomes so much easier to hold yourself accountable to that workout.

Once you’re up, there’s really no excuse to skip your workout.

As opposed to trying to workout at the end of a long day, where you’re most likely super tired, drained, and just want to get home.

When I try to workout at the end of a long day, that’s when it feels like I start coming up with every excuse in the book.

It’s too late, I’m too tired, I want to get home, I’m hungry, etc., etc., all to avoid working out that day.

And these are all valid reasons to not want to workout.

So when I try and plan to workout when I know I’m going to be feeling this way, that’s when staying consistent becomes so much more difficult.

Of course, depending on what kind of sleeper you are, getting yourself to wake up early might be much harder to overcome.

But once you get it down, I really do think it’s a super effective way to keep yourself consistent.

Morning Workouts Improve Your Mood and Productivity Throughout the Day

Eventually, you’ll start to look forward to waking up for your morning workouts and how accomplished they make you feel for the rest of the day.

According to this article I read on Healthline, 13 Benefits of Working Out in the Morning, morning workouts increase your alertness, improve your mood and overall activity levels, and increase focus levels.

On top of all of that, getting your workouts done in the morning frees up your afternoon for any other activities you may enjoy.

In turn, providing you both with benefits for the rest of your day all while giving you more free time at the end of it!

Break the Habit of Snoozing Your Alarms

If you want to create more free time in your day, once you commit to waking up at a certain time, you need to be able to hold yourself accountable to waking up at that time.

Now I know, depending on what kind of person you are, this can be hard.

Especially when you’re alarm wakes you up early, you’re still half asleep, and you convince yourself it would be so better to just sink back into bed for another hour.

And yeah, at the time this might feel better, but it won’t be helping your future self.

What I like to do when convincing myself to get up with my alarm is to remind myself of the decision my fully awake self made for me the night before.

When I set that alarm, I knew it would be better for me to wake up early and workout than it would be to sleep in later.

I put the coziness of my bed aside, and trust that that version of me the night before made the right decision for myself.

Takeaways

When you’re living a busy lifestyle, finding time to workout can feel impossible.

And it’s not just you, tons of people feel the same way.

But because there are so many benefits to regular exercise, if it’s possible, it’s really something you don’t want to miss out on.

So by making some small sacrifices and spending your free time more wisely, you can learn how to create the time in your day for your workouts.

That way, even the busiest people can start following a consistent workout routine.