P90X: "Time?" Day 26 of 90

Anything can be an excuse for not doing something else.  If you let it, an excuse will always happen.

Sometimes, the mindset becomes such that we actually like it when life provides valid excuses.  We are off the hook for our other commitments.  There have been times when I have seen something happen to someone that would normally derail someone’s day or project.  To my surprise, that thing then becomes completely embraced by them because it was an excuse to buy time in other areas.

The bottom line is, if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen.  If you want to NOT do something badly enough, you will find a way (consciously or unconsciously) to make that happen too.

I am the former.  I want to make things happen.

There are realities of life, for certain.  You shouldn’t be sacrificing things of value.  That said, you are as important as everybody else in your house.  If you are mad because you have no time…and then find that your time was used making lunches, cleaning the house, washing dishes, washing clothes…while your kids are watching TV and playing on the computer…you are your own enemy.  If you are doing things for everyone in the house and being left behind, that is bad.  And, I might add, your kids aren’t learning to use their time wisely nor are they becoming self-motivated and responsible people.

Someone asked me last week where I get the time to workout, blog, do things with my family, do my normal job…etc.  I thought about that quite a bit.  I didn’t see it as all that difficult.  It is true that my kids are now fourteen and sixteen year old teenagers…so they manage themselves pretty well.  My wife gets out of work at 2PM each day (give or take a busy work schedule) and she ferries the kids from place to place until dinner.  She makes sure the homework is getting done.

I have a pretty disciplined schedule.  Here is how my typical Monday through Friday go.  Wake up at 6:15AM.  Make the coffee for the house and make my oatmeal for breakfast.  Check dishwasher to see if it should be emptied.  6:50AM, to the shower.  Dressed and out by 7:15AM to make the 7:32AM train.  Blog (this blog) on the train from 7:35AM to about 8:20AM when the train pulls into Boston.  Begin my work day.   Salad for lunch at noon.  Same salad, same place.  Check personal email etc. through lunch.  Work until 5:30PM…take 5:40PM train home.  Catch up on eMails, call home to see how the events of the day progressed, maybe do some finish work leftover from the work day…this is about an hour of catch up time.  Home by 6:45PM, make my dinner shake and have some fruit.  Hang out and catch up with family from 7PM to 8PM.  8PM to 10PM, exercise and shower.  10PM to 11:30PM…do any laundry I need to do (I do my own), rinse dirty dishes in sink and drop in dishwasher, drink my salt/water and vitamins, apply the Ben Gay (these days!!).  I catch up on my blogging and then wind down for sleeping.  Use this time to finish my P90X blog and to do any bills that need paying.  Watch Chelsea Lately and anything on DVR that I want to catch up on.  In bed by 12:30AM…up at 6:15…recycle.

The morning train and evening train was where my book was written last year…I wasn’t blogging as much.  When you read the last paragraph…it is pretty stuffed.  It is also easy to get thrown off, because there isn’t a lot of wiggle room.  You just have to draw the line at what justifies a disruption and what doesn’t.  “Not just any excuse will do,” as my old army buddy Kevin used to say.

I have no idea if the daily schedule I wrote is ‘busy’.  You may think it is.  You may think it is a walk in the park.  I don’t complain about my tight schedule.  Number one, I have no idea what anyone else’s day looks like relative to mine.  I am not them.  The big reason I don’t complain is mainly because I made it up myself.  My workouts can be adjusted, and have in the past quite often, but I am being more rigid right now because the P90X requires more discipline.

There are many people who, after doing a lot less during the day, will complain about time.  It’s as though they are being chased by time.  I rarely complain about time, mainly because I am always chasing it.

An interesting observation that I have made is that there are people who complain about not having time, and most of them have plenty.  There are also those who do not complain, and have very little to spare.  The ones who complain actually think that the ones that don’t gripe actually have more time to give.  Just because you complain you “don’t have enough time” does not mean you are the busiest person on the planet.  It may just mean that you have no ability to manage what you have.  It may also mean you just like to gripe.

One other observation…there is a big difference between having a schedule and living by a schedule.  If you live your life around a clock, but fail to perform to it…that one is on you.  Procrastinators LISTEN UP here.  When you have to be somewhere by 7PM, that does not mean 7:15PM.  Trying to make something as unyielding as time bend for you will fail every time.  Sorry McFly…this is the real world.

We all have to remember to manage our time wisely.  Don’t let your feelings of obligation to others become your excuse for not taking care of yourself, be that time to exercise, relax, or recharge.  They have an obligation to you as well, which is: they are largely responsible for themselves.

Time.  Remember what my army buddy Kevin said, “Not just any excuse will do.”

Stretch X today.  I’ve never done this one.  Feels like I am shorting the workouts this week.  I am putting a little extra into each one and doing extra Cardio.  Can’t wait to go back to the tough workouts next week.

Have a great and well time-managed day!

[later that day]

I did Stretch X tonight for the first time, but the exercises were all familiar.  They have been done in part in many different routines that last three weeks.  When I got done, I felt bad.  Like I had wasted a night.  I did the treadmill for 45 minutes at 4.2 mph.  I just don't feel like I got enough out of tonight.

When I ski, I sometimes divide the cost of the ticket by the number of runs.  The goal is to get the cost per run to be as low as possible.  When I work out, it becomes work per hour spent.  I try to put everything into all the workouts.  Tonight felt off.

I have to trust that this is what is necessary at this point.

Okay, see you tomorrow!