Groceries, emails, phone calls, lawn moving… When your to-do list is greater than the opening paragraph of A Confederacy Of Dunces, it might feel like doing a workout is not the best use of your time. Except for the impact on your mood, the positive physical effects of exercise are far from being immediately tangible.
Which means that it’s easy to justify skipping a workout in favor of ticking off a task.
Years ago, I had a conversation with a friend about how I wish I could make a bigger impact with my work. I was mulling over how I could only really impact one person at a time. Regardless of how busy I would be, my impact would be capped by the amount of clients I could see.
My friend, being his annoyingly uplifting self, made a not-so-annoying uplifting point about how I was potentially having an indirect positive impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of people. And just between you and me, he might have even mentioned the word “million”. Crazy, right?
Because even though I was only helping a one person at a time, that person might impact thousands (or millions!) of people in their life and work.
There’s a chance that without our work together, my clients wouldn’t have the energy, the strength, the health or the fitness to make the impact in their own life. Even if my role is just to act as an accountability partner for my clients to show up.
But, I am not sharing this (just) to pump my own tyres.
Being fit and healthy will have a positive effect on every other aspect of your life. Your work, your family, the relationships you have, the causes you support, your sex life… Everything.
I am probably preaching to the choir here, but here it goes. When you don’t feel like doing a workout, think about the people who rely on you to be at your best. It starts with you looking after your own wellbeing.
Even when that oppressive to-do list is towering over you.