#1 Barrier to Exercise and How to Beat It
“Hi Tom, how was your weekend?” You ask a friend at work. “Ahhh, it was sooo busy!” complains Tom. [We all know Tom is actually bragging.]
Did Tom exercise this weekend? Of course not, he doesn’t have time! Lack of TIME is the #1 reported reason American’s do not exercise. In fact, less than 5% of Americans overcome this barrier. In our busy, fast-paced world, how do these people manage to find time to exercise?
4 Strategies to Beat the TIME Barrier
• Admit that you have an abundance of time.
It was just 100 years ago that most people grew and harvested their own food, washed their clothes by hand, among other tedious tasks. Today, we pick our food up at the grocery store or have it delivered right to our house, we do our laundry by pushing a button, the list goes on.
Technology advancements have eliminated much of the physical exertion and time-intensive energy involved with activities of daily living. Yet, in our technology rich society, many people live under the illusion that we are busy. The reality is that we are anything but time poor.
We have more LEISURE time than any other generation in the scope of human kind.
For the majority of people, when they report that they don’t have time to exercise, it’s actually that they don’t want to or that they would rater do other things. So why do they report time as the reason for inactivity? What the research of self-report studies shows:
1. Self-enhancement: It makes people feel important to talk about how busy they are.
2. Self-deception: People may have low PERCEIVED leisure time, but their ACTUAL leisure time is much higher than they realize.
3. Social-desirability: Lack of time is a socially acceptable reason to explain why a person doesn’t exercise. Most people fear judgement too much to simply say, “I don’t want to. I’d rather watch videos on you tube and look at pictures of my friends on Facebook.”
• Be a time traveler: Reflect on what you value most.
Pretend you’re Ebenezer Scrooge and travel forward in time with the Ghost of Christmas Future. When you reflect back on your life, as your future self from 10, 20, or 50 years from now- on what do you wish you spent your time? Make a list of those top values.
Research shows most people report that their health and the health of their family are among their top values. Since exercise is the single best thing we can do for our health, it seems inconsistent that Americans report that they value their health, but that less that 5% of them exercise.
Are the things you spend your time on a reflection of what you value most?
• Distinguish distractions from priorities.
Just because we are DOING something, doesn’t mean it’s important or that it adds value to our lives. I don’t want to minimize time-intensive responsibilities that some people have like caring for young children or aging parents. However, for the vast majority, busyness is a form of procrastination of what’s important.
Americans spend an obscene amount of time watching TV, movies, and on social media. A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the average adult spends 50 minutes a day on Facebook, which accumulates to more than two years of their adult life. Furthermore, the average person watches 2.8 hours of TV and movies per day.
It is certainly not that TV, movies, and social media are bad things. But they become a problem when they steal time, energy, and effort from what matters to us most.
“When we focus on what matters, we can build the lives we want in the time we’ve got.” – Laura Vanderkam, Expert on Time Management
• Put first things first.
It is a beautiful thing that we get to choose how we spend our time. Let’s recognize that when we say, “I don’t have time for that.” What we are really saying is “I don’t want to do that. It’s not a priority to me.” Then, let’s go about scheduling our weeks and days so that we use our time first for what we value most, whether it’s spending time with our children, exercising, or volunteering.
We have enough time for what matters most. So, let’s make a plan and fill our time with what deserves to be there.
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For more insights on how to gain control of your free time watch this TED Talk by time management expert Laura Vanderkam.
References:
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016). American Time Use Survey. Retrived from: https://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/leisure.htm.
Gómez-López, M., Gallegos, A. G. & Extremera, B. A. (2010). Perceived barriers by university students in the practice of physical activities. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 9, 374-381.
Mauro-mora-85112. Image from Unsplash.com. Retrieved from: https://unsplash.com/.
L. Sjoberg. (2015). Correction for faking in self-report personality tests. Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 582–591.
Vanderkam, L. How to gain control of your free time. Retrived from: https://www.ted.com/talks/laura_vanderkam_how_to_gain_control_of_your_free_time.
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