[VeninVidiaVicii]

It doesn’t sound as cliche as you think — in my opinion the problem is prioritizing yourself over your productivity.

I’m a geneticist with a unique set of analytical skills that keeps me tied up in dozens of projects at a time, and my health is always the thing I let slide.

Whenever I finally decide to workout, I tell myself, “I’ll never let that much time go by between workouts again.” Then invariably, I don’t have time.

How did you overcome that?

[emadabdulrahim]

They way I overcame that is by realizing that working out is essential to my mental health. I wanted to level up my baseline of overall well-being so that my worst days are not that bad. Which means I can bounce quickly from setbacks. Where in the past I'd have recurring periods where find myself spiraling downwards.

Working out keeps me sharp at work which is cognitivly demanding and requires high levels of creativety and problem solving. From that angle, I take it seriously as core part of my day and my identity.

Overtime I started to enjoy doing hard thing in and of itself. Which is changing my life beyond what I could imagine.

[vl]

Do a small workout every day and do it first thing in the morning.

This way you know you have to do it every day and it takes priority above everything else - if you don’t have health, how are you going to do other stuff you want to do?

[roflyear]

Yeah not possible. Waking up to phone calls to fix things every day...

[croo]

I had the same problem and found that the extreme was the only thing that worked for me. What I mean is that for like 3 months make your first priority to work out. Not your second or your "one-of-the-important-ones" priority. Your first. Absolute first.

After 3 months your body will adjust and you will carve workout and built a habit that is easier to follow.

[vl]

There is no magic bullet, you don't have enough time to do everything and need to prioritize. To fit exercise in, you need to let something else go.

Doing it first thing in the morning is a trick to simplify prioritization. Do not check your phone until you exercised. Obviously go to bed earlier to get better sleep.

[sainib]

Thanks for your comments.

Over last 15 years, I have tried to loose weight and sooner or later I ran into - "I dont have time" or "this customer proposal is more important" syndrome. Derailed my effort. Before I knew I was back to or worse than where I started.

I feel different this time. Its almost as important as eating everyday to stay alive. As important as having work to earn bread for family.

Being analytical, I have tried hard to find whats different this time. I dont think I have exact understanding but here are some factors that I came up during my pondering .

- Something just triggers this mindset where working out becomes a part of you. Almost a necessary activity like taking a bath. You can skip a day or two but it starts to smell and feel like you MUST do it.

- I feel the trigger has one or more the following components : 1) WHO - You do it for someone. It could be you yourself, family, kids, grandkids, girlfriend. 2) You have a strong realization that LIFE is finite & You want to have a better and longer life. 3) You are FED UP with something.

- Goal setting & how your mind processes goals - In past, my goals had a finish line. Like - "I want to loose weight" or "I want to run a half marathon". I was able to achieve those goals and almost soon after that my mind was like: "That's it man. We are done. Lets go back to default mode" (busy work, less active life style). This time my goal is - I WILL LIVE REST OF MY LIFE IN A HEALTHY MANNER. There is no end date or finish line. The results do not matter. I dont have goals to loose 2 pounds every week. I just do what I need to do to live healthy.

- There is also realization that EVERYONE must go through pain and pay with money and time, for your health. You do it in Gym or Doctor's office. You chose.

- Accountability was a big factor for me. In past, I would start but drop off at some point. This time I hired a gym-owner fitness trainer (awesome guy). My net investment is less than 3K a year. I go to him 2 days a week. Just that will easily help me live at least a year longer (keeping all other factors same). Whats the value of one year of time for me? Priceless. 3K is dirt cheap.

I can go on. I have been taking notes in a google doc with a hope to covert that into a eBook someday. I have thoughts from so many different perspectives, that I feel can help others too.

[quickthrower2]

You have a limit of X projects so let it be say 20 instead of 30. Being fit means you will perform better at work on those fewer projects. Drop to 10 and train other people?

Other than that, I am trialing pen and paper for todos and exercise plans. I think this helps. Also see an exercise physiologist occasionally and that helps alot. A personal trainer you check in with every 4 weeks is similar.

Finally just see it as essential. You will die if you don’t do it kind of thing.