According to social media, you should be able to do it all.
Training. Rest. Recovery. Work. Relationships. Social life. Food prep. Steps. Cardio. Self-care. Meditate. Journal. Read. Learn.
I feel overwhelmed just reading that, and yet so many of us (myself included) feel pressured to be working towards all of these things all at once from the moment we embark on a “health and fitness journey”.
And it’s not that it always feels this overwhelming, but there will be periods of time in your life in which things just get a lot busier, and that’s when it can all just feel too much, and unsustainable. When life’s demands increase, with so much to (potentially) do, you might feel like you don’t know what to prioritise and end up just being a busy idiot; or you might just get complete paralysis by over-analysis, and not end up doing much because you kept thinking about HOW MUCH there was to do. Unsurprisingly, this is when most people press the “f*ck it button* on their health and fitness goals, because it feels like it adds too much pressure.
I get it. I have been there and done that countless times, and support my clients through these periods of their lives on a regular basis too. It’s taken me years of practice to work through some of these hurdles, and I am far from being over them (because even psychologists struggle with these things!). However, I have learnt some tricks along the way that help me both continue to take value-aligned actions towards my health/fitness goals, and ticking all the other boxes that are important to me in my life.
Structure your day in a way that makes sense to YOU and be flexible in your approach:
Rather than looking at your diary on a day-by-day basis, look at it with a weekly approach. This allows you to plan ahead and manage your expectations for the week a bit better, reducing your sense of failure as a result if you don’t manage to “get everything done”.
For example, if you’re going to be particularly busy one week at work, or you have specific deadlines that you know you’ll be working towards, planning ahead allows you to adapt your goals accordingly. You might choose to reduce your number of training days, and/or realise that batch-cooking your lunches will be crucial to hit your nutrition goals for the week.
Similarly, by taking a weekly overview, it makes it easier to reconcile the sense of failure that can arise from not accomplishing everything you had intended in one day, and move away from “not doing/being enough”.
Remember: you’re not a robot!
Have a POWER LIST:
This is a list within the “to-do” list of tasks that absolutely NEED to get done or seen to that day. I write this in chronological order too – in that way, I don’t waste time figuring out where to start. Pro tip: do the hardest task first!
As well as a “to do” list, keep a “done” list:
This is a simple way to give yourself a pat on the back and realise you ARE working hard, remind yourself that life is hard because there’s always a million things to be doing, and to give yourself some praise for doing the things that are important to you.
Remind yourself that nothing is permanent:
Feeling overwhelmed can definitely feel all-encompassing, and it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re in the thick of it. However, reminding yourself that “this too shall pass”, and that it won’t always feel this difficult is helpful.
Lastly, realise that it’s okay to need a bit more help finding balance, managing priorities and accomplishing goals. Accountability is a critical factor to success, especially when it comes to health, fitness, and wellbeing. In the same way that having a deadline for work will encourage you to work harder, working with someone who can help guide you towards the things that are important to you could be helpful.
