How often do you prioritize your health in day-to-day life? If you’re like me, things like diet and exercise can easily take a back seat to everything else. So, it often comes down to motivation and focus.
Regardless of how busy your day is, though, it’s important to find time for yourself. You’re no good to anyone if the worst should happen because you didn’t take care of your health. Something as small as 20 minutes per day could prove beneficial for yourself and everyone around you.
The bottom line is that you need to prioritize yourself ahead of many things in life. This even means putting yourself ahead of a job or beloved hobby. Think of it as a way to ensure you can continue to do those things for the long haul.
How to Motivate Yourself to Prioritize Health
When your life is exceptionally busy, it’s difficult to keep things in perspective that aren’t in front of you. Health and fitness are two of the most common overlooked parts of your life, until something happens and you visit the emergency room.
So, what can you do to keep yourself out of the ER or schedule regular doctor’s visits?
1. Create Regular Habits
Creating regular habits for health and fitness is a golden idea. The trick, however, is to build those habits to begin with. That means a lot of repetition and follow-through. Eventually, taking care of yourself better will become virtually instinctual. But until then, it might take quite a bit of effort.
That is, as long as you’re trying to build better habits for yourself. It’s easy to give up after a week or two because you’re not seeing immediate results. When you prioritize health, it’s not something that will happen overnight. You need to give good habits time to formulate and not be hung up about instant gratification.
The steps below can help you build good habits. But they won’t mean much if you’re not truly trying to get the most out of health and fitness. Success starts with your mindset. Psyche yourself up every morning knowing that you’re prolonging your life.
2. Schedule Exercises
One of the methods that has worked well for me in the past is to schedule my workouts. My day is usually quite full, and the golden hour for me is before I start my day in the morning. That way, I’m more alert and ready to tackle my many tasks ahead.
Find your “golden moment” throughout the day and make it your time. It can be when the kids are napping or in school, after dinner, before bed, or whenever you can schedule time for yourself.
I know a lot of people who use things like Google Calendar to schedule their entire lives. I use Asana as it helps me keep my workload and exercises in check. Find an app that can help you schedule your day and make sure it includes anything that promotes a healthier you. Walking, visiting the gym, running on your treadmill, or even vigorously cleaning house can get the heart rate up.
3. Set Alarms to Prioritize Your Health
Sometimes, setting schedules isn’t enough, especially when you’re busy. That’s when you set some alarms to remind yourself that you want to work out. Everyone’s mobile device has the clock function…set the alarms to some music that gets you moving and exercise.
Make sure you’re adhering to those alarms, though. One of my biggest problems was simply swiping the alarm to turn it off and go back to what I was doing, which is usually working for clients or hammering out a blog post. Today, I set those alarms at specific times and essentially force myself to stick with why I created them in the first place.
The best way to set alarms to help you prioritize health is to create them during times when you’re not as busy. I know, for some of us, that is extremely difficult. But it’s worth the time to figure out those moments, as they can help you develop positive habits.
Remember, the alarms are reminders that you set because working out is something you want to do. While there may be times when it’s unrealistic to exercise because of the situation, don’t just swipe to turn them off and go about your day. Set another reminder to exercise when you’re not as busy.
4. Surround Yourself with Support
A good support structure can easily help motivate and remind you to put more effort into health and fitness. This could include friends, family, or even online strangers in various forums and groups. You’ll find that there are a lot of positive people out there who are willing to help you stay the course.
In some cases, you might be able to convince those closest to you to join. You could inspire each other to do something as a couple or as a group to improve health. I know every time I mention the gym, most of my family is game to go with me, but I usually head out too early for most of them to wake up.
The point is that there are a lot of folks out there who will help inspire and motivate you for health and fitness. Of course, I’m talking about the people who are more interactive with you directly. Instagram models and fitness influencers are often a joke and are only trying to sell you something. And from personal experience, most of their communities are more toxic than the atmosphere of Venus.
5. Try Motivation Apps
Google Play and Apple have numerous fitness motivation apps. The hardest part is picking which one fits your needs best. And that can take a while if you’re not exactly sure what you’re looking for in an app.
I found motivation through MyFitnessPal, as seeing the calories go red for the day made me paranoid about how much I was eating. Well, Under Armour ruined a lot of the nice functions of the app, and it’s not as glorious as it was when I started my fitness journey in 2014.
I mean, I still use MyFitnessPal to track food and record calorie burn from my Fitbit. But that’s only until I can free up enough time to make my own app. That’s probably quite a ways down the road, really.
Anyway, since everyone has mobile devices at all times, motivation apps can be quite helpful. But like any other piece of exercise equipment, you’ll have to actually use it. In some cases, the app can sit in your phone without being touched, collecting virtual dust like a stack of workout DVDs in your grandmother’s closet. Use the apps you choose and try to get the most out of them if they work for you.
6. Set Up Visual Reminders
Visual reminders are great for those who are more responsive to something that is right in their faces. This could include things like Post-it notes, articles of clothing that are too small, pictures, or even setting aside an embarrassing pair of boxers you promised to wear during a live podcast on YouTube if you didn’t meet your fitness goals.
There are a number of ways you can set up a visual reminder to help prioritize your health. It all comes down to what will motivate you to put in the extra effort. You could also take it a step further and place these visual cues where they may be more effective. For example, a Post-it note or picture on the fridge could help jostle the memory.
Just remember that these visual reminders have to stay out in the open. So, you probably don’t want to use something that you wouldn’t want others to see. The point is to have that in-your-face prompt that you want to do more with your life.
7. 30 Minutes of “You” Time
Lastly, make sure that you’re setting aside at least 30 minutes of time specifically for yourself. You should spend this time relaxing, centering your mind, meditating, reading a book, or doing anything else that allows you to breathe throughout the day. In my case, I play a quick game or take the dog for a walk.
What does “you” time have to do with motivation? Quite a bit, actually. If you’re burning yourself out to the point of exhaustion, you’re less likely to prioritize your health. In fact, some experts say that you should take 10 to 15-minute breaks every 30 minutes. That’s when you’re focused on being productive. I believe you should still squirrel away that 30 minutes of “you” time in addition to regular breaks.
For example, I’ll take a series of short breaks throughout the day while I’m working. Then, toward the end of the night or perhaps early in the morning, I’ll set aside 30 minutes of time spent specifically to recharge my batteries doing something I thoroughly enjoy without feeling guilty. It’s made a huge difference in how I approach everything in life.
Prioritize Your Mental Health As Well
Your mental health is just as vital to your existence as physical health. In many aspects, I’d even say that it was more so, considering just how much is linked to how your brain works. The health of your mind will influence everything from decision-making to creating the motivation to keep yourself healthy. Your mental state absolutely rules everything related to your body.
That’s why I say your mental health makes up about 90% of your success for weight loss. Without your mind keeping things in check, you’re going to fail no matter what kind of diet plan or exercise routine you to which you’ve subscribed. Your brain is the most powerful organ in your body.
Perhaps one of the more common ways to prioritize your mental health is by seeking counseling. Now, I don’t believe everyone needs therapy for every single transgression in life. But there are those of us who have had to deal with an insurmountable amount of grief and stress over a very short period of time. Those extremely traumatic elements will play a role in how you maintain motivation for the rest of your body’s health.
The irony is that exercise can ultimately boost mental health and promote things like endorphins to help you cope with a slew of life’s stresses. Unfortunately, it’s hard to think of going for a five-mile jog at the moment you get fired from a job you love.
My point is that while you’re working on getting more fit or perhaps losing some weight, pay attention to your mind’s health as well. Whether it’s through counseling or making sure you’re giving it the right nutrients, your brain is vastly important. Don’t take it for granted.
How Are You Prioritizing Your Health Today?
Finding the motivation to prioritize yourself is subjective. Everyone has things that motivate them to take necessary steps to improve their health. While I may have given you some ideas to get the ball rolling, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of self-reflection to decide what will motivate you to continue your health and fitness journey.
Success all comes down to what works best for you. There is no right or wrong answer as long as it’s leading to your goals. Well, as long as it’s legal, anyway.
Take the time to discover what makes you tick and put together a strategy that motivates you to prioritize your physical and mental health. It’ll make a world of difference in your life in more ways than you can imagine.
I know it has for me.
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