Fitness Motivation Monitor

I’m asking myself this question as much as I am of my readers. Last month I made the decision to prune a huge commitment I’d become embroiled in late last year. For weeks leading up to the decision I was anxious about how full my schedule was, wondering how I would get everything done. And, if I’d continued on the path I was on it could ultimately have lead to a 4-year commitment. Since making the decision I’ve been more at peace than I’d been since last December!

When I went to write an article on pruning, I decided the best article was already written in my book. I hope you enjoy it:

[Excerpted from my book, Achieving Physical Wealth]

Can you imagine what your life would look like if you achieved your ideal state of physical wealth? Most of us can for a while, but then we are usually confronted by the reality that our lives do not reflect this ideal picture. I imagine all the reasons why are reflected in my dad’s adage that life is what happens while we’re making plans. I also think it is an issue of over-crowded schedules, of too much to do.

I’ve heard it said that the downfall of the great is the good. What that means to me is that if we are running around doing a bunch of things that are all OK or merely good, then we can never be great at anything. My theory is that we are all busy doing good things – I highly doubt you are running around doing bad things in the world – from chairing committees to attending meetings to working overtime to volunteering our time. But too many of these good things are exactly what keep us from living our ideal life.

The issue then becomes how we allocate our time and energy. If you determine that you are not allocating enough time and energy to achieving the physical wealth you say that you want, what do you need to prune, or cut back, from your schedule to free up time for achieving your fitness goals?

What good do you need to give up, to be great?

My clients come up with answers anywhere from giving up committee or board positions to the habit of constantly checking email or answering the phone. Some come up with creative ways to delegate or share responsibilities at work and in their personal lives. It takes time, first to come up with the ideas for how and what to prune, and then to do the actual pruning. I would guess that you take your commitments seriously, and pulling back from them can take a few weeks, even a few months, once you’ve figured out what to eliminate in order to make room for fitness.

If allocation of time and energy is something you need to tackle to go further and really achieve physical wealth, not to mention live your ideal life, look at your current schedule and identify what activities or commitments need pruning. Then, put in place a plan to do so.