Training Time Management Top Tips
“Either you run the day or the day runs you” Jim Rohn
Time management, never enough time in the day…you never have time for all the important things…family…free time…heck even training so how can we shift the balance?
SET GOALS
Once you know your goals it becomes easier to plan better and focus your time on the right things to achieve those goals. If you have a bigger goal a long way off, add in a few smaller ones to help keep the focus and motivation.
PLAN THE DAY
The next step is to make a plan for your day, your plan needs to be realistic and take into account what time you wake up and what time of day you are at your most productive. Be mindful of what time will be feasibly available, for example if you have children it may not be possible to train for 6 hours on a Saturday. By visualising your plan, you will become aware of the time constraints necessary to achieve what you want. It will become difficult to procrastinate as it becomes clear that by doing this you are only making achieving your goals all that more difficult.
TWEAK THE PLAN AS YOU GO
After a few days, you will start to notice small changes you can make to your plan that will increase your efficiency, you can replace parts of your training sessions with high intensity regimes for example. Conversely you may find that you have overestimated your ability, this happens to everybody at one point or another so simply adjust your plan accordingly. Do not keep pushing to complete your original plan if you are truly incapable, this will only lead to burnout which will delay you from reaching your goals.
GET YOUR FAMILY FRIENDS ON SIDE
Explain to those around you that this is important to you and what you want to achieve from it.You can also get them involved in the plan with you so they are on board too and you set things out right from the start with everyone knowing that at 5pm each day for one hour is “your time”. Likewise move your training area to another area so a garage, shed, outhouse and make this a “comfortable” area to. One to where you are happy to train even in the depths of winter !!
INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR PLAN
In increasing the efficiency of your plan, you will also start to notice distractions, a distraction would classify as an activity that does not positively affect your life. This means that time you spend de-stressing does not count, as of course this is vital. However, if you know that the first day of the Tour de France is on TV on the weekend and you know you won’t recover this time later, you must find a way to eliminate this distraction. This doesn’t necessarily mean missing such a momentous moment, instead, shift the plan and fit this around what you now want to do. Maybe shift your rest day or add in something extra to account for the time you wont be training.
They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit so not too long to remain focused and if you use this acronym as a guide it will help you cross those days off to forming that positive routine !!
POSE:
- Prioritise
- Organise
- Streamline
- Economise.