Juggling Priorities: Tips To Make Sure You Reach Your Goals With A Busy Life

Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness , nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body . Hello , hello , welcome back to your strongest body , betsy . Here I am working on sort of figuring out the best angle for this mic .

I need a sound engineer , but maybe that comes in time when this whole thing blows up and I am in a professional recording studio , but this studio is working at the moment . That sort of like popping or sometimes I like a plosive word gets a little extreme . I'm hoping to figure that out .

Yeah , today when you're listening to this , it's going to be Thursday , october 12th , and I'm running a little bit of a contest , okay , so I'm going to start with that before we get into this topic . Today we're talking about juggling priorities .

How , in your busy , busy life , when you've got lots going on , how do we still make room to reach those fitness goals without sacrificing other things . But before I get into that , I want to tell you about this little contest .

If you are listening to this , I am already so appreciative that you're here and I hope you're getting something valuable out of this podcast . The podcast live on these platforms where , unless you know that they exist , it can be hard to find them . So , as I'm starting this brand new podcast , what I want to be able to do is share it with folks .

So from between now , when this comes out , october 12th , and November 12th , we'll just say the same day , october 12th to November 12th .

For every time that you share the podcast , whether that be on Instagram , and on Instagram , when you share the podcast or something about the podcast , just tag me so I can see it , or you can screenshot it and DM it to me , because that can be an entry .

If you send it via email or text message or anything like that , just shoot me a screenshot that you did it .

And each time you do that between now , any episode , any that you want , ones that have already happened , ones that are happening now , or between now and November 12th every single time you share them , you're entered to win one of four $15 Starbucks gift cards .

So , and on the 13th of November I'm going to do a random drawing and give out these four cards , and it'll be just in time for those wintery drinks and any caffeine that you need or treats to get you through the cold winter season . But it just helps me to let people see the podcast and know that it exists .

Sometimes it's so hard to even let people know that it exists and then they can decide from the episode titles and listening whether it's a good fit for them . But I think that the information can be really , really helpful .

So every time you do that , either tag me when you do it in the stories , or you can just screenshot it and if you do it via email , text , whatever , and then send it to me and we'll get those entries going . So there's opportunity between now and the 12th . I would appreciate it .

If you don't want to participate , you can just share it , but I would encourage you to , because I got these gift cards and I'd love to give them out . Okay , so let's get into this episode now . Priorities . Priorities are tricky . Everybody has a few that they're juggling , if not many priorities .

Also , everyone is busy , if you ask me , and I know I've said this definitely on coaches chat , because it's my whole story . Everyone is tired , everyone is busy . Those lucky people who aren't , they're glowing but like everybody else is . There's nothing that I want to say less when somebody asks me , I really I try to be very conscious about it .

When you ask me how life is going , I'm not saying it's busy or I'm not saying I'm tired . Maybe I'm saying it's busy in like a good way .

But complaining about busyness and tiredness is like complaining to the choir , as they say that everybody is experiencing that and everybody's experiencing it in their own way , especially when we're safe , when our needs are met , when we have all the things that make for a pretty comfortable life food and shelter and things like that .

Those other things feel a little bit silly when we're just kind of complaining about exhaustion and busyness . But we can hold those two things at the same time . Everybody has a lot of priorities .

When the question becomes , how do some people manage to fit in their fitness habit , their nutrition goals , in their life in a way that they can still reach their goals ? How are they able to make that happen ?

One of the things is that in In different phases of life we are going to be able to put different amount of energy into different aspects of our life . Okay , I talked to a lot of new moms who are sort of desperate to regain feelings of their you know , previous self . They want to feel a little bit more like they used to feel .

There is only so much available time , energy , brain , space and body , physical body energy to do that in the first six months postpartum . So a lot of that means that we're shifting those priorities .

If you can think about the priorities in your life or even maybe they don't feel like priorities , but the things that need attention in your life as a pie chart , we can only have 100% in the pie chart . There is no way to get more than 100% , which means that if we have eight things in there , nothing is getting more . Those things have to total 100% .

If we have four things in there , nothing . They can't make more than 100% , which often means that some things have to get less attention and some things have to get more attention . That's just the way it is . We can't give everything 100% impossible . We can't give everything 50% if we have more than two things to worry about .

So then we have to think about how we can shift how much attention or energy these different priorities need , and there are some things that are never going to be able to come second or third . If you are a person who depends on a paycheck to live , work has to take some semblance of priority .

If you are a person caring for young people people that cannot feed themselves and clothe themselves and take care of their basic needs , that has to be a priority . So that is why , when you look at a 22 year old in the gym and think , wow , they've got all the time in the world , it's because they don't have those other priorities .

Now they do have priorities . I don't want to diminish anyone's what's on anyone's plate , but just realize that there are some people who are having to take on more at a given time which keeps them from being able to spend two hours at the gym .

Or when I see these sort of meal prep videos and I think meal prep is really great I think it is entirely unrealistic to think that adult parents of children are spending eight hours on a Sunday prepping all their meals for the week . What are the children doing at that time ? How are you caring for them in that given moment ?

Now , maybe somebody hasn't figured out , but someone who is taking 15 hours of coursework and doesn't have a part time job , and maybe they have the time on a Sunday to give to eight hours of meal prep . There isn't a wrong or right . There isn't a good or a bad . There is what are the priorities that I have to put first ?

Where does my attention and energy have to go first ? So they're realizing that all of these phases in our lives are temporary and I mentioned that in our previous episode about the comparison factor but realizing that we can't give necessarily everything the same amount of energy

. If we have a lot of tasks , we have to first see what are the things that are non-negotiable , that have to get accomplished , and we can't minimize those . But there are ways then to take that stuff .

Once we've got that figured out , how do we manipulate the behaviors , the habits , the tasks that come with our fitness goals , that come with our nutrition goals , so that they can still fit in that pie chart ? How do we get them to fit in that pie chart ? I've got the things for you to think about when it comes to that . These are going to help .

So when we're making room for these things first , again , we've got to prioritize that stuff . That can't If we pretend like we don't have to do the things that are required of us .

It sets us up for failure too , because we are going to end up having to do it and then it's going to throw our schedule off when it comes to fitting in those fitness and nutrition goals . We can use these tips to help us . One deciding on some anchor actions . So I love this one . This one comes from one of my business coaches .

She's also a fitness coach . Her name is Jill Coleman and she has anchor actions . I think she has three things that she does every single day that , no matter what , those things get accomplished . And then , if the other stuff happens , great and these are related to her sort of fitness and business needs and you can kind of decide what works for you .

You can't have 20 anchor actions , but you can have one , two or three anchor actions . My anchor actions are I move , have purposeful movement every day . Most of the time that's working out , but sometimes on the weekends it's just like figuring out an activity that is going to move the body . So that's an anchor action for me .

And then right now one of my anchor actions is getting 8,000 steps . I'm trying to get that for the . You know I started in September and trying to get it through the end of the year .

I've missed it a couple of times , but I went from like a lot of movement during the day and some days have a lot more movement and then when I have a lot of clients all in a row , I'm not moving much all day . I noticed my energy drop , I noticed my focus get a little all over the place and I noticed that I don't get fresh air .

So part of my 8,000 step anchor action is to help me get that fresh air , help encourage me to move , just like get the blood flowing . Stand up sometimes because you can get focused in your work . And I had 10,000 as the goal and 10,000 is arbitrary .

We could talk about the 10,000 step thing later , but 10,000 is arbitrary , but I put that as the goal first and then it was like , oh , I cannot , that's not going to happen for me . I was spending an extra hour at night circling my living room . Sometimes I still circle my living room to get my 8,000 , but it's much easier than getting the 10,000 .

I was just circling over and over again and so I had to adjust that goal because it was just unrealistic and I was setting myself up every single day to not hit it . So my anchor action became 8,000 steps .

And let me tell you , yesterday I had such a busy client morning I started at six and went to until 2pm with client sessions and a couple of times in between there I drive from one session to the next session . Well , I had 10 minutes between one session and another session .

I pulled over to a park , I got out , I walked for eight minutes and then I got back in the car and drove the other two minutes to the session , got there on time , which was super . But also I fit in eight minutes of walking .

I'm going to tell you , it felt so good If I didn't have that anchor action set up , I think it could have been much easier to just chill for the eight minutes and there's nothing wrong with chilling for the eight minutes if that works for you . But what I've been trying to do is move a little more .

I had so much more energy for the next session because I knew that was going to happen . You know , the reason why I set up that anchor action is because it was important for me to get some more fresh air . I know that I feel better that way .

So when we set up those anchor actions , we create opportunities to fit in the things that are most important to us . Now it's very important that these anchor actions are small enough and attainable enough that they can be the anchors for us , that they can be done repeatedly from day and day and day .

That's really important , and the example of my 10,000 back down to 8,000 is an important illustration of that . It's saying that 10,000 was not an anchor action . It was a reach goal that just I was getting maybe two out of every seven days . Eight became an action that made it so that I could sneak in stuff and it didn't feel overwhelming .

So you can think of anchor actions . Your anchor action can be eating breakfast in the morning , if that's something that you want to focus on . Or your anchor action can be about getting your water , or a few moments of quiet time and quiet reflection , whatever that is .

These aren't there is no rule about it but the anchor action makes those behaviors more of a priority and when we keep them small enough , they can fit in that 100% pie chart pretty easily because they're not stealing from your other things . The 10,000 steps for me was stealing from the time I had at night where I had to do other things .

I literally have to help get stuff ready for my children the next day , so the 10,000 steps was pushing me over that 100% . So anchor actions can be helpful , shrinking our goals . Similarly , just like I illustrated with the 10,000 steps , shrinking our goals can help us fit something in as a priority . If something is too big , it can't be a priority .

We got to break it down into pieces that are small enough . I see people juggling so many things , so many important things , in their life , and then they're going to try to fit in on our workout six times a week . That's not going to work for everybody . That's not going to work for everybody .

I say this over and over again and this is hard because I illustrate . I really like that word . Today I show my life online and I work out approximately 90 minutes to two hours six times a week . That is wildly unrealistic for people . Why is it realistic for me ? Because I have built it in my work day .

But because I work in fitness , I work in training . I say that part of my job is creating that content , building experience , training that I could use with my clients and being strong . That's part of my job . If I had a , even if I worked in fitness for somebody else , they might say that I don't have time to do that . I work for myself .

I've created that in my work day . My workouts aren't coming outside of my work day . I don't have time for it out of my work day . That's a possibility for me . That isn't a possibility for many people and also not many people want to do that . It's also my hobby . It's also my interest area . I want to work out that long .

I oftentimes feel like I am not done after that time because I want to keep going . That is not everyone's perspective , in the same way that some people's hobbies are not mine . I'm never going to play a video game . I don't like them . I have no fun .

If you were like fit in two hours of video games a week , I would think , oh my gosh , I someone is going to have to pay me to do that . I don't know , it's just not my thing . That's fine . Everybody can have their thing . My thing happens to be working out .

So it's a hard comparison and especially when I'm saying this , I'm telling you to make your goals smaller when , when , what I'm doing is a little bit different , but but in in certain times I'm having to do the same thing and I'm making that decision when it's when it's important to me , For example , when I work out .

Today I've only got an hour , so but I'm not not going because I don't have the amount that I that I need or want .

I am going because I know that is going to be better and I can make the most of that 60 minutes , in the same way that if you have 20 minutes three times a week , it is still wildly valuable and it can still move you toward your goal . It 100% can .

Sometimes we just have to take the goal and make it small enough that those actions lead to it and then , once we hit that first rung of the goal , we can make it bigger . And we can make it bigger .

Okay , priorities in our lives are going to be easier to accomplish when they feel like they're easier to accomplish , and I know all this stuff is things you've heard before . But sometimes we just have to think about it in a little bit of a different way and we suddenly latch on to it in a way that's more . That's more effective for us .

So shrinking that goal , even if it's for the moment , so that it fits in that pie chart . Third thing outsourcing things that you can Listen , we again , we cannot do it all , we can't . I'm sure there's someone who can do it all , but I know that I can't .

And I have to outsource things , whether that be in your work life , your fitness life , your you know home life , whatever that might be . If you have to order food , sometimes , instead of making food , sometimes we have nights of the week where , like this is an order night because one we don't have to make it .

We also don't have to create the dishes that we then have to wash later . This is an important night , for that Sounds simple , but when we take that pie chart and we outsource a piece of it , we leave room to get that other stuff in . Does giving yourself a night of the week where you're not preparing food mean that you can fit in the gym ?

Great , can you make a meal large enough that you've got leftovers to use for meal prepping and then you've eliminated some of that extra meal prep time ? Can you get laundry service ? Can you get cleaning service ?

Again , I mean , this is that is something that comes with with a level of , you know , financial stability and financial comfortability of being able to pay for things and outsourcing those things . But that can make room for those priorities .

Sometimes we get so stuck in the way that we have been doing things we don't realize that if we made a tiny shift we could make more room for those things we want to do because , remember , everybody's got these priorities .

Everybody's juggling a bunch of things what can we set to the side or what can we give to someone else so that you can get the things in that you need ? And the last one is just using accountability as a tool for those non-negotiable things for you .

So I'm gonna say that 90% yeah , I feel confident with that 90% of the clients who hire me as a personal trainer , particularly for one-on-one sessions , so I meet them and I do the whole session with them , for the 30 minutes or for the hour 90% of them are hiring me for the accountability to complete that workout . Now they're hiring me for the programming .

They're hiring me for the you know , looking at their form and and making sure that everything is going well and manipulating things in the workout . They definitely are hiring me for that , but most are hiring me first and foremost for that accountability .

They know if I don't have this appointment , I will likely find a way to skip this thing , and they also know that if I do this with you two or three times a week , I am more likely to be in this sort of role . That allows me to get a little bit of it in on my own .

Everybody needs accountability for different things , so there are people who are , who do not need external accountability for exercise . There are so many people who apologize to me or may , or feel some level of guilt that they need accountability . Let that go , please let that go . People need accountability for different things .

If someone tells me that someone is coming into my home , I will clean it up . If I don't have that accountability , that is not my first priority . That is usually my last priority and it's probably underneath my last priority . Actually , you could probably get me to play video games before I cleaned . That's maybe not true , but you know what I'm saying .

Different people have different things and , yes , I totally . If you want to go back to that comparison episode , fine , compare for a second and go like I wish I had the accountability for fitness versus the other thing . Once you get over that , realize that it's not a problem and find ways to be accountable .

A personal trainer is a great way for that accountability , but if you cannot make a personal trainer work within your budget or your life or however that might be , then find another way . Whether that be someone you're speaking to and you're just saying , like , okay , I'm gonna do this , can you check in with me ?

Maybe it's a partner , you know , sometimes that gets murky . You don't want to put that level of accountability demand on your partner , but maybe you do . Or you find a friend .

Maybe you make sure that you go to a fitness class where people know if you're missing , so somebody checks in with you , if there are apps that you can , that you can just download , that checks it off for you .

Whatever tool you need for accountability , there are lots of different ways and and remember , if it doesn't work out at first , you got to find something different , but that's a way to make sure that that stays on that pie chart . You got to make sure it stays there .

And so , finding accountability for the things that are really important to you and that are hard for you to accomplish on your own .

All right , let me just recap here these things that are going to help you , while you're juggling your priorities and your busy life , make room for the things that are the habits that are most important and most the biggest dial movers for your fitness and nutrition goals .

You're going to pick some anchor actions one , two or three things that are doable but that you make sure you're getting in every day . You're going to shrink that fitness or nutrition goal , at least for the moment , but make it something that you can accomplish within the realistic parameters of your busy life and then add on to it as you go .

You're going to outsource the things that you can outsource so that some things are off your plate , especially if their time big time sucks and don't give you room to get those habits in that you want . And then you're going to use accountability tools for the non-negotiable .

So that's either hiring a personal trainer or getting a workout buddy , going to a class where people will know if you're missing , or downloading some sort of accountability app . All right , I hope that helps . Let me know if you try any of these things and it works for you .

Just a reminder if you share the podcast , whether you send an episode to someone you can get entered to win on that contest . It's going to be over on November 12th and if you've got questions or you got episode thoughts or anything you want to share with me , feel free to do that . You can email me , betsy at bfosterstrongcom .

That's the letter B , fosterstrongcom . You can send me an Instagram DM at foster , underscore string . I am literally always there and , yeah , go build your strongest body and until next time , bye .