Keep it Together and Get Things Done

Hope you’re all doing awesome!  I’m doing better than I deserve.  I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve barely had time to come up for air and I’m happy to get a chance to update the site.

Here’s a short summary of what I’ve been up to:

• Planning a two week trip to Brazil
• Going on a two week trip to Brazil!
• Buying a condo
• Organizing and launching a new bootcamp class
• Relocating my classes and renegotiating business terms with new owner
• Painting new condo, renovating the kitchen, re-doing the floors

And doing all of that while continuing my private training business and making sure I get in all of my workouts as well.  In short I’ve been BUSY and its been a challenge to keep it all together.  I felt like repeating Eddie Murphy’s mantra in Bowfinger … keep it together. Keep it together.

Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger ... keeping it together

Being an organized person it was hard to try to deal with multiple complex projects at once and make sure that each was headed in the right direction and I was getting everything done properly and on time.  I decided to turn to the best and got the book of productivity guru David Allen Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

A 300 page book on how to make things simple ... hmmm

Now I won’t claim that this is an easy read or that its for everyone, but I’ll be damned the system in it works great!  I even got some software to support it and sync with my iPhone.  It really keeps me on track and keeps my mind free from that nagging “I’m forgetting something” feeling.

I’ll try to summarize an entire book in a few sentences: Write down everything you have to get done … everything.  Identify the priority of each one.  Identify the next action to take on the projects to be completed now.  Do them.  Of course that’s like explaining aerodynamics by saying “go really fast with wings and you’ll fly” so now that I’ve butchered his book I’ll move on!

How the hell does this relate to fitness or working out?  Glad you asked.  Having an organized game plan has stopped me from losing my sanity in the last month and has kept everything on track.  Having a system that you can trust frees up your mind to focus on the immediate task at hand.  Starting to see the connection?

Showing up at the gym and not knowing what you want to accomplish or having a written log of weights you have used and repetitions performed will often leave you with a blank look on your face and a less than stellar result.

Now what was I going to do today?

There are a small percentage of trainees who can show up to the gym with a goal in mind and “feel” their way to a great workout.  However, since they are a small percentage, odds are … you’re not one of them!  So make sure that you get your workouts organized, stay on top of your fitness goals in a written and objective manner or you will struggle to accomplish what you set out for!