How to manage your time and do everything!

If you've been following me for awhile, you know that I do a lot on an average day.  While some seem to think that I'm partially superhuman, it's just that I feel like I manage my time pretty well.  So, in light of all this, I wanted to go ahead and break down my day and my suggestions to you to manage your time well so that you can do everything.
My day:

• 5:00-5:30 wake up + magical liquid (coffee)
• Usually checking emails (10-15 min)
• Livestream devotional or prepare content for my Facebook Page  (20-30min)
• Finish or work on any school work that needs to be done (20-30 min)
• Prepare mine & kids' lunches (10-15 min)
• 6:15-6:45; depends on the day, shower and get ready to leave
• 7:00-7:30; Get to work and begin training
• Anywhere from 10-2....workout
• Depends on cancellations, open time periods, etc. 
• Duration sometimes dictates what I'll do
• Short workouts are usually lifting/sprint based
• Long workouts are usually a run (weather permitting)
• 5:00-6:00; Leave work
• 6:00-8:00; Dinner, Kids' bath, Kids' sleep
• Yes, in that order
• 8:00-10/11:00
• Wife time
• School work time
• Live-stream event
• Bed

This is an average day, not including the weekends.  To me this is just the norm, and I couldn't honestly figure out my life if it wasn't this way.  I don't write in a planner or anything, though I do sometimes use a Google Calendar to keep me where I'm supposed to be, like logging in my food or what I'm supposed to be teaching on that particular day.  

My best suggestion is to start off by getting to bed and waking up consistently every single day.  This is one of the most difficult habits to get into and can be the make-it or break-it part of your day.  Next, keep the social media to a low; most of my social time is in the morning because I'm posting or doing whatever for my Biblical Wellness page at that time.  

Since I'm a student (MBA, Liberty University '19) I do my school-work at night when I can have a block of time to knock it out.  Depending on the class, that's 1000-3000 words per week which I can get through fairly quickly, having a MS already helps since I'm fairly familiar with the research process.  Sometimes, I'll be watching whatever we have DVR'd at the same time (kind of like I'm doing as I write this).  So, the take home to this section is to do your tedious/large work at the time that you have the longest period available.  

• Sleep/Wake at consistent times each and every day
• Workout when you can, it's best to do a hard 5 minute workout than none at all
• Keep Social Media at a low, unless you absolutely need to get onto it
• Stretch or do some light workout while watching TV
• Use your longest time-blocks to do your most relaxed work

These are just some suggestions in getting stuff done.  They seem to work for me and I just wanted to pass it along to you.  Now, if you need to write it out and put it into a day-planner, then go ahead; better to do that and be successful than not do it at all.  

If you have questions or need help in your time management, head over to Biblical Wellness on Facebook and shoot me a message.  God Bless!

Attack on the Dad-Bod!

Talking about how life sometimes is difficult and to find time to work on your own fitness.  Enjoy!

Why exercise is only 20% of the equation and the time dedicated to it may be futile

As I've alluded to in previous posts, I tend to be on the slightly fluffier side of things.  To give you a full-fledged idea of how ineffective exercise can often be, I do 2 very intense kickboxing classes per week, 2 moderate intensity boxing classes, 4 low to moderate boxing classes, 4 lifting sessions training both the upper and lower body in its entirety, and I usually average 11,000 steps per day.  Those 11,000 steps are around an hour and a half of movement on top of everything else.  Therefore, if exercise was the solitary answer, I'd be super ripped by this point.

I've pointed out in my last post the quantity of exercise performed by the average person, which equates to about 3 hours per week.  Easily, I surpass that.  On the positive, I would consider myself much stronger than average, but also am still not necessarily the most lean person in the world.  Therefore, exercise isn't the only answer.

For novice exercisers, exercise may be up to 40% of the equation in terms of weight management.  That number dramatically reduces as your body adapts to the various forms of exercise.  However, for many people, they devote so much more time to exercise than in dietary preparation or just nutritional education in general.

Generally changing what you eat is hard.  Often healthy food consists of vegetables, which aren't the most popular things in the world.  However, the more veggies you eat, the leaner you tend to be.  This, combined with an increase in protein consumption, say around 1 gram per pound of body weight can significantly offset any fat mass that could be gained.

To maximize your exercise effectiveness, skip the cardio.  Hitting the weights can have a longer, more prolonged effect on managing your weights over traditional cardio.  This is not to say that if you like running or cycling or whatever to skip it, on the contrary, go ahead and keep it up.  However, overall the weights can have the larger impact on your metabolic rate and improve your health.

When you look at your health, think about how eating can have the more profound impact on your life.  Exercise is still important, only less so.