Guest Post by TheMathMaster

Good Monday everyone! Hope your weekend was terrific!

Now it’s a Monday, but never fear it will soon be over and then we then go toward another weekend. Yeah, I’m an optimist.

I would like you to meet my new Guest blogger, Martin Conterez, also known as TheMathMaster from The Hungry Dog’s Lair blog. He is a wonderful writer and blogger. Go visit him and read some of his work that he is posting from NaNoWriMo. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. (Psst….. He wouldn’t mind if you sent a bit of money to him either. Really just read this if you don’t believe me.) hahaha.

Martin and I love comments, so please feel free to make comments or ask questions or just to say hi!

Today Martin is going to be discussing exercise, and finding time for anything you love to do. Take it away Martin!

 

 

I rather like the title of Jackie’s blog, To Breathe is to Write. I like writing but I don’t know if I would take it that far. On the other hand I like to run, or exercising in general. I would like to paraphrase her title and say to breathe is to run. Now I get that it’s not for everyone and I respect that. Exercise in general is not for everybody, and that’s okay too. Just the same, writing is not for everyone.

But this post is not about what you enjoy doing or what you don’t enjoy doing. Today’s post is about making time for the things we want to do and whether or not we really want to do them. When I’m meeting new people and describing some of the things I like to do I inevitably mention running. What I get in return is almost always, in one form or another, “Oh I never have time to exercise. How do you find time for it?”

Usually I give the short answer of, “Oh I run at lunch.”, or something like that. But I often want to give them the long explanation. Today I present to you the story of four people and how they find time for exercise.

The first person is M. M works for a large organization. Her work weeks range in the 50-60 hour range. She is responsible for overseeing the work of more than 200 people. She finds herself on call after hours to assist with emergencies that may pop up around the world. M not only runs, but she bikes and hits the gym on a regular basis. During runs together I’ve seen her hit the blackberry for a fast response to an email and never break a stride. Despite being 20 years my senior, she can run circles around me and does so on a regular basis. She can find time to exercise.

Our second person is M’s direct supervisor, well call him J. J works similar hours and has to be as aware if not more aware of the issues. In addition J travels and does press interviews about the very subjects that are so critical to his organization’s duties. Even with days full of meetings he finds time to run on a daily basis.

Senior to J is his supervisor JJ. JJ is the equivalent of a CEO of a large international organization. She is ultimately responsible for the work of thousands of employees. She travels constantly and represents her organization worldwide in meetings with high level officials and to the press. A normal workweek is between 60 and 70 hours. She is known to clear on average 30 to 40 documents a day, while handling around 1000 new emails daily. JJ is reported to run around 80 miles a week and even took her vacation at a running camp.

If JJ is a CEO, then her boss P would be the founder and leader of a large conglomerate. Serving on several Boards of Directors and being CEO of a few too. In total he oversees the work of tens of thousands of people. Their work ultimately has an impact on millions worldwide. His work has him meeting with high level officials on a daily basis and I can’t even imagine what his Inbox looks like. A work week of 80 hours would probably be a slow one. In addition to a constant barrage of meetings he has to clear at least as many documents as JJ, if not more. He is in such a position that if he wanted he could have a driver for everywhere he goes, including to and from work. P bikes to work. I’m going to repeat that, P bikes to work.

Then there’s myself. I work 40 hours, never a minute more. I get all the major holidays, and some minor ones too. I come in at 8 and I leave by 5 with a generous lunch period. If the people I just described above can find time to exercise, then there is no reason that I can’t. I hate to break it to you, but there’s no reason that you can’t find the time either. There may be a host of reasons why you can’t exercise, but time isn’t one of them.

Now let’s take this a bit further. Let’s talk about priorities. Let’s say you want to write. “But Martin, I don’t have time to write.” Bullocks I say. If you really want to do something you will make the time. For that matter let’s say you want to do something, anything in general, write, exercise, get a dog, paint, jump out of burning planes, it could be anything. Ask yourself, “What is stopping me from doing it?” If the answer is time, then you’re lying to yourself. If it is something you want to do then you will find the time. If the people I’ve described above can find the time for something as trivial as exercise, then you can find the time to follow your passion and your desires. It’s all about priorities. Go out there and make the time. You might just be happy that you did.