Can you hit the snooze button AND the gym?

I’ll be perfectly honest. 

I love the snooze button. 

I’ve heard it said that productive, successful people never hit the snooze button.  

Good for them. 

This is the clock radio I keep in my bedroom. Oddly enough, it doesn't have a snooze button though, so I don't actually use it for an alarm. Because snooze.

Whomever said that never spent a restless night kicking the covers and watching every. hour. pass. 

I've struggled with sleep for most of my life. My best hours of rest usually come between 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. The most appropriate word for those additional nine minutes of sleep in the morning is delicious.

Keep your chocolate ganache cheesecake. I'll take my fluffy pillow, thick warm comforter, and nine more minutes. 

Snoozing has a catch though. If you slap that button more than twice, suddenly you're brushing your teeth in the shower (I’m not judging) and dumping a packet of Starbucks instant coffee into your mouth on the way out the door. (Also not judging here).

Snoozing is a delightful form of procrastination. 

I was such a procrastinator in college that my cover poem for my senior poetry class portfolio was as follows:

Procrastinating Poet

Meant to write a poem
But the weather hasn’t been
quite right
for writing poems.

I thought it was clever. My professor did not*

Snoozing, procrastinating - there is a time and a place for both. My co-worker, one of the most productive people I’ve ever met, actually builds procrastination into his day. I think that's admirable, as I'd probably procrastinate the ten minutes of procrastinating I built in to the day. 

Never kid a kidder, and never tell a procrastinator what time the party really starts.

This is what I do to help get me over the hurdle of putting off my workouts though:

1. Learn how to change your mindset

I work at a gym. You'd think it would be easier to get your workouts in, but I've actually found it much harder. I'm already in gym clothes (win) and I'm already at the gym (win). For me it's not logistics. It's mindset.

I change into my workout clothes, I put on my headphones, and the number one thing that helps me change my mindset is putting on my heart rate strap. 

2. Plan shorter workouts

We see it at all the time at Spurling. Folks plan to come in at 6:00, but work happens and suddenly they can't make it until 6:15. The workout takes an hour, they want to be home for dinner by 7:00 and the workout gets skipped completely.

Cut the workout in half. You don't have to do all nine exercises that day. Do five of them. 

I typically strength train three days per week, but I've had plenty of weeks where I could only fit in 30-45 minutes in a day. So I cut the workouts in half. 

This approach helps get you in the door when you're short on time AND short on energy. You might be surprised that on a day when you just aren't feeling it, committing to at least 30 minutes somehow turns in to an hour. 

3. Set weekly goals

I'd love to workout six days a week, but life happens. Also, I'm 39 years old and sometimes I don't recover as quickly as I'd like. I set my weekly goals, which is usually five days of workouts. 

Sounds good on paper, but the reality is I've found myself skipping the workouts Sunday and Monday, which meant that I had to get those workouts in the rest of the week. No more off days that week. It's my bare minimum. 

But having a bare minimum, for workouts, for blog posts, for cleaning my car - someone those turn in to attainable goals for me.

What works for you though? What doesn't work? My comment section below is awfully lonely these days. Good, bad, or otherwise, feel free to comment below about what gets you through the week. Or what you struggle with. I'd love to hear from you.

* The second poem in that collection was entitled "I Am Happy"
Below are the first few stanzas. 

The sun is shining, the grass is green.
Last time I checked, I still had a spleen.
I am happy.

I saw two lovers kiss on my way to class
A kid on a school bus flashed me his ass.
I am happy.

A classmate suggested that this poem was a prime example of why there is no happy poetry in the world. Touche.