The Power of Preparation
If you are like our family once Monday hits we hit the ground running. My husband and I both work full-time and he also teaches two nights a week while we both teach a fit class one night a week. We have a one year old who is super active so it never stops. We have a small window of "free" time from around 9-10pm every night-that's it! So, time is very precious to us! I hate staying in my drill sargeant state all of the time but it truly is a necessity to keep everything in order during the week. Here are some things we do a head of time to help during the week:
1. Cook on Sundays to get you through the week (or most of the week). I do not enjoy cooking. The last thing I want to do is work all day and then come home and cook-yuck! However, if I don't have meals planned or made we end up eating a bunch of junk which is no good either. So, for example, last night I made a big pot of homeade soup (chili is a good example). I also cooked some peppers, beef, black beans, rice and onions for fajitas. I spent about an hour Sunday night cooking both meals in a big batch. What we will do is on Monday-Wednesday is rotate for lunch and dinner eating the soup and fajitas. All we have to do is warm them up! That covers three days of meals. On Thursday I may cook something simple (like throw turkey burgers on the grill). Then on Friday when we are pooped from the week we might order pizza (or make one at home).
2. Lay out clothes/pack the night before-We pick out what clothes we are going to wear the night before, we pack our food for work, and get Mayda's bag packed and ready for grandmas. If we are planning on working out the next morning we either wear the work-out clothes to bed or lay them close to the bed. This will save 10-15 minutes every morning (and make your morning better!)
3. Bring snacks to work (or wherever you are going for the day)-anyone who has ever worked with me can vouch that I always either have a snack drawer or a bunch of snacks in my purse. If you don't pack or bring healthy snacks then you are more likely to make a trip to the vending machines, run to get fast food, or dig into the brownies your co-worker brought in. Here are some healthy snacks ideas-mixed nuts, protein/shakeology shake, piece of fruit, apple slices with peanut butter. Remember-it is important to eat every three hours. I am pretty sure that people at work think I eat all the time!
4. Schedule your workouts ahead of time-If you put on your calendar when you are going to work out or make plans to meet a friend to workout then you are more likely to stick with it. Treat your workout time just like any other important appointment. If someone invites you out to dinner on Wednesday night but you were going to workout say, "that is my scheduled workout night. Would you want to work out with me? If not I can look at a different day!"
Another thing-some families are actually more busy on the weekends. Instead of saving a bunch of "to do's" for Saturday or Sunday it is helpful to get a little done throughout the week. For example, instead of making Saturday an all day cleaning day pick one small thing to do each week day. Monday can be clean the bathrooms, Tuesday-dusting, Wednesday-paying bills, Thursday-laundry. It helps to break it down over a week so that it doesn't ruin or overload your weekend.
We all know that life happens and that we have to be flexible. However, the more prepared we can be the more likely we are to make better choices. There truly is power in preparation!
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