Part 1: 'Pre-programming & time-blocking' — how to make exercise non-negotiable

Something can always get in the way of our best intentions. Today, the first of five steps in how I (mostly) solved this problem.

Warmup

Last week, I disembarked from a 90-minute train ride after a day of meetings in New York City. I had roughly a one-hour window before my next one — a virtual three-hour business review from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (My employer is Tokyo-based, so working hours are funky.)

What I wanted to do: Unpack my bag from the overnight trip, rinse off the train odor (it really does have one), cook some hot dinner and lie down for 10 minutes.

What I did: Left my stuff by the front door, threw on a tee-shirt and running shoes and knocked out a fast 30-minute pyramid run (6 min easy, 6 min medium effort, 6 min hard, 6 min medium effort, 6 min easy) on our dirt road as dusk set in.

Then I logged on with cold leftovers, finally showering at 9 p.m. Virtual meetings do have their advantages…:)

Despite what I wanted, what I actually did was non-negotiable.

We’ll get to the why-and-how in the post below, but first …

An invitation

In April, I’m co-hosting a special weeklong seminar-slash-resort week in Santa Fe with my former Wall Street Journal colleague, Joanne Lipman, author of the excellent book “Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work.”

We’ll be leading a series of workshops on “What’s Next? Strategies for a Powerful Pivot” from April 14 to 19, through Modern Elder Academy at the spectacular Rising Circle Ranch – named one of the “World’s Greatest Places 2024” by Time magazine.

In addition to deep dives on strategies to find, plan and execute your Not-Too-Late pivot, you’ll get to engage in some very cool physical excursions during the week that I’ll personally plan.

I hope you’ll considering joining us.

Post

Not Too Late member Marshall Petersen made an interesting suggestion in the comments for last week’s post about my Greece Spartan Race World Championship.

He floated an idea of really drilling down on how you begin to approach a journey from being a desk-bound office jockey (like I was eight years ago) to making a true commitment to regular, life-changing physical movement.

I love good ideas from the N2L community. And this is a very good idea.

Because you don’t have to become a competitive athlete for this topic to deeply matter.

You just need to want to live as long and as well as you can.

Regular, consistent exercise is truly THE most important step — and the one thing healthwise that is almost 100% in our control.

So I’m starting at Ground Zero: How to make regular physical movement non-negotiable in your day.

Today’s newsletter is the first of five shorter posts I’ll write on this issue. (No boiling of the ocean in a single week.)

Topics will include:

• Pre-programming and Time-blocking (TODAY)

• Visual Cues & Accessibility (Posted 11/24/24)

• Data & Tracking (Posted 12/1/24)

• The Double-Up Pledge (Posted 12/9/24)

• Completion Signaling (Posted 12/15/24)

• BONUS: N2L Reader Tips (Posted 12/24/24)

This will take us right up to the end of the year — just in time for that big January reset and any resolutions you might be making.

Life is always going to give you plenty of very valid reasons to skip exercise.

It wasn’t until I created this 5-step framework that I found a nearly bulletproof method to circumvent them all.

Marshall — thanks for the idea.

Let’s get it done.

Pre-programming & Time-blocking

Waking up, thinking “I’m going to exercise at some point today” is common and natural.

Problem is, it’s got all sorts of vulnerabilities.

• You must spend time figuring out what to do.

• You must figure out when you’re going to do it.

• You then must figure out where your going to do it based on the what and when.

• All of the above = extra time you don’t have in a day that’s already got too much crammed into it.

Problem summarized: It’s a well-intentioned but ambiguous thought that might pan out some days but has the risk of getting trounced many days when life’s interruptions come flooding in.

My solution has been two-fold.

Pre-programming

When I first decided to train for a Spartan Race in 2016, I had no consistent, clearly-defined workout regimen. It was all hit-or-miss with that murky “at some point today” promise.

The first step toward pre-programming I took was to sign up for a free Spartan Race workout of the day.

They popped into my inbox each morning. For a while, I ignored them. Once I actually committed (more on that turning point in my book NOT TOO LATE), the emails were a game changer.

I had something specific to do each day. I didn’t have to think about the “what” or “where.” These were pre-programmed workouts that could be done wherever I happened to be: home, hotel, gym.

One search of “get free online workouts” yields a plethora of apps and online opportunities. It’s not hyper-personalized. You have to be careful and know your body. But at minimum, it’s a low cost way to start doing something with regularity — and sometimes that’s half the battle.

When I later graduated to an exercise routine tailored for me and my goals, I turned to my online trainers at Grit Coaching. Now they pre-program my monthly workouts in an app. (Note: paid members of this newsletter get a discount on three months of training with Grit Coaching.)

The month-long pre-programming means I can plan ahead and rearrange workouts if I’m traveling. I don’t have ambiguity. It’s hyper-clear what I need to accomplish each week.

One observation: I find it’s a lot harder to skip something when I know exactly what that “something” is that I’m skipping.

If you’re designing your own exercise regimen, I highly suggest plotting out workouts, classes, hikes, activities for the week in advance — say on Sunday afternoon. Then you can plan around those workouts so they become non-negotiable.

Which brings us to the next point…

Time-blocking

Like many of you, I live by my digital calendar (represented above). The color-coded blocks tell me when and where to be to accomplish the day’s tasks.

What hasn’t worked: thinking I’ll squeeze in exercise somewhere between these color-coded blocks. Again, the ambiguity opens the door for drifting into time sucks … letting a meeting run long, ordering a few things on Amazon, answering a few emails, checking Instagram.

Instead, I clearly define a time block of exercise the same way I do my work meetings. It signals to me (and everyone who can see my calendar) this chunk of time is non-negotiable.

It removes the tripwire of “at some point today.”

Cooldown

To be sure, there are days when life’s chaos transcends this planning. But honestly, not that often. In the past eight years as I’ve fine-tuned the 5-Step program we’re discussing, there are only a handful of days I’ve missed my exercise program: being sick with the flu, my melanoma surgery, the day my father-in-law died.

Otherwise, I’ve stuck to it — in large part due to the Double-Up Pledge, which we’ll cover in an upcoming newsletter.

I would love to hear how you make your fitness non-negotiable. Drop me a note or leave one in the comments.

Thanks for reading. And as always, find something you love. Dig in. Stick with it when things get hard.

Wendy