Too Busy To Exercise?

I want to exercise but I don't have time.

If you ask a person who doesn't exercise, why don't you exercise? What do you think their number one excuse is?

No time.

I don't have time. But we all have the same amount of time. About 20 years ago, I did a book on what Fortune 500 CEO's were doing. I interviewed 128 of them and guess what? Three-quarters of them exercise at least three times a week. These are very busy people. And yet they recognize that to perform at the level that they want to perform at, and to have the health they want, and just in general to have the kind of energy and quality of life that they want, they need to exercise every day.

Most of us are going to say to you, I'm too tired, I'm too fat, and I'm too stressed.

Well, most people in the United States are not taking good enough care of themselves and that will come as no surprise to most people. In fact, one of my friends has said, everyone who smokes knows they shouldn't. And everybody who exercises, everyone who doesn't exercise knows they should. And another one of my friends said, obesity is the one disease that does not require a second opinion. Most people who are too fat know that they're too fat. So, simply knowing that you should be doing something differently is probably not enough. And so we need to find ways of engaging our patients where they live inside. What their values are, what they prioritize. So, I know people get tired, and I know people feel like they don't have enough time, but we need to help people realize that those are excuses. We make time for those things that we care about. We need to help people understand that they can get a whole lot more out of their life, if because of the paradox that sometimes you have to expend a little energy to get a whole lot more back.