2. Sleep More and Better

 

Any day you are over tired, don’t even think about doing your exercise routine that day.  If you do, you will not get the results you hope for.  You might even go backwards, get injured, or sow the seeds for getting sick (although you won't notice at the time).  If you get sick, you might have to miss days or weeks of working out.  Then it will take more days or weeks to get back to the point where you were before you got sick.

 

If you are tired, you won't enjoy your workout, which is the key to long-term fitness.

 

If it's getting late at night and you are sitting in front of the TV wondering if you should watch one more show or go to sleep now so you will have the energy for a good workout tomorrow, it's your choice.  But don't kid yourself.  If you choose to get less sleep than you need, your fate is already determined. 

 

When you arrive at the gym the next day for your workout, feeling a little tired, thinking “Well I'll just tough it out and have a good workout anyway”, forget it.  It's over.  Go home.  It’s too late now to make up for the fact that you denied your body the rest it needed the night before.

 

You can't cheat Mother Nature.  You can't deny your body the sleep it needs without destroying its ability to grow bigger and stronger, and stay healthy.

 

Now I know there are a few people out there who already get too much sleep.  I'm not talking to them.

 

I'm talking to the rest of you, the overachievers and wanna-be overachievers who drive themselves hard trying to build a good life for themselves and their families.  Cutting corners taking care of themselves.  Hoping they will find the time someday, but denying themselves the sleep, nutrition and exercise they need now.

 

Stop it.

 

I know, in the short term you can get more done with that approach, but in the long term it will kill you.  In between you will find that you are steadily becoming less productive, more unhappy, and feeling worse from being out of shape.  The shortcut becomes a long cut.  Feeling run down, it is harder to get even the minimum work done.  You end up stuck in a state of low productivity and worry.

 

Your life doesn't have to be that way.

 

When you are physically fit and following a regular exercise routine, feeling good, looking great, breathing easy, metabolism high, some very good things begin to happen. 

 

First, you are way more productive.  Sound body, sound mind.  You think sharper, act faster, worry less, and have a more positive approach that helps you to accomplish much more in less time.

 

Second, you need fewer hours of sleep to get the amount of quality rest your body needs, because your engine is running smoother.

 

When you combine these two things, you see that you don't have to take time away from other things to work out -- working out actually creates more time in your life by empowering you to get the same amount of things accomplished in less time, and enabling you to get more restful sleep.