Question: Do you consider yourself a Type A person?

I’m willing to bet 90% of you said ‘yes.’ It seems as if everyone I meet and know thinks of themselves as having all of the qualities of being “Type A:”

-busy

-super organized

-competitive

and so on. And in this day and age, it’s easy to feel like a Type A. Schedules run our lives – which are jam packed, so organization is key. A schedule and a routine is absolutely necessary, in my opinion. BUT – it shouldn’t rule our lives.

This past weekend I was in Breckenridge for a wedding, and whenever I’m in the mountains, I get that easy-livin’, be-in-the-moment feeling that comes with thin air and picturesque views.

Aside from celebrating a lovely new marriage and a super fun reception afterward, we also spend time eating in local cafes and hiking on some of the nearby trails.

It’s so so pretty out there. I love the mountains just as much in the summer as I do skiing there in the weekend!

Anyway, this weekend was the second weekend in a row where I was out of town in the mountains, and it made me realize one thing: I work a lot more on the weekend than I thought I did!

Now, in my opinion, the one thing that takes away from a weekend away more than anything is being a slave to a laptop. It takes away from the present moment, and the memories living in those moments. So in order to minimize work time, I worked extra hard during the week to make sure all of my clients, posts, and articles were done beforehand.

Basically, I developed a more effective schedule and means to get shit done. To do this, I depended even more on my Evernote (which needs a post in itself!) tweaked my systems, made my workouts more efficient, worked an extra hour or two each day – and didn’t stress out when things didn’t go as planned.

To answer my original question in this post, no, I don’t consider myself a Type A person. BUT – I’m not quite the opposite of one, either. I’d say I’m a mixture of both type A and type B, as I have traits of both. I like to think of it as being flexibly scheduled.

[Tweet “On Being Flexibily Scheduled – via @TrainerPaige #fitfluential”]

[Tweet “When life throws you off track, you can still move in the same direction!”]

I like to have a schedule. Scratch that. I like to lean on systems and routines. On a daily basis, it starts with my morning routine: salt+citrus water, coffee, enjoy a slow walk or sit on my porch. Complete my first to-do, promote blog post if there is one that day. Eat a snack, workout, check email. Depending on the day.

And I also have my weekly schedule. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are reserved for lifting workouts, blog work, writing articles, working on projects, and online client emails and program writing. Tuesday and Thursdays are for cardio workouts (teaching spin) and my work in the studios.

BUT – all of this is a very flexible schedule. It might sound like it’s all very organized and scheduled, but it’s not. Life happens, and it shouldn’t completely derail us. In my opinion, it should strengthen and enrich us (depending on the situation.)

Our routines keep us sane, in check and on track. Our systems help us to get done what we need to do to reach our goals. I think that schedules and routines are critical to being productive and achieving results. But I also think some of the best parts of life are what happens during a disruption in our schedules. Impromptu lunch dates with friends. Random hikes when feeling nostalgic. Showing your compassion by rescheduling a meeting with one of your best clients.

But if something comes up, it’s important to be flexible and learn how to work with those unexpected events rather than against them. 

Bringing this back around to fitness and nutrition, I believe it’s critical to be flexibly scheduled. I encourage all of my clients to have routines surrounding any new, healthy habits their introducing into their lives to make them more fluid and cohesive. I also think it’s imperative that they implement systems in order to make their workouts and adhere to their nutrition plan.

But more important than that is that they don’t get derailed if something unplanned comes up. To stay Flexibly Scheduled

[Tweet “3 Tips to Become Flexibly Scheduled – via @TrainerPaige #fitfluential”]

1. Work with the time you have rather than the time you wanted to have.

Let’s say that a meeting takes a little longer than you scheduled, and now it’s 5:15 and you were scheduled to workout from 4:45-5:45. You have a dinner date with a friend at 6:00, so you can’t put your workout out further.

It’s ok to shorten your workout. That’s a WAY better option than skipping it altogether. In fact, I’ve squeezed in a workout when I literally had 20 minutes until I needed to leave the house.

I did a quick 3 minute warm up, a 7 minute AMRAP workout, and then I sink showered and headed out the door. In those seven minutes I squat jumped, burpeed, and pulled up, and I also strengthened my heart, burned some calories, strengthened my muscles, and increased my metabolism.

Worth with the time you have now.

2. Make the best choices for your situation.

Don’t let disruptions in how you think life is supposed to be derail you. If you drive all the way to the gym only to find out that it’s closed, don’t huff and puff and get mad. Life does not go as planned. Say “oh well” and do your workout in the dang gym parking lot. Google parking lot workout or bodyweight workout and do your thing!

Tree=gym

On the same token, if you’re at an impromptu family cook out, you might not eat exactly what you planned on eating that day, but you can still make healthy choices, or choices that are somewhat aligned to your goals. It’s fine.

Funny side story: Shane says my reaction to most situations is “it’s fine.” He says it jokingly and to kind of poke fun, but it’s true! It is fine. If it’s not fine, than I’m just fighting an un-winnable fight. I’m fighting with reality.

3. Create systems to get shit done more efficiently.

This might sound counterintuitive, but having a system to follow will help you stay organized and on top of things so that when something does go array, you’re not already behind and disorganized.

I have a morning routine that I follow nearly every single day, and part of that routine is writing down three things I want to get done that day. Not 5, not 10, not 15 – but 3. If it happens to be more than three, I figure out a way to put the fourth or fifth item on docket for tomorrow’s to-do’s.

I’m also a big fan of setting timers, as I’m super easily distracted. If I set a timer for 45:00 and set out to accomplish a task in that timeframe, I’m more impermeable to distractions like Facebook and Instagram.

Another helper I use all the time is Evernote. I have so much to say about this app, but since this post is already wordy, let’s just say that I’d be lost without it.

If I had to define it, what I would call flexibly scheduled is this: a sane way to forgive yourself for not being perfect while still being productive and getting results. See also: how to live a relatively productive life without throwing hissy fits.

[Tweet “How to life a productive life without throwing hissy fits via @TrainerPaige”]

OK – your turn to answer: Do you consider yourself a Type A person? Why or why not? What qualities of that type of personality do you possess?

PS – I’m taking on 5 new online clients at the end of *next* week. If you’re interested in training with me, shoot me an email at yourtrainerpaige@gmail.com (and if you’ve been waitlisted, I’ll be sending you an email asap ;-))