Yes, there is a difference!
This is Time Management 101 kids.
Let’s say you work on the computer at an 8-5 office job.
You spend your day on Facebook, checking email, ordering personal items, texting, reading blogs and articles, and looking at the random photos on The Chive. That’s a busy day with no downtime and no chance of boredom. It’s also very unproductive.
That was an extreme example, but let’s look a high school athlete who wants nothing more than to play at the next level.
Here’s a typical day:
- Sleep as late as possible. Get up an hour before school. Meet friends for breakfast at local hangout. Make first period 5 minutes late. Again.
- Sleepwalk through school daydreaming about your All-American & NCAA championship status.
- Hang out with friends after school and stroll into practice right at 4PM.
- After practice hit the local hangout with friends for some food.
- Go home and pretend to do homework while you Facebook and text your friends.
- Watch trashy TV shows that rot your brain and provide the worst possible role models (16 & Pregnant, Jersey Shore, etc, etc)
- Facebook some more.
- And when the time comes to actually “train”, it’s: play pickup games with jokers who just want to jack up 3-balls and try to dunk, hit the weight room for heavy knee bends (squats), bicep curls, and calf raises.
The above example is the young athlete who say they don’t have time for proper training, can’t find a way to eat 5-6 meals per day, can’t gain muscle, can’t do this, and can’t do that.
Want to see what a successful athlete’s schedule looks like?
- 5:30 AM = Wake up and hit weight room for strength training. This athlete has a structured program designed for success that includes specific training days, off days, recovery methods, and physical preparation.
- Post-lift nutrition.
- School. (Pays attention, respects teachers, and takes education seriously)
- Between school and practice: Fuels properly for activity and warms up to mentally and physically prepare.
- 4-6PM Practice. Leads team, communicates, and strives to improve own weaknesses as well as teammates.
- Goes home to complete homework. Eats a proper meal & packs food/snacks for the next day. Maybe even works a part-time job.
- Still has time to text & FB friends or watch a bit of TV.
The bottom line is this: If you’re a “Level Anything over ZERO”-gamer who has 30 Facebook posts daily and you spend your “training” time playing useless pickup games to stroke your ego…don’t complain about not having time to train properly, can’t eat 5-6 healthy meals, can’t gain muscle or lose fat, blah, blah, blah.
Congruent behavior is a term used to define actions that reflect the stated goals and desired outcomes. Are your behaviors congruent with your goals?
I’m not saying YOU’RE guilty or innocent. I’m not saying YOU’RE busy OR productive. I’m simply showing you the difference. It’s up to YOU to take an honest look at yourself. It’s up to YOU to decide which path you choose.