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My only class today – Professional Responsibility – was cancelled today so I stayed home.  I saved on travel, but my studying did not flow as well.  I had intended to go to the gym, but put it off until 50 minutes before closing time.  Up against the clock, I finally did push myself out the door.  I’m glad I did.  Even though I only had a light workout, I got my blood circulating and released some endorphins.  In turn, this will help sharpen my focus when studying tonight and keep me motivated to turn more and more pages.

I really like working out – I’ve been primarily a weight lifter and runner since I was 15.  To date, I have maintained a good level of consistency, but I do succomb to days or weeks of inactivity when finals roll around.  Recently, I had to complete my Insurance Law paper to fulfill our school writing requirement.  After stringing together several great days of workouts, I went into a drought while writing that paper.

It doesn’t have to be that way and I’m determined not to fall into an unhealthy pattern for finals this semester.  Last December, I ballooned to 251 during finals.  I cast aside exercise and indulged in easy fast food, only concentrating on the task at hand.  This isn’t the way to go.  During Summer, I was able to work myself all the way down to 221.  Now, finals are approaching and I will integrate exercise into my studies.  In fact, I want to lose weight during finals.

I never have been one to record my workouts.  I like the idea of it, but logging your workouts does take discipline in and of itself.  So while I was working out today, I decided I would record my workouts in this blog.  This way I can accurately track my progress and have a better reason to write everything down.

11.25.08 – 8:10 pm

16 minutes treadmill run – 1.73 miles

4 minutes treadmill walk – .3 miles

3×12 inside incline bench press – 95lbs

3×12 tricep rope pulldown – plate 6

3×12 machine rope bench press – plate 20lbs

3×12 lateral 90 degree dumbell shoulder flies – 15lbs

2×20 decline sit-ups

231 Weight

We all know the tremendous benefits exercise offers.  I highly recommend you add 3-4 days a week of exercise if you don’t already.  If nothing else, do it to improve your grades.

You can net yourself a few days a year by streamlining your activities.  Technology has advanced this notion tremendously, but there are still many simple, non-digital avenues to saving time.  Here are some prime examples:

If you check multiple email accounts, forward your mail all to one account.

Have a few tv shows you like to watch?  You can DVR them and watch them all at the end of the week or day if you have a particular lineup you can’t miss.  This not only streamlines but eliminates significant commercial time.  Don’t have DVR?  Watch your shows on the Internet.  The major networks have new episodes available weekly.  Hulu is great about compiling major network shows.  In fact, they now have RSS feeds you can subscribe to.  RSS Feeds send you alerts via email when a site publishes something new.

As you may have guessed, RSS Feeds are usually predicated on new blog entries.  For example, you can subscribe to this blog and you will receive my blog entries in your inbox as soon as I publish.  So if you’re a fan of multiple blogs, you can also save yourself time by subscribing to them.

Another method of welding time is to eliminate trips.  For example, rather than go to class and then come back home to eat lunch, bring your lunch and stay at school.  This is going to save you time and money.  Albeit more tenuated, you also save your car mileage and decrease the chances of getting in a wreck.  This type of rational works in all facets – buying in quantity at the store, shopping at multiple places in a row, combining two workouts in one at the gym (and eliminating your second), and other applicable trip consolidations to your life.

Also, wash and dry your laundry at one time rather than cleaning it in piecemeal fashion.  Certainly, when you do this bring your books along to convert your laundry time into study time with laundry breaks.

These types of approaches may not appear to be a large difference maker in your day to day operations, but if you chart your time over just a week, you will find you have freed up a nice block of time.  Taken over the aggregate, this amounts to precious hours piling in your time bank.

This notion is somewhat akin to defragmenting your hard drive.  In defragmenting, you consolidate data scattered across your hard drive to maximize free space.  In streamlining, you consolidate your activities to maximize free time.