Transcript: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Appointments With Yourself
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Ashley reflects on how she used to invent any excuse to skip the gym — wrong outfit, woke up late, too big a breakfast — and contrasts that with how she now blocks her entire weekly gym schedule in her calendar.
Yeah, I used to give really dumb excuses as to why I couldn't go to the gym. What's up, you guys? Famous Sasha Grant here. Welcome to More Movement Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today, I want to talk about really dumb excuses. And I guess the reason I'm thinking about this is because I used to give the dumbest excuses as to why I couldn't go to the gym. And now I'm amused that I'm generally looking for excuses. to go to the gym. I am constantly like telling people that I'm not available on certain days and times because I, in my calendar, I have set it up that, you know, I know that every Monday at 9 30 AM is Zumba and every Monday at 10 30 AM is low impact cardio and toning. So I literally put in my calendar every single week for the year that I'm booked at those times. I did the same thing for Tuesdays at 9 .30 whenever there's another low impact cardio and toning class. And
for Thursdays when there's a Tabata class at 9 .30 and Friday, the same thing as Monday, 9.30 a .m. I'm going to be doing Zumba and 10.30 a .m. I'm going to be doing low impact cardio and toning. And the reason I'm so amused about this is because back before I got serious about my fitness journey, before I got really serious about. the fact that I wanted to be at the gym as often as possible, actually taking care of my health, taking care of my fitness, I would literally come up with any excuse under the sun to not go to the gym. Everything from, oh, I didn't have the outfit I wanted to wear today.
Or, oh, I woke up just a few minutes late. Or, oh, I had too big of a breakfast. Or, I mean, insert excuse here, right? I literally was making excuses left and right to not go to the gym. And I... I often would throw it on work. I would say, oh, I have to work. And yeah, I get it. A lot of people, they have day jobs and I do too. I actually do work. And I had someone say to me recently, they were like, man, you're at the gym so often. Do you ever work? Like, do you even have a job? And I kind of got tickled at that question because I do run my own business.
Ashley describes running her own business and structuring her work hours around her gym classes, and recounts a client noticing she had no morning availability because those slots are all gym time.
And so I create my hours around my gym schedule at this point. And that is one of the good things about working for yourself. I don't dismiss that at all. I understand that a lot of people can't do what I do in terms of working out their schedules. I'm constantly keeping it in my calendar that I will be working out at specific days and times. And I make this these appointments with myself and I do everything I can now to keep them. I keep these appointments because they mean that much to me. And it's just it's wild to think I used to always make excuses about why I couldn't go to the gym. And I'm I'm. I'm not that person anymore. I'm not that person anymore. I'm not the girl who's going to try to get out of going to the gym. I'm going to do everything I can.
I move heaven and earth trying to make sure I get to the gym. And I had, I had a meeting today and I was amused at a client that was asking me like, gosh, you're so busy. Like I was looking through your booking link and I couldn't find any availability at the times that I'm available. what is it that you're always doing in the mornings? And, and I just kind of had to explain to them like, you know, well, mornings are usually whenever I'm at the gym and they're like, but you're booked a lot. And it's, yes, I am. I'm going to the gym rather frequently. And I love it. I absolutely love the fact that I am moving my body the way that I am. I am doing all I can to work out as often as I can. And, you know, I kind of just goes to the. The thing that I've said in the past that if you are going to get serious about working out, you need to make appointments with yourself. If you keep a calendar of appointments
and things that you know that you have to do, add in your workouts, man. Add in the times that you intend to go to the gym or if it's not the gym. that you intend to turn on a workout video or that you intend to go for a walk or whatever it is because when you make the appointments with yourself that's when you'll actually show up whenever you make these appointments with yourself that's when you won't give yourself an out and i mean think about it let's say you had an appointment to get your oil changed if it came the time for your oil change are you just gonna oh i don't feel like it today No, you're going to go and you're going to go get your oil changed at that time that you have booked into your calendar. Why? Because you know that you need it to keep your car running smoothly and you made the appointment. You made the commitment that you're going to show up and take care of your car. It's the same with working out. That's
Ashley makes the case that treating workouts like a booked appointment — using the oil change analogy — is what stops you from giving yourself an out, and urges listeners to add movement to their calendars as a commitment to themselves.
why I add all of my gym days into my calendar. I'm adamant about it. I make sure that every day that I know that I'm going to try to go to the gym, I add it to the calendar. And it makes it so that when people are trying to book appointments with me, they can't book me on the days that I have gym classes because I want to make sure that I keep these appointments with myself. Now, I will say that there have been some random exceptions where I didn't really have a choice about, you know, what time an appointment was booked, because there are some things that do come up where clients need you at a specific time. And yes, I have had to either leave early or, you know, step out of class and take a call or whatever. But the point is, if you. want to be serious about changing your lifestyle changing your fitness habits then you've got to start booking it in with yourself and you've got to make the commitment
and actually show up and don't make excuses if you keep making excuses you're never going to get the results that you were looking for if you keep making excuses you will not see any inches come off your body if you keep making excuses you will not see the scale move at all If you keep making excuses, you will continue being the same person you are now, if not worse, as you age. And that is something that I have been really focused on lately because as I'm getting older, I'm starting to see just how critical it is that we take care of our bodies and move them and make sure that we are keeping our, I guess, our engine oiled. Because, you know, that's basically what it is, right? Every time I go to the gym. It's me making sure that I'm keeping my body in check, that I am keeping my body movable and usable. And so that's really what I want to encourage you to do today is if you are not going to the gym or you are not working out or
you're not moving your body in some way, shape or form, start adding it to your calendar. Start adding these as appointments with yourself that you keep that you are using this time as a commitment to yourself. to take better care of yourself. You deserve it. I want this for you. I'm rooting for you. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?