Making Exercise Part of Your Daily Routine

I’ve been struggling this past week with making time to exercise. I’ve made excuses all week, saying, “If I go to the gym, I won’t meet my deadlines … or get the laundry caught up … or get to the grocery store.”

But you know what? I found time three times this week to go to Curves and to jog for half an hour, and those were the days when my mind was clearer and I was less distracted. So I could stay on task and accomplish more.

In his blog at The Writing Life,Terry Whalin has been discussing insights from novelist Janet Evanovich in her book, How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author. I’ve never read one of her books, but what jumped out at me was how she describes her workday:

Okay. When I’m in a book. I like to keep the momentum going, so I usually work an eight-hour day, five days a week. I like to be at my computer by about 5:00 or 5:30 A.M. I stop writing around 2:00 and become a businessperson, answering phone calls, doing mail, and having discussions with my publicist and whatever. I take an hour or two out in the middle of the day for exercise.

Aha! The secret to a bestselling author’s productivity! She takes out an HOUR or TWO each day to exercise. I definitely thought that was blogworthy — and worth emulating.