Everyone knows the health benefits of working out. Everyone knows that working out is important. Unfortunately, everyone also knows that working out is not-urgent. Exercise is important but not-urgent. Herein lies the main reason people are not able to persist with the habit of exercise.

Working out is just not a high priority activity for most people. You will always do the things that you think are of high priority. This is the way we divide our time to our activities. Steven Covey elegantly captured this concept in the Time Management Matrix.

Setting a Low Priority to Exercise

Take the example of David. His doctor has warned him of impending lifestyle diseases. The advise during every doctor’s visit was the same. “Watch your food and start exercising”. Like many others, David was caught up with living life. He had a demanding job that did not give him much time to do other things. What ever pockets of time that he could find was spent with his family.

One day, David had a mild heart attack. He survived the heart attack without much collateral damage. This experience completely changed David. He realized that life was vulnerable. He realized that nothing was more important than health. He figured that he had better sort out his lifestyle as the next heart attack may not be so forgiving. He started being more careful about what he ate. He found time for exercise.

What changed? David still had the same amount of time in the day. The demands of his job did not reduced. His family still demands the same time from him. The only thing that has changed is David’s priorities. He is now able to find an hour every day for the gym.

Steven Covey's Time Management Matrix

Exercise is Important but Not Urgent

Initially, David had a different view of exercising. He knew that working out was important. After all, his doctor kept telling him to work out. Unfortunately, working out was not-urgent. Exercise was important but not-urgent.

After David had his heart attack, work outs suddenly became urgent. David felt that his lifespan would be reduced if he did not embrace exercise. Working out which was already important, now became also urgent.

According to Steven Covey, people unknowingly prioritize activities based on its urgency and not its importance. This was elaborated in detail in an earlier article on why some people are motivated to exercise. The diagram on the right shows the 4 quadrants of the time management matrix.

Start Working Out Before it Becomes Urgent

Working Out only becomes urgent when one is afflicted by lifestyle diseases or becomes very overweight. Do not let this happen to you. Set exercising as a high priority activity and start doing it today.