Time Management Tips for Professionals in the Fitness Industry

The fitness industry is a physically demanding avenue of work; it’s exhausting for the body and the mind, and – especially for those in an active role – it can leave you too tired to do much in the way of administration.Ezidebit - Time Management Tips for Fitness Professionals

Creating an efficient routine is no different than formulating an exercise plan. You have a goal, a budget of how much energy/effort you can put in per day, and a proper form and flow to each activity to allow you to get it all done- hopefully with enough leftover that you’re not exhausted after every day’s work.

Make a schedule

It’s the most obvious advice there is, but it still bears repeating because of its importance.

A simple to-do list with small, achievable goals goes a long way to giving you the ability to focus on both short and long-term growth. Come up with a few long-term, in-my-wildest-dream goals (eg. ‘I want to be ranked in the top 100 Personal Trainers in my country’), a few actionable long-term ones (say, ‘at the end of the year I want to have completed my Advanced Diploma of Fitness’, or ‘I want to become more proficient in swim coaching the elderly’), and your daily schedule.

Once you have a handle on what you really want, you’ll find it’s much easier to progress towards it. Devoting a little per day to your long-term goals helps you build a long-term focus, and those goals should help define and build towards your eventual wildest-dream goals.

Keep to your schedule!

This nearly deserves to be an article in its own right. Don’t create a schedule and rest there, thinking it’ll magically make you more efficient. You have to keep to it, and meet your goals, for it to be any help.

• DO your jobs in the order they need to be done in. Leaving unpleasant jobs to the last minute means you’ll always be tired and stressed when they come around.
• DO know your own limits and capabilities. Delegate or re-order any tasks that you might not be able to handle on your own. Efficiency doesn’t give you endless time, just more of it.
• DON’T put your long-term goals on hold for your daily ones too often (though obviously your daily chores come first). If you can’t find time to do everything in your workload, restructure your workload and schedule around it.
• DON’T jam pack your schedule so full that every little inconvenience makes you break it. Schedule time for unexpected occurrences, and leave some spare at the end of the week to catch up on anything you missed (or risk losing part of your weekend).

Warm up and cool down

For those that are in a role that requires you to both lead exercise and do paperwork throughout the day, the first thing you should begin incorporating into your schedule is segmenting the day into mental and physical roles.

Many people make the mistake of trying to be efficient by rushing some paperwork in between classes, or whenever they get a spare second. However, the parts of our brain that deal with social roles (teaching or supervising) and those that deal with clerical duties generally function independently, and often get in the way of each other.

Instead of doing admin tasks through lots of tiny breaks, try setting aside blocks of time per day to complete it.

Much like exercise, your mind needs to warm up and function correctly. By not switching rapidly between two spheres, and allowing yourself a few minutes when you transition from one to the other, you’ll prevent mentally taxing yourself too hard.

Every day, between each series of grouped tasks, you should:

Take a couple of minutes’ breather. Grab a drink, relax, or do whatever it is that’ll get you in the mood for a different kind of work.
Clear your mind of anything lingering, and start each segment fresh.
Briefly re-evaluate the timing of the task once you’ve started. Things are often much shorter or more time-consuming than they appear when you first schedule them.
You should also make a mental note of what kind of activities help you focus on your work. Lots of people listen to music to pump themselves up during a workout, since you can keep to a rhythm and focus on the beat, but blaring metal while you do your company accounts might not result in very accurate figures.

Block it off

If you’re just having trouble getting into the zone, try taking a load off your mind by removing distractions.
Turn your phone off or, if you need to keep it on for incoming calls, there are plenty of apps that will automatically block social media and games whenever you set it to, or between certain hours off the day. Just search ‘distraction blocker’ or something similar on the App Store (Android Store, or similar).

Let the experts help

There are hundreds of programs available to help with the admin tasks required for a fitness business, such as the services offered by Clubworx. By having an outside program to help with repetitive admin tasks such as managing membership payments, timetables and client prospects etc., you’ll free up more time to focus on the tasks that need your immediate attention.

No multitasking!

This comes under a similar header as keeping to the order in your schedule. You’re scientifically proven to do less overall when you switch between your jobs, rather than blocking out one distinct jobs at a time.

Do one job at a time, and you can focus better at that job. If you’re constantly readjusting and having to remember where you were, you might get less bored, but you’ll be constantly wasting precious time and energy upon treading the same ground.

Economy of effort

At the end of the day, saving time in your workday comes down to organising that day. Setting your time aside and working hard in order to maximise your total economy of effort, leaving you with more time to enjoy for leisure, a more active role in your job, and the building blocks to keep succeeding in the future.

Clubworx software helps Martial Arts Schools and PT Studios and gyms streamline and minimise their day to day admin so they can focus on more high-level, longer term strategy for their business. Click here to find out what others are saying about Clubworx fitness software and how we could help you today.