With a busy life, it is so easy to prioritize other things over our fitness, and often this is for a good reason. Spending time with our family, for example, is always going to be more important than getting your workout in at the gym. However, there are also things in our lives that needed to be tempered by our own discipline. We need to be able to down tools and push ourselves to get on the treadmill.

One of the good things about being in a busy workplace is that we have so many people that can act as a kind of guardian for our fitness. If someone is making a coffee or running to the local bakery, there is no reason why we cannot ask them to withhold our treats until we have had our lunch or went for a 30 min run. Similarly, if we know our own discipline is shaky, then an excellent idea is to form some kind of workplace fitness group where everyone coaches and inspires each other. We may not listen to our inner voice, but it is hard to ignore six or seven other people telling us we are going to fail in our goals.

We also need to equate the notion of success with more than just work. We need to shift this focus and rethink this . Instead of asking ourselves how many files and emails we got through this morning, we need to think, “I did eight hours of solid work today, but what kind of workout do I want to get in before I have made the day a complete success?” By linking our personal and work goals, we tie the two together in a way that means we have to do everything on the new list before we consider the day a success. No half measures.