1. Champions are highly motivated and committed. Champions set goals and then dedicate themselves to accomplishing those goals. Often you will hear champions say things like “I wasn’t the most gifted, but I was willing to work the hardest.” Great champions are motivated by an internal desire to succeed and to accomplish their goals not by external rewards such as money. Not only do champions set goals, but they can also create a plan on how to accomplish those goals and then follow through with their plan.
2. Champions are positive thinkers. Whenever faced with a difficult task, a champion stays focused and optimistic. Champions will find the positive no matter how bleak the situation looks. This allows the athlete to perform better and to rebound faster from a failure. For example, while inventing the light bulb, it took Thomas Edison 10,000 tries to find a filament that would burn correctly. When asked how it felt to fail this many times, Edison replied “I didn’t fail, I learned 9,999 ways that wouldn’t work.”
3. Champions learn from failure. If you ever attempt anything difficult, you will at some point experience failure. Champions, however, remain positive and learn from their failures. They do not let their failures determine their fate. A champion will learn everything they can from a failure and then completely move on and begin anew. Michael Jordan once said
   

   I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

4. Champions visualize success. Champions have the ability to “dial in” and focus on the task at hand. Champions will visualize their success before they even step out on the court. If you watch sports, you may have seen an athlete walk onto the court and you knew before they even took the shot that they were going to miss. When an athlete visualizes success their confidence rises and you can read it from their body language. Often champions will visualize their success in games, meets, and practices hundreds and even thousands of times.
5. Champions love what they do. Many people would find it tedious to take several hundred thousand shots or throw millions of kicks, but to an athlete this is what they genuinely love to do. They do not consider it work; they call it fun.

You do not need to spend countless hours at the gym to transform yourself and get great results. Many great strength training routines only require exercising three times per week for an hour each workout. In this articles, I present five tips to help you make time for exercise.

1. Make an appointment. Schedule your workout each week by adding it to your business calendar just as you would any other meeting.  This way you cannot schedule another meeting or activity at the same time. Making your workout an appointment each week will also provide more motivation to get to the gym.
2. Wake up earlier.  An early morning workout is a great way to wake yourself up and start the day.  All you need to do is wake up half an hour earlier and shower at the gym, and you will free up about an hour of time for working out.
3. Watch less TV and spend less time on the computer.   Many people waste countless hours in front of the television and on the computer.  Limit the amount of time you spend in front of the television by only watching your favorite show each day.  Avoid channel surfing.  Whenever you go on the computer, set a time limit and stick to it.  If you are having trouble, try keeping a timer on your desk next to your computer.
4. Home gym.  A home gym can be a time saver because you do not have to commute to the gym and can workout any time you want.  Additionally, you do not have to wait for or share any equipment.
5. Make your workouts efficient.  Strength training with isolation movements and performing low-intensity steady state cardio–such as long distance running–is inefficient and wastes your time.
   • When strength training, use mult-joint, compound exercises. Movements such as the squat, deadlift, overhead press, power clean, chin-ups, and bench press work all the major muscles in your body and will give you the most bang for your buck.
   • Perform high intensity cardio. High intensity forms of cardio, such as interval training and Crossfit workouts, will burn more fat and can be performed in less time than traditional low intensity cardio.

Leave a comment and let me know your tips to help make time for exercise.

Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.

In order to help you accomplish your goals, you need to go to the gym and work hard.  So, I have prepared the following tips to help you motivate yourself.

Routine.  Setting up a routine before you head out to the gym can help you get psyched up for your workout.  Every time I go to the gym, I run through my routine which includes eating something to fuel my workout, listening to music to pump me up, and doing mobility work. By the time I finish my mobility work, I feel more awake and ready to workout.

Workout partner.  Having a workout partner will keep you accountable because you do not want to let them down.  Some days you will need a partner to get you to the gym and other days your partner will be relying on you.

Rewards.  Set up a reward system for yourself.  If you make all your workouts this week/month, treat yourself to something you have been wanting to purchase.

Goals.  Review your goals each day before you go to the gym.  Remember, each workout is moving you closer to your end goal.

Getting started.  The hardest part for most people is actually getting to the gym.  Once you are there, you will feel more awake and motivated.  I have never had a workout where afterwards I wished I had not come to the gym.