Triathlon. Literal translation is from the Greek for “three-competition”, a competition of three sports; swim, bike, run. It’s safe to assume that people who take up the sport are pretty disturbed and cannot settle for the pain of one sport and must in fact hurt themselves over three, often entering competitions that take up a time span longer than the average work day. So for age-groupers like me, where we juggle our passion for punishment with a day job, a family, home maintenance, cooking, cleaning and all that other life admin, it can be a challenge to fit all the training in. In fact, juggling three sports isn’t the dance that has the most steps, it’s juggling the time required to progress and master the sport alongside having a normal, fulfilling life outside it. And I’ll be honest, a lot of us get it wrong. I see a lot of family breakdowns, or people giving up the sport because they don’t have the time and the balance right.
Multi-sport is what we term the sport where you don’t just take on one sport, but you take on at least two; triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon, the list goes on. When I got involved in multi-sport, I’d already come from a background of rowing. That meant i was used to having to juggle studies and chores, with long sessions sitting in a cold boat in the middle of the icy Tyne in February. When it came to fitting running, swimming, cycling and strength sessions in – as well as the odd transition session, where I’d run up and down the alleyway at the back of our student digs for half an hour at a time, trying to get on my bike without looking stupid (I never succeeded) – the novelty of the challenge was great. And I was already halfway there.
Fast forward ten years and I still have the challenge of “fitting it all in”. I’ve got a boy that lives in my house and a rescue dog and they both need their fair share of attention and time. I’ve also got a duty to my surgery patients three days a week and of course my performance coaching clients and speaking gigs, not to mention syncing all those calendars up with aforementioned boy’s endurance exercise calendar too. I’d say I’m fairly well qualified to give advice when it comes to time management.
One of the things I’m most grateful for multi-sport teaching me, is that time management skill. In fact, let’s not call it that. We can’t “manage time”. Time moves on with or without our blessing and we can’t chastise it for going to soon or speed it up when it seems to move slowly. All we can do is exist in its constant forward march. Instead, we need to focus on PRIORITISATION. Prioritisation is what we really are talking about when we start thinking about time management.
When you say “I have so much going on, I just don’t have the time”, what you’re really saying is “that isn’t my priority right now”. You can try and argue that point all you like, but whatever your circumstances, this is the truth. If you don’t like it, I’m not sorry, someone needed to tell you that.
Reality check: We all have stuff going on in our lives. We ALL feel like we’re the busiest person in the world. We’re all dealing with stuff. YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL.
Now we’ve got our heads screwed on straight, here’s my tips for using the same tactics I use as a multi-sport athlete, to juggle your own “multi-life”:
1. Don’t try and tackle everything at once.
You have to accept that there will be a maximum of three top priorities in your life at any one time. For me in the triathlon world, I’ll always prioritise the discipline that needs the most work and/or I am going to spend the most time on for the race. Don’t just say “everything needs to improve!”. Work out where your energy is needed MOST and prioritise that.
2. Accept that you will need to rank your priorities.
When it comes to DIY and home improvements, they take a massive back seat for me most of the time, particularly during the racing season. That’s because my CHOICE is to prioritise sport, my career and my relationship. You too have to make choices and accept that while you can participate in lots of different things – you can be a parent, a partner, a business owner, a triathlete, a home-maker – you won’t be able to to do them ALL perfectly. You have to prioritise the things that are most important to you and devote more of your time to those things.
3. Reframe your circumstances.
It is not realistic for me to expect to go out onto the age group circuit and expect to come back with times to rival podium positions in an elite field. Likewise, it would therefore be silly for me to use the same tactics as them to try and improve my results, because our circumstances and our goals are different. Instead of thinking about what others tell you you should be achieving or striving for, think about what success means to you in any given field and what the parameters of that are. I want to have a fulfilling relationship for example, but not at the expense or detriment of my sport. That is the choice, priority and parameter I have made for myself. That means if I can have a successful relationship and still be a successful athlete, I am happy. It may be however, that my relationship looks different and doesn’t “meet the standard” of what others would consider “successful”.
4. Plan your time.
There is absolutely zero point in doing the above if you don’t then use those to make an appropriate plan to prioritise your time. Sit down and spend the time planning out the week, down to the finest detail: when will you eat? When will you sleep? When will you spend time doing nothing? When will you spend time on social media? If you don’t consider the finer details, time will slip through your hands and you will be back at the beginning, whining and whingeing about the time you don’t have.
5. SAY NO.
My final tip: Learn to say no. It is okay not to go out to that work’s social occasion if you don’t want to go. If you have something you need to work on, just say no! Don’t become a “yes man” and then moan that you don’t have enough time – EVERYTHING IS A CHOICE. You can say no. I frequently say no to social invitations. Why? because there’s other stuff I’d rather be doing with my time, whether that’s training or hanging out with my family or other friends. I say yes to the stuff I ACTUALLY want to do and not necessarily the stuff I fell obliged to. Of course, there is always the odd one that breaks the mould – perhaps the obligation to help a friend or family member in need, but even then, I do it because I WANT to help, not because I HAVE to. It’s a choice. Say no more often to the things you know aren’t taking you closer to your goals.