Video summary
The video introduces the concept that individuals often believe they lack sufficient time to exercise due to busy schedules filled with family responsibilities, jobs, and digital distractions. The hosts argue that this perception of being too busy is frequently an illusion created by how one actually spends their day rather than a genuine lack of available hours. To uncover hidden opportunities for fitness, the speakers recommend conducting a "time audit," a process similar to industrial workflow analysis where every activity is tracked to identify waste. By reviewing one's calendar or logging activities in thirty-minute increments, people can see that they often spend three to six hours daily on screens for entertainment or low-value tasks, revealing that there is actually space to fit in short, effective workout sessions if the current usage of time is re-evaluated.
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on identifying and eliminating inefficiencies, drawing parallels between manufacturing waste and personal lifestyle habits. The hosts explain that many people engage in "non-value-added" activities, such as mindlessly scrolling through social media, organizing emails, or indulging in low-energy distractions that do not provide a true mental break but instead delay important tasks. They also highlight how accumulating possessions creates hidden time drains, as owning more items requires additional effort to clean, organize, and maintain, effectively adding invisible jobs to one's schedule. The conversation suggests that adopting a minimalist approach can free up substantial amounts of time by reducing the energy spent on managing clutter, allowing individuals to redirect those hours toward intentional activities like exercise or rest.
To successfully implement these changes, the video emphasizes the importance of making physical activity accessible and removing decision fatigue from the equation. Instead of waiting for large blocks of time that may never appear, listeners are encouraged to shorten their commute to a gym or set up a home workout space with minimal equipment so that training can happen in as little as twenty to thirty minutes. The hosts stress that having a pre-planned program eliminates the waste associated with overprocessing and indecision, ensuring that every minute spent at the gym is productive. Furthermore, they share personal anecdotes about consciously choosing to prioritize movement over sedentary relaxation, noting that sometimes feeling tired is a signal to train or sleep rather than an excuse to procrastinate on self-care.
Ultimately, the conclusion of the episode is that finding time for fitness does not require finding three hours a week but rather identifying thirty minutes three to four times a week by auditing and optimizing daily routines. The hosts encourage listeners to take ownership of their time, recognizing that being busy is often a badge of honor that masks inefficiency rather than genuine productivity. By outsourcing certain tasks, reducing unnecessary possessions, and sticking to a streamlined plan, individuals can reclaim their schedule to build lifelong habits. The video ends with an invitation for viewers to try this audit themselves and realize that the barrier to working out is rarely a lack of time, but rather a need to stop wasting it on low-value activities.
Read the full video transcript
You're listening to Beast Over Burden
powered by Barbell Logic.
>> We're Nikki and Andrew, your personal
professional coaches.
>> We help you take control of your [music]
fitness through hard but doable training
and nutrition practices that fit your
busy life.
>> Build a stronger, healthier version of
yourself with lifelong [music] habits.
Hey, welcome back to another episode of
Beast Overburden with me, Nikki Sims,
coach at Barbell Logic, and Andrew
Jackson, also a coach at Barbell Logic
and founder of Turnkey Coach.
>> Howdy.
>> Welcome, welcome. Howdy. Howdy.
>> Nice to see your eyes on this episode,
Andrew.
>> And I don't know. I think I might need
to put the glasses back on. [laughter]
[gasps]
>> Um, so 15 pounds of brisket heavier. How
are you feeling today?
Just kidding. He hasn't done it yet.
[laughter]
[gasps]
So, last week we introduced our new
series about acting like you care about
your body.
>> Helped you
start to visualize
what you will feel like when you've
gotten to the other side of your quest.
What your days might look like. what
you'll be proud of. But before you get
to the end, you have to start you have
to start at the beginning,
which is where you are now. And yep,
really wise words here. You heard it
first. Um, [laughter]
a lot of times as soon as we get excited
about accomplishing something, the first
things to pop up are the reasons why we
can't.
And a big one we hear about a lot and we
talk through our clients with repeatedly
is not having enough time.
There are a lot of demands for you out
there. You have a family who needs your
attention. You have a job that needs
your attention. You have many screens
that are demanding your attention. And
you actually do need to work and take
care of yourself and take care of your
family. So you are you might be sitting
there thinking like how am I supposed to
train for 5 hours a week when I already
am not sleeping as as much as I need to?
Like where am I supposed to get this
time from?
Mhm.
>> So the feeling of busyiness
will hear as I don't have enough time
and
not discounting how that feels, but it
can be really helpful to do an audit on
what is actually taking up your time
because how you spend your time and what
you spend your money on are significant
tells. And there might be some room in
your schedule that you didn't even know
about.
Andrew, you just did a talk on
workflow audit.
>> Yep.
>> What does this look like if someone is
doing a time audit for their for
themselves?
>> Yeah. The
[clears throat] two different versions.
I mean, what you're describing would be
doing a time audit on your calendar
really. I mean, I think there's a
probably something most people are
familiar with that when you ask somebody
what they really prioritize or what they
care about, show the answer is show me
your calendar. Mhm.
>> Um now not everybody maintains
calendars or calendar blocking but it
the idea is essentially where you spend
your time is what you actually care
about. And another frequent challenge
lately going around that I think can be
painfully eye opening is uh if you uh if
you hear somebody say they don't have
time to do fill in the blank, ask them
what their screen time is.
>> For the week.
>> Yeah.
>> On average it's going to be between
three and six hours a day.
>> That's so much. And it becomes a little
hard to defend that you don't have
an hour to go work out or 30 minutes or
45 minutes if you're spending 3 to six
hours on some sort of a device. And
that's usually just the entertainment
part, let alone
>> everybody's working on their laptop or
what have you or watching the big
screen. You know, there's a funny meme
out there that I work all day on a
mediumsiz screen and take breaks on a
small screen so that I can go home and
sit on the couch and look at the big
screen.
>> Yep. You're just changing screens. Yep.
>> It is kind of scary.
>> Yeah, it's a little gross.
>> Uh and doing a time audit, I think for
those reasons, can be uncomfortable. I
talked about this during
>> my presentation
>> uh at the scalable coaches uh conference
that
>> you know for for over a decade I did
time studies as part of my [snorts] job
in a manufacturing environment where we
have repetitive processes building
products for customers.
hand assembly, generally speaking, some
machine, some automation,
>> but
every quarter or in some cases we would
do monthly. Every quarter we had to
touch every single manufacturing process
in the factory,
>> you know, and we would have anywhere
from half a dozen to to a dozen
depending on the the factory
>> and infinite number of configurations
that they would go through. Maybe not
infinite, but many.
So we were constantly doing these time
observations and to do that we would
actually you know organize a team
depending on how many people were
involved in in the assembly process.
Could be you know some of them were only
one or two people maybe three people.
Some of them would be like a team of 16
people all kind of coordinating their
their workflow. And we would go out with
a clipboard, sometimes a camera, and a
stopwatch and write down every single
step they were doing in
ideally less than 10 second increments.
>> Wow.
>> You know, some of them would be just a
few seconds. You know, pushing some
button over here,
>> walking over here,
>> getting this material, you know, you
know, attaching this fastener, you know,
drill, you know, hitting this rivet,
whatnot.
um wire bonding this circuit.
And then we would go through at the end
of the
observation and identify line by line by
line whether the step was value added,
nonvalue added but necessary or nonvalue
added. And anything that was value added
we would try to we would keep but we
would try to make it as efficient as
possible either you know by eliminating
ideally if the the time increment is
small enough you can truly identify
something as being pure value add
>> meaning there is no way to
>> there's no waste
>> no waste there's it's there's no
>> nothing you can remove from the process
you have to do that that
um but if there was something if there
was rework we would try to solve the
reason this the root cause of that
rework. If there was additional
reprocessing overprocessing there's ex
excess of transportation there was you
know something that could be removed we
would try to remove that from the stuff
we would not count that in the standard
work. If it was nonvalue added but
necessary then we would try to figure
out how to automate it. We would figure
out how to stack that with other
processes so that you could do things in
parallel. Uh we would try to figure out
how to
um streamline that process so that it
was as efficient as possible. And at the
end of the observation process, you
would have this
essentially best case scenario of
standardized work. And that would be
what the workflow would be measured
against to determine whether or not you
had added waste back into the process.
>> Mhm.
>> You know, you can think about that in
terms of in the lifting world too. We do
this all the time. We're watching, we're
doing observations
>> on every single heavy set
>> with our clients and we're looking for
waste. We're looking for inefficiencies
in the movement.
>> It's the same idea. Now, for what you're
describing, somebody stepping back to do
a timeout of their whole life would
require
measuring what how they're spending
their time throughout the day. Now, for
that level of effort, you're not going
to go down to a 5-second increment
because it's unman.
>> It might be 30 minutes. Yeah. But if
there's a way that you can look at
30-minute increments,
>> and I would recommend when you're
starting out to use as little technology
as possible.
>> Uh especially now that there are so many
tools that could convert handwritten
notes. But if you can just have a piece
of paper
>> on your, you know, on your desk or a
notepad, a small notepad and back
>> writing your notes. Yeah.
>> And you can just, you know, if you can
handr write it, I would recommend doing
that.
Even pulling out your phone is gonna
potentially either distract you or cause
you,
>> you know, some people think it's easy to
just open up your phone and type
something in, but you surprise how
quickly that turns into something else.
So,
>> you know, I like having a little back
pocket, you know, when I would be doing
that
>> back in the day and just scribble stuff
down.
>> I mean, it can be kind of eye opening.
It's painful. It's uncomfortable. Like I
said, when we would go down there on the
factory floor,
you know, these are people that take
pride in their work. Just like we do in
our life, you take pride in you think
you're working hard. People often now
say it as like a badge of honor that
they're busy. And the idea that you
could be doing less or doing things
different.
Sometimes there's some ego associated
with
>> suggesting that there could be a change.
There's identity wrapped up in doing
tasks.
>> I talked about this during the
presentation as well, but sometimes the
tasks that give you the
>> the cross
>> dopamine hit. Yes, exactly. People like
love crossing stuff on a list. What's
the easiest thing to have a list of that
you can just cross off?
>> Things that you are very predictable.
>> The simple, administrative,
>> predictable, easy tasks that probably
aren't the best use of your time.
>> Even just writing down those things is a
waste of your time. Like, eat lunch.
[laughter]
I mean, some people spend
a lot of time on email, on
>> organizing something, on on a task that
they feel confident they can do.
They don't have to work with anybody
else,
but it's a low ROI use of their time.
>> Yeah.
or it expands into more time
>> than
they would want to prioritize if they
were if they were to sit back and
consciously think about like how am I
spending my life?
Is this really how I would want to spend
it? One that I even I wrestle with all
the time is that sometimes I'll have
these little downtime,
you know, opportunities during the day
and I'll kind of
indulge in uh maybe something that's not
the highest priority or it's, you know,
something I can do but it's low brain
power. It's in some ways it's a break,
but it's like a a poorly it's it's not
an intentional break. So, I'm not
actually getting refreshed,
>> you know? Maybe it's could be just
checking X, could be checking Instagram,
could be checking my email again. Uh, it
could be, you know, who know, like some
some like low
energy task that doesn't actually give
me a mental break.
>> Mhm.
>> But I feel like I'm kind of like
churning S through stuff that delays
something really important that I need
to do until later in the day. And then I
get to later in the day, it's 5 5:30.
I'm like, I can't stop working. I really
got to do this. And that's taken away
from
>> doing
>> taking a day off, like being
>> Yeah.
>> But I'll have procrastinated effectively
>> during the quote unquote workday.
>> Mhm.
>> Um because I just chose to do something
that felt easier that, you know, was not
uh critical, but it just sort of gave me
a bit of a mental break because it was
low friction.
>> Mh.
One that comes up for me is uh things.
Having a lot of things. Like when you
buy something, you're basically buying
yourself a job. It could be like a piece
of clothing. It could be a new piece of
furniture. Whatever thing that you
decided you needed just then, but now
you have to find a place for it. You
have to clean it. When you clean the
house, you have to figure out where it's
going. when you're moving, you're gonna
have to do something with it. And so now
you've added more tasks for yourself.
You have to figure out how to budget for
it or how to repair your budget after
you bought it.
>> I think like that is a helpful lens of
just like, okay, well, I'm buying this
for whatever dopamine hit I wanted or
because I really want it, but now do I
really want to take on the
responsibility of having this thing?
I'm smiling because it makes me think of
my my buddy Dan who lives in a shipping
container on a piece of property he
bought in Nevada.
>> He's he is a minimalist to say
extremely minimalist
>> sleeping on slightly
>> in an extra container.
>> Yeah.
>> With no refri. I don't even know if
there's refrigeration or power or water.
>> Scary.
I'm not even I feel like he's going to
end up on some YouTube thing. I don't
know. Anyway, [laughter]
>> he's taking it to the extreme, but yes,
I I would agree with you. Yeah, I mean,
in the manufacturing world, we talked
about inventory um as a indicator of
waste
>> for many reasons, but the more inventory
you have,
>> it the more it masks waste.
um you can't you can't see
>> uh problems because you know
manufacturing flow perspective
it covers up a lot of sins sometimes
>> uh but the same is true I think even at
home if you have a lot of things and a
lot of stuff um you know there's a lot
of energy and a lot of time spent that
if you were to measure it out and put it
down on paper
>> you might look at it and say don't know
if that's
where I want to spend my time. I feel
because
>> Sorry. Go ahead.
>> Well, I was going to say like I like it
when our house is cleaned, easy to clean
cuz I've decided to outsource deep
cleaning.
>> Um but still needs to be put away. The
more things that we have, the longer it
takes me for the house to get put away
or takes us for the house to get put
away. So now I'm back to just spending
this time again. Fewer things we have,
>> the more places there are to put them.
and the easier it is for the house to
stay clean. So that's like so much more
time back in the back in the day and the
week to do something that I actually
want to be doing.
>> Yeah.
the I I find for myself having
you know grow you go to school where
you're you need to be in school for
certain periods of time and then you go
might have went to college and it's kind
of similar like you've got to go to
these classes and you got to take these
tests and
>> you have to show up and be here at a
certain time and then I was in the
military and that was an infinite time
like you are now your time is owned uh
and I had
>> no very little control in a in a sense.
I mean, at least this was the my mind in
the the mindset that I found my I in
hindsight recognized that I was in that
uh there was no
accountability to how I spent my time
because I was essentially told when I
needed to be working.
>> And then I went into the corporate world
and it was kind of similar. It was like,
well, you work from 6:00 in the morning
till 7 o'clock at night sometimes or
longer and you work on Saturday and you
work on Sunday. It was just sort of like
being visible at the office was part of
the job.
>> Whether you were doing something
productive or not and I find myself kind
of carrying some of this baggage
mentally forward where the workday needs
to be a certain amount of time whether
I'm being productive or not. And that
bleeds out into all aspects of my life
often where
>> I get kind of passive about how I'm
spending my time
>> because when you have a when you have
that structure whether it's self-imposed
or from a job,
you kind of I think sometimes it can be
sort of like okay ah I'm I'm off.
I I'm just I'm not going to think about
how I'm spending my time. I'm this is my
break or my pause or my downtime.
>> And then when you're at work, you're
sort of like, well, okay, now I'm in
work mode. I don't really need to think
about my time because I'm just I'm doing
my job.
Um, but if you take ownership and
accountability for being intentional
with how you spend your time, including
sleep,
>> it can force you to kind of confront
some things about
at least maybe I'll speak from my own
experience. I've experienced some
discomfort in having to take ownership
of how I'm spending my time and
recognize
>> uh that there are these moments
throughout the day where I'm not
choosing
to
I'm not consciously choosing to do the
thing that I
>> think is really where um in as I look
back and like do the calendar audit
>> like you know
I think there's decisions I could make
better and
it would flip the script from being I'm
too busy to train. I'm working so hard
right now to
no I could actually get my 30 minute I
could fit. It's just happened the other
day.
>> I was feeling tired.
you know, I kind of wanted to just be
done and relax on the couch or sit in
the backyard and, you know, I had dinner
to make and I'd been working all day.
I'm like, that would have been a very
easy day for me to kind of shift into
I'm tired, dad mode.
>> But I thought about it. I actually had
this moment of discomfort where I was
like, you know what? I'm going to choose
to get my deadlift in.
I'm gonna put the chicken in the oven
and get that started and then I'm gonna
go deadlift. And it doesn't have to be a
big deal. I got my deadlift done.
You know, it was wasn't anything
glamorous. It wasn't anything exciting,
but I got a couple of heavy I worked up
to a couple of heavy sets.
>> Mhm.
>> And
>> while while you were working, you were
on your
>> I also met
>> you were also working. Yeah.
>> Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. A
little bit. Uh and then and [snorts] the
chicken was in the oven as well. Yeah.
Um and then I got my leg extensions done
and
Yeah,
>> that that was that was an example of
like a conscious choice where I was like
today this is this is what I'm going to
do even though there were other things
that were tempting to just kind of like
distract me from uh doing what I knew to
be more important. So, I want to talk
about how you
trained for what was probably a short
amount of time that you were actually
lifting like
>> 20 minutes.
>> And the things that
we have done and other people can do are
make the distance from like chair to
physical activity really short. it. You
know, we have over the years built a
really nice home gym, but you don't have
to have a really nice home gym. You can
have dumbbells, kettle bells, a barbell,
and some plates and start building that
so that it is there's no commute for you
to worry about, but if you if that's
helpful for you, find a local gym that's
close to you. Like don't let traffic
become a barrier as much as you possibly
can or tack it on to some location where
you already are regularly near the kids
school near your office so that the
physical distance to you working out is
short.
>> That's one thing that you've done. You
also you know what you're doing with
your program. a lot of people don't and
so that time can waste away wondering
what to do or you'll go look online and
find this program and then you're on
your phone and you're trying this
program and that actually eats up time.
But if you have someone who tells you
exactly what to do, that actually
consolidates your training even more.
Mhm.
>> So,
making the location really easily
accessible and your plan, eliminating as
much decision as absolutely possible.
And that's an informed plan based on
what you have available to you and what
your goals are. That saves you so much
time. It actually really makes your need
to train as short as 30 minutes. So, if
you can do a time audit and find that um
ordering out groceries, you know, have
them delivered or um having your kid
pick up a chore that you were doing or
um being more intentional with time
somewhere where you have really a lot of
schedule flexibility. I'm sure or I'm
very
I'm going to say I'm quite sure you can
find 30 minutes three times a week
>> to work out. And you also during this
time audit are going to notice things in
your schedule or in your daily
activities that drain you where you feel
so worn out afterwards. Like what if
those are the things that you outsource
or stop doing and instead you do them
with the things that make you feel
really good? Like I know you felt good
after you got those leg extensions in
and those deadlifts. Like what a nice
way to feel after.
>> Yeah, I've had to do some rewiring
lately. Um
where
I've started to tell myself I'm too
tired to do the thing that I sometimes
associate with taking a break. Like I'm
too tired to sit on the couch.
[laughter]
I'm too tired to have [snorts] an
afternoon beer. Um,
>> interesting.
>> Too tired to
watch TV. And instead, I
>> choose like last night I I felt pretty
worn out by the end of the day. That
conference kind of sapped me. Um,
>> and we had a softball game
>> to go to and I was kind of tempted to
just get into Thursday mode. And then I
I was just like, you know what? I think
I'm too tired to have a beer. [laughter]
>> I need to go get I need to get some
movement. We went on a walk. [snorts]
>> Yeah.
>> We went and played softball.
>> You
>> tore your quadricep.
>> No, I didn't. [laughter]
>> I slightly pulled a muscle from what in
my head was sprinting, but what in real
life was probably a very slow slow
shuffle. [laughter]
>> We both batted a thousand% scored
multiple runs. You know,
>> it was really fun. Yeah. [laughter]
And I I don't know. I'm I I it's
something I've been experimenting with
lately that like to go do some of the
things that I typically think of as
being like my fun relaxation things. I
feel like I need I'm starting to like
train myself to feel to think I need to
have energy to go do those things.
>> That's interesting.
>> And if and if I don't have the energy,
then I need to go
sleep or train or,
>> you know, eat a good a well balanced
meal.
>> That's super interesting. [laughter]
might have to get into that a little bit
more. I like it.
[gasps]
>> So,
>> that would work for me yesterday at
least. Like these the the beer in the
fridge on a Thursday evening after a
long week of work was staring back at
me. I was like, you know, it's beer
league softball. But I had that feeling
on my eyes of just being like
>> so tired.
>> I'm just tired.
>> It was really hard.
>> Yeah.
>> So,
>> yeah. I was at one point I was like, you
know what? I actually really want to go
have fun. Fun sounds fun. Let's try and
do that. [laughter]
>> Yeah.
[gasps] Yeah. Well, so this is a this
could be this could feel like a big ask
for you to to do a time audit. But if
you have encountered the obstacle and
you find yourself saying, "I don't know
when I have time to do that or I I don't
think I have time to train." Walk
through your schedule, walk through a
day, take a a couple weekdays, take a
weekend
and journal every 30 minutes what you
have actually been doing. And let's see
what you come up with. And then know
that you don't need to find three hours
four times a week.
You need to find 30 minutes three to
four times a week and then you can start
training.
So try that out. If you need any help,
you know where to find me. Go to
barblogic.com/experience.
Um but next week we'll talk about
another obstacle that we hear pretty
frequently. One of one of the wastes,
the seven wastes that we worked on in
the
in the manufacturing environment was
overprocessing
and
trying to manage your own program and
the amount of overprocessing that will
likely happen.
>> Yeah.
>> Is by definition waste.
>> Yes. And a coach can help you reduce
waste because you are outsourcing
a
part of your day whether you recognize
it or not. This is another good example
where it's like in a high inventory of
time will often cover waste is a good
example because you might have excess
time to overprocess on your program
>> and then when that time when that the
analogy of the water lowering until the
rocks start to show up when your time
starts to reduce you have you no longer
have extra time all of a sudden the
overprocessing waste is going to show up
or the rework waste is going to show up
because you're having to rewrite your
program or think a whole bunch on your
program as your life changes or you need
more flexibility or what have you, you
can outsource that
>> to a coach who's got years and decades
of experience of doing these things and
that is now no longer a rock in your
pond. You pull that out, you'll have
more capacity
>> and you don't even recognize it.
>> Love it. because you're working harder
or busier or, you know, more furiously,
but because you've eliminated waste.
>> Yeah, that sounds nice to have more
peace around that. Well, come back next
week for some more corporate jargon from
me and Andrew. [laughter]
>> Hey, I worked really hard to use as few
Japanese [laughter] manufacturing code
production system terms. I could have
really geeked out.
>> I know. Thank you, Six Sigma Black Belt.
All right.
>> [laughter]
>> See you next week everybody. Thanks
Andrew.
>> Bye bye.