Recall our previous conversation about self-discipline and agility.

Key underlying premise is need to schedule our attention to begin growing our self-discipline

(Peter Hollins)

But times in the year become very different beasts for addressing this challenge–enter the current holidays.

• Schedules are different, 
• social demands are different, &
• resources are different.

With that, scheduling our attention is perhaps even more important.

BUT the balance of being agile with our plan is equally important

• • If we don’t have a plan (schedule for our attention) during busy times, we are more likely to get nothing done
  • If we do have a plan, despite disruptions and adjustments, we are still more likely to get some amount of it done
  • Especially true if we anticipate the need to adjust
  • Remember the Eat That Frog approach 
    • Brian Tracy in Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
    • Comes from a Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
    • Most difficult and/or important thing of the day

• One author suggests maybe the metaphor is bad and ought to be the “go for that run” approach instead

• When are you most available?
• When are you most energetic?
• What is most important that needs doing by YOU that day?

Twist: the thing that is most likely to get done in a given day is the first thing you do, and the earlier you attempt to do it, the more likely it gets done.

Three steps to balancing the run with the holidays (advice we regularly give):

1. Schedule it (first thing is always more reliable)
2. Let everyone know
3. Assume the need to adjust the schedule, and roll with it

The dangers of overdoing it.

• For some of you the tendency could be to just burn the candle at both ends without adjusting when it could be needed in training..
• Listen to your body’s needs. Do an honest eval, and be agile.
• SIDE NOTE: It can be tricky to evaluate what we truly need at times.
  • For instance, social, mental, emotional fatigue may deter us from a run, when a run could actually make us feel better.
  • Scaling back the effort when your body feel stiff from sitting or travel
  • Longer warmup?
• Take care of yourself with good hydration and fuel. Just because you ate more cookies than you thought you should, don’t skip meals.