One good way to force yourself to get into shape is to schedule an athletic event for yourself at some point in the future. There is a catch to this method, however. You cannot schedule something too far in advance or too soon. Schedule it way in the future, and you run the risk of procrastinating. If you schedule it too soon, you will only frustrate yourself if you don’t perform well.

A friend of mine, a former workout buddy, recommended this method to me recently. There are many road races near me at the beginning of spring that I have been looking at. The winter is a tough time to stay in shape, but having something like a race lined up forces me to get out of the house and go for a run—regardless of the weather. I don’t want to embarrass myself by finishing dead last, or worse, not finishing the race at all.

A road race is just one example of something you can do. Maybe you aren’t aerobically inclined. Schedule a time to go rock climbing or to go hiking. Making these group activities also adds to their ease. If you have people relying on you, you will be more likely to follow through. There are plenty of indoor rock climbing walls in the U.S., consider planning a time when a group of your friends will go. There’s no incentive like not embarrassing yourself to make you do some extra pushups, sit ups, and pull ups. Use a Yoga teacher training class to get fit. Be creative when choosing a group activity and you will have more fun.

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Scientific evidence indicates that exercising is a key component of happiness. Whether it has to do with looking fit, better self-confidence, or even the temporary release of endorphins, exercising should be a key component of your daily life. You don’t need to be an elite athlete to enjoy the benefits of exercise, either. For most of us, a walk of half an hour to forty-five minutes is enough to boost our levels of happiness. This is a great way to get started. The average person walks at about three miles per hour, or a mile every twenty minutes. If you are new to exercise, start here and work your way up.

Jogging will of course burn fat faster, but you don’t want to just jump into jogging if you are an exercise novice. Once you feel comfortable walking up to two miles, try a mixture of the two. Run for two minutes, walk for two minutes, rest one minute. Then repeat. You will soon see the time it takes you to get through two miles become faster and faster. Before you know it, two miles will go by in the blink of an eye and you won’t even need that one minute rest break.

Fitness doesn’t have to come at the expense of sacrificing your free time. There are a few things you can do to increase your overall health with only a minimum impact on your free and personal time. The easiest thing to do is to take advantage of wasted time. I don’t know about you, but I find myself sitting watching television far too often. Instead of sitting around watching during commercials, get up and do some exercises during this downtime. A few jumping jacks, sit ups, or even running in place during commercials will help increase your heart rate without cutting into your schedule.

Lunchtime is another great resource. If you get an hour for lunch at your job, it is doubtful that you utilize the entire time eating. Finish your lunch and then walk around the block. This is a trick I have done for quite some time. Not only does this give me a chance to digest my food before cramming dessert down my gullet, it works up my blood flow and wakes me up so I am ready to go when I get back to my cubicle.

Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is another option. I used to work on the 18th floor of an office building—taking the stairs was sometimes faster than taking the elevator when it was crowded with people getting off at every floor! Plus, you don’t feel quite so accomplished riding in an elevator for five minutes as you do when you power up that last set of stairs. Timing yourself going up the stairs can be fun too. Trying to beat your best time going up the stairwell can be a very rewarding experience.