Are you sacrificing health for success? The calendar system that changes everything

sent by Chris Dodson | May 8, 2025

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Your calendar isn't just a schedule. It's a confession.

Mine used to tell the brutal truth: everyone and everything else came first. Client calls. Team meetings. Investors. Endless urgent tasks and life admin.

Self-care? Always tomorrow. Always "someday."

Then I discovered a truth that transformed my approach: the highest-performing leaders don't find time for self-care. They schedule it before anything else.

Calendar Blocking The Non-Negotiables

Here's how it works:

1. Schedule your self-care FIRST, then work (plan workouts before meetings)
2. Mark these blocks as "busy" in your shared calendar (treat them like board meetings)
3. Start with just 3x thirty-minute blocks weekly (consistency beats duration)
4. Assign a specific activity to each block (ambiguity kills execution)
5. Stick to the plan (your health deserves the same commitment as your quarterly targets)

The secret ingredient? Accountability.

I review my calendar at the end of every month to make sure I'm setting aside adequate time for my training. This simple audit keeps me honest about my real priorities.

My Weekly Self-Care Routine

An average week looks like this:

• 3x 1-hour strength training sessions
• 2x 1-hour Hyrox/Triathlon sessions
• 2x Run Club sessions (5-6km each)
• 3 mins x Cold Plunge daily
• 15 mins x Sauna & Reading (as an evening wind down)

Creating Time (Not Finding It)

You already have all the time you need. It's just currently allocated elsewhere.

Consider what might happen if you:

• Set consistent sleep/wake times (notice the energy boost)
• Reduced or eliminated alcohol (imagine your mornings without brain fog)
• Replaced evening scrolling with something that serves both mind and body

Small reallocations compound dramatically. 10 minutes saved from social media, 30 minutes from Netflix, 15 minutes from late-night email checking - suddenly you've created an hour for a workout.

The question isn't "do you have time?"

It's "what are you currently prioritising instead?"

Performance Kit: WHOOP

As both a busy executive and improving endurance athlete, my WHOOP is up there as one of the best investments I've made in my own health.

The sleep tracking alone transformed my recovery approach, showing me precisely how daily decisions impact my body's readiness. Especially the impact of work travel.

The strain metric helps me balance training intensity with recovery status, preventing both overtraining and undertraining - crucial when triathlon training coincides with hectic periods at work or home.

And yes, it's also settled countless debates with my wife about who's truly more tired on any given day. Data doesn't lie.

Get a WHOOP free trial when you join with this link.

Do You Need to Hear This?

Regret chains us to a past we cannot change.

Anxiety pulls us into a future that hasn't arrived.

External validation makes our happiness hostage to others' opinions.

40 seconds well spent 👇

Rob Dial | The Mindset Mentor

What about this video do you resonate most with? ❤️🙌#positivity #advice #mindset #mindsetmotivation

♬ original sound - Rob Dial - Rob Dial | The Mindset Mentor

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