You can skip this article if you (a) are passionately devoted to exercise, (b) have laserlike discipline, and (c) can't imagine what it's like to feel your patience snap like a mousetrap or to fall compulsively in love with a certain ice cream.

Now, for every other woman who would kill to unearth the healthier her—if only she had time—we have a proposition: Just give us 10 minutes, and we'll get you in shape, mentally and physically. Not that we're pretending you can perfect a well-lived-in butt and testy disposition in 10 minutes—you wouldn't fall for that anyway. But here's the thing: If you can find a little window each day to do something for yourself—and who doesn't have 10 minutes?—whether it's doing yoga, meditating, or fixing a nutritious lunch, you'll feel a difference that will make you want to pry another 10 minutes from your schedule. And then another. You see where we're going. Ten minutes, we promise…the clock is ticking!

• Beat procrastination now!
  
• Learn how to have patience
  
• Try three non-woo-woo meditation exercises
  
• Get 10-minute workouts to end yo-yo exercising

Extra Boost: Eight inspirational figures offer an irresistible dose of motivation.

From the September 2008 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

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