BY JILL SCHACHNER CHANEN

It's that time of year again. You know, when you resolve--yet again--to get fit.

If only you could find the time. But there are the kids, and that big case, and let's not even talk about the filing you've been meaning to get to for the last two years. They all just keep getting in the way of your plans to start exercising.

With no apparent downtime, what can you do?

These tips might be just what you need to get yourself into those sneakers and sweats:

Get rid of what's bogging you down. Boston personal coach Cheryl Richardson, author of Take Time for Your Life (Broadway Books 1999), says it's best to start by adding--yes, adding--one thing to your schedule: Clearing up the odds and ends you've been putting off for weeks, months or even years.

Take a month or two and remove those energy drains from your life — things like firing a problem employee, or filing the paperwork that has accumulated on your desk for months. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure.

Make tradeoffs. Working fitness into your life may mean that you have to give something else up. Get used to it, says Theresa Mark- ham, a solo practitioner in Hamburg, N.J.

What works for Markham is telling herself that leaving the office at 5 p.m. two days a week will not be the end of the world for her or her practice. "That is hard for a solo," she says. "Sometimes I get up earlier, or I just know that the office will be a mess and that it's OK. There are definitely tradeoffs."

Find the right time to exercise. The right time is not just when you feel best about exercising, but also when you can focus exclusively on your workout. Even if you think you're a morning person, your mornings may be too filled with other things to maintain that focus, which is crucial, according to Chicago fitness consultant and personal trainer Lawrence Wayne.

Make exercise "transparent." Try turning your daily commute into exercise time. That's what Michael Chu, a Chicago intellectual property lawyer, did to get in shape for his first marathon and triathlon last year. His daily commute to and from work, which could take up to an hour each way, seemed to be a good time for him to get in shape. "I looked at my commute time as a free hour to train with no loss in my day," says Chu, 32, who lives and works along Chicago's lakefront.

Chu traded in his bus pass for a pair of sneakers and a bike. Then, each day he would make the six- mile commute to his office by either biking or running. He'd switch on the way home.

Make exercise convenient. If you have to go out of your way to work out, you probably won't.

Rower and marathoner Frank Porter of Boston's Choate, Hall & Stewart belongs to a health club near his office that provides workout clothing for members' convenience. For the days when he rows, his boat is less than a five-minute jog from his house, making it too convenient to pass up.

Schedule your exercise. Put it in your calendar like any other appointment. It helps you commit, Wayne says, adding that it's a great idea to work out at the same time every day. "Structure is so important. To [work out] at different times of the day just doesn't work."

Hire a personal trainer. Markham did this, and says the financial commitment is probably what kept her coming back to the gym. "And the trainer took away the confusion and made me feel more relaxed," she adds.

Start slowly. Don't create a workout schedule that is too demanding for your life and initial commitment level. "If an attorney says he'll get up an hour earlier to work out and gets up at 5 a.m., then probably works through lunch and comes home late — how long is that going to last?" Richardson asks.

"In the first six months, especially if you are a perfectionist or have high expectations of yourself, take the frequency during which you think you should exercise and cut it by a third or a quarter," she says.

Do exercise you enjoy to achieve a specific result. Wayne advises his clients to set a goal — weight loss, wellness or preparation for an event — and then find a type of exercise that will help attain that goal. "Forget about the no pain-no gain idea," he says. "To enjoy exercise you just have to appreciate the sense of mastery and control that you get. Carry the enthusiasm with you."