Creating Routines for Success
Hey Queens! It’s officially 2021! We survived 2020! Some of us struggled and some of us thrived and most of us had moments of struggle and moments of success. Either way we all went through changes and growth throughout the year. Now is the time to set your life up for success in 2021 and beyond. If you want to succeed you must be consistent and to be consistent you need a routine and boundaries. Today we are going to talk about getting our routine set up and next week we will get into how this information helps you effectively set boundaries
The first step to creating an effective routine is figuring out how much time you have available and how much time you need to complete everything. This doesn’t mean you have to have every minute of your day planned out, but it is necessary to know how much time you need to complete everything in your life, your work responsibilities, family responsibilities, self-care, and time for relationships. Everything you need and want to do needs to be accounted for. Sit down with a pen and paper and write down everything you need to do daily and weekly and then calculate about how much time you need for each task. I suggest leaving yourself a little extra room for each task because it is better to have a cushion than to be short on time and stressed out.
Once you figure out how much time you use weekly you may realize why you have been so stressed out. We tend to overbook ourselves in an effort to make everyone else happy around us. We will dive deeper into that next week.
You can then use this information to create a routine. I know some of you are already thinking “I don’t want my time scheduled, that’s why I am an entrepreneur.” However, humans are creatures of habit. The more routine are actions are the less energy and thought is necessary to get through the day. This doesn’t have to mean that every minute of your day is scheduled, but it is helpful to have certain tasks you do on specific days and specific times of the day.
I will tell you about my schedule as an example. Mondays are devoted to Captivation Radio. I record, edit, and add the new episode to my website and my hosting platform. Tuesdays are devoted to podcast promo; Wednesdays I write and research my new topics. Thursdays I create content. Fridays I schedule out the next week. Saturdays I chill. Sundays at basketball I finish whatever I didn’t get done during the week or I get ahead on the next weeks tasks. I have each day broken down into time blocks which allows me to mindlessly know what I should be doing at a specific part of the day.
6:00-7:00 Be lazy, meditate, learn
7:00-8:00 workout, check notifications from previous night
8:00-12:00 teach
12:00-1:00 Lunch/open for errands/education
1:00-3:00 reserved for clients (no calls Monday)
3:00-5:00 daily tasks
5:00 dinner
Knowing this information means I can easily tell people what I am and am not available for and reduces my stress greatly. The other big part of creating a routine is following it. If you don’t have the discipline to follow through on what you need to do then you are not going to reach your goals. Goals require consistency and dedication. I’m not saying you can’t be flexible either, but it is helpful to have an idea of what you need to do daily, weekly, and monthly if you want to stay on track. If I want to do something during the day and miss work time, I know I have to make it up either later that day, earlier the next day, or on the weekend. I do not throw my goals away because I have things I would rather be doing or because I am not in the mood to do it a specific day. It is ok to have a bad day, but it is not ok to let a bad day ruin all of the hard work you have put in. Process your feelings and get back to work! Your life doesn’t get better magically. It takes real, consistent effort!
Love & Abundance,
Falon