I have always been a list maker. I love writing down my to-do’s and my goals. I’m obsessed with planners. And after years of searching for the best planning system that would work for my life I decided to create my own custom version. With this I can now track and plan out every area of my life, no excuses. One of my planning sheets is an end of the day evaluation where I record my successes and my failures. I evaluate what strategies worked and why, and what strategies didn’t work and why. Through this process over the past few weeks I noticed a pattern of actions that I take that helps me to create a pretty awesome day. I realized that if I just start to repeat these patterns on a regular basis my good days will easily turn into good weeks, a good month, a good year, etc…
Seems pretty simple. Figure out what makes your day work and do it on a regular basis. And it really is that simple. Here is an example of what makes a great day for me:
- Get up at 5am: After weeks of tracking my life, I simply am much more productive and focused when I get up at 5am. That time in the morning allows me to help get my body and mind in the right state.
- Meditate for at least 10 minutes: Meditation and visualization are a must for me.
- Take 15 minutes to plan my day and focus on my goals: This keeps me organized, focused, and super productive.
- Exercise for at least 30 minutes: Again a must for me. Days that I don’t work out, I’m not a happy camper.
- Keep my diet in check all day: This isn’t always easy to do, but when I eat well all day I feel a hundred times better at the end of the day.
- Get all the little tasks out of the way first thing: This is a time management hack that goes against the norm. Often you are suppose to tackle the big tasks first. I find that I am way more focused if I can take an hour or so and get done all the emails, phone calls, orders, paperwork, etc.. Then my mind is clear and I can focus on bigger projects.
- Get to the office at least 30 minutes before my first appointment so I have time to settle in: I hate rushing.
- Schedule myself a lunch break: I know this seems obvious but so often I don’t schedule a lunch break. I work while I eat my lunch and never take a breather. But when I set aside 30 minutes for lunch I am a lot more focused the rest of the afternoon.
- Take time to get outside at some point during the day: I just started keeping a beach bag and change of clothes in my car so that if I want to head out to the beach at the end of the day I can. Weather permitting, I’m a lot happier if I can get in some vitamin D.
- Listen to self growth audio books in the car: I listen to audios in the car and different youtube videos while I’m at home cooking or getting ready. I can’t get enough of positive, motivating material. It helps keep my mood elevated all day long.
- Balance my check book at the end of every night: So simple and so important.
- Stop working by 8pm: When you own your own business it can be hard to put the work away. But for my own sanity I need a stopping point.
- Stretch at night: Good for me, and feels good. Plus it helps relax me before bed.
- Be in bed by 10 reading a book: For one this ensures that I’ll get enough sleep, and two it helps me reach my goal of reading a book a week.
Now as simple as it is sometimes we have resistance towards doing the things that are actually good for us. For example; one thing that I struggle with is going to bed by 10pm. I usually have no reason not to, but I resist the process of actually getting ready for bed. I want to check Facebook just one more time. Watch one more episode of House of Cards. Even though I know I am better off going to bed, my resistance still pops up. Same thing with scheduling myself a real lunch break where I don’t work. It’s all too easy for me to answer emails and do research during lunch. It can be a struggle to give myself a break. The way I deal with resistance is just with self awareness. I know that these actions are good for me and I remind myself of it constantly. I’m not so rigid that I have to follow these “rules” every day. I mean I am certainly not going to get up at 5am on a Sunday. And sometimes I have very good reasons to stay up past my bedtime. But for the most part this is a guideline that works for me. And the more I follow it, the more I reinforce these healthy habits.
The whole idea with creating a good day is that if you pile up enough good days you have a good life. Start taking an end of the day inventory. What worked and why? What didn’t work and why? Become aware of the actions and habits that create your better days. Do this for a few weeks and you are guaranteed to see a pattern form. Once you identify those patterns you’ll have everything you need to create an awesome day. Write it down, post it somewhere where you can see it every day, and adopt these behaviors and actions on daily basis. Give this exercise a try, you’ve got nothing to lose but those bad days.