Create Your Daily Routine & Shine Your Day!
Let’s talk about how to create your daily routine and actually stick to it so your days don't feel like they have vanished in the limbo of possibilities and daydreaming.
Before we start, let's set a foundation. I'm going to give you some theory that I go deeper in my blog, and we have to realize right now this episode is being recorded during the global pandemic COVID-19. Yes, while we're going to talk about productivity and ways to procrastinate less, also we're going to give ourselves grace and compassion because our working from home existence isn't really working from me, we must understand we are living at home dealing a global crisis affecting everyone inside your house and outside your house, so these are not normal circumstances, manis. I'm going to have you do an exercise one of my friends shared with me, place your right hand over your left arm, your hand goes right above your elbow, and gently squeeze your right arm like a nice warm hug.
Close, your eyes and say I'm here for you. Show up for yourself, this is you giving yourself the support you need today. Take a deep breath and let's do this.
The first thing I'm going to say is that your day really starts at night. There is something called decision fatigue which means there is no such thing as willpower when the mental capacity is exhausted. This is syndrome was conceived by social psychologist Dr. Roy F. Baumeister, who his theory on the Freudian hypothesis of ego depletion. This essentially means that willpower does not exist when your mental capacity is exhausted. This is why you want to set yourself up for success as much as possible. So we're going to start with your end of day routine, these will become non-negotiables. They're two simple rules I most days follow. The keyword here is most days because we're not going to dwell on the days we actually need a break, or we have a late happy hour and simply want to go to bed.
The Night-Time Rules
If you follow the night-time rules most days, you'll feel so good in the morning:
Plan your day for tomorrow tonight. Look at your planner and plug in your day your upcoming appointments, calls, and meetings. Then roll over the tasks you didn't do today that must be done tomorrow. Identify the top 3 most important tasks you have to complete tomorrow and write them down on your daily sheet/planner.
Pick out what you're going to wear tomorrow. If you are part of the daily pajama club, you are staying in house mode. If you want to stay with the pajama club that's ok, but I want you to establish an "at work" rule. For me, I have to put shoes on. I shower and get ready every morning, I could skip makeup, I could even skip showers and real clothes, but my "at work" rule is shoes. I must have shoes on and I know that is my "at work" rule. One of the PowerSisters inside the PowerSisters Method program decided for her putting earrings on is her rule. You decide what is yours and if you're not going to choose an outfit for tomorrow, you can decide what your "at work" item is and get it ready for tomorrow.
Waking up knowing you have a list waiting for you at your desk is pretty exciting (for me at least), I know I have to make one less decision about what to start working on and all I have to do is get ready and start my day after my morning routine that turns into a daily routine really.
While I could recommend to wake up one hour before your normal wake up time, right now waking up an hour earlier to complete all the things might not be feasible. The days start with news and notifications and as much as we try to block them, sometimes the notifications come in from our family members and little ones needing our attention, so I've decided that my new morning routine is based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Before I explain it, you know I have to geek out a bit and give you some context. Maslow said that you must get your needs fulfilled in a specific order before arriving to self-actualization or enlightenment. What does that mean? Well, Senor Maslow said humans have Growth needs and Deficit needs. Growth needs are those that fill us up, make us feel alive and at a place of incredible contentment and excitement. Deficit needs are those we need to survive like food and shelter.
Now, as we arrived at this global crisis, I literally sat down and evaluated this way of living. So I looked at my pyramid of needs and found where some things needed to be fulfilled before moving to the next level of fulfillment. Maslow's hierarchy of needs has evolved and one of the things he said after years of research is that one needs doesn't need to be 100% fulfilled before moving to the next one, it simply needs to be met.
We have to cover our essential deficit needs in order to get to our growth needs.
Deficit needs include physical needs, emotional needs, and social needs.
Growth needs include intellectual needs.
And this explains why you can't concentrate on a work task (growth need) when you're hungry or in need of a hug and a call of a friend (deficit need).
So during my morning, I cover my deficit needs:
Physical
I go to the bathroom, stretch, make myself some coffee with intention, I make sure my working space feel safe,
Emotional
I meditate and tap, make my bed, I shower and put shoes on to fulfill my achievement need, and I write my goals. This is where you insert your mental health support.
Social
I say good morning to David and any pending text messages I might have because I'm known to be a 24hours later texter.
Once those needs are fulfilled I can now focus on growth which are my intellectual needs and sit at my desk and tackle my to-do list I created last night.
Living your day
Throughout the day, if I feel scattered, using the pyramid, I am able to check in with myself and see what it is that I need. Is it human connection? Then I text a friend because I know that hopping on social media to fulfill that need might leave me depleted and perhaps more overwhelmed than I started. Sometimes it's physical, so I go for a walk around the block or do a quick yoga routine. This is why I call this a day routine because it's a constant check-in. It's not a morning time only. The way I see it is like a machine we have to keep filling up the levels.
Are you ready to create your day?
If you're ready to take control over your day on April 27 at 6pm PST, I'm going to teach a free workshop to get you from overwhelmed to mindfully productive. We're going to learn how to create our daily routine, how to set boundaries, how to become your own superhero and still show up for your loved ones.
This workshop is for us, the rebels, the anti rules, and the ones that don't like homework. I am showing up for you because I believe our external world can't become a better place if our internal world is a mess and because I stopped saying it's due to my ADD that I procrastinate, no, it's because my brain is extra creative it wants to do so many things so let's help it get focused, right?
So let's do this together.
To sign up, simply go to mydayroutineworkshop.com and enter your email, the email that you check though, not the one used for junk mail, I know you got one. I got one too. I say this because I want you to show up, for yourself, do it for that person you hugged in the beginning of this episode.
XXOO
~ Pam
