08 Jul Some of my daily routines that might be useful to you
I’m trying to structure my life in such a way that it allows me to be productive and to make use of my day in a fruitful way but to leave space for spontaneity simultaneously. I’ve got a number of routines which I’m pursuing almost on a daily basis. I would like to share a number of these routines with you. An article that I’ve published earlier might also be well insightful to you as it’s about the Pomodoro Technique which to me is the ultimate way of enhancing productivity throughout your day.
You can quickly jump to:
My routines during the morning
A well-known phrase is: win the morning and you will win the day. There will be numerous examples where this hasn’t turned out to be true but I am convinced it certainly can provide you with a head start. Some of the routines I really try to do every morning, others I do when I have the time and mindset (which still is a number of times a day). I found that the last two can really help me to get into a state of mind that enhances a solid focus throughout the day.
Drink water: I aim to be drinking at least one litre of water after waking up. After your night of rest you’re body has lost quite some water (much more than you would expect in the first place) so it is beneficial to your body and mind to give yourself a bit of refill and drink some water. I normally consume 0.5L straight after waking up and another 0.5L after my morning run or shower.
Getting things done – make the bed: There are many business and life coaches that very much believe in creating the right mindset for getting things done. By something as simple as making your bed after waking up, your mind and body will get into the right state of getting things done and being productive. As many people are working from home, it might work even better as another well-known phrase goes like: a clean home means a clean mind. Other examples or additions would be to empty the dishwasher, taking off your laundry or clean up your room. The idea remains the same as a short task can activate the mind and set it to one which will motivate you to get things done throughout the rest of the day as well.
Goals – what are we doing today: Do you ever set goals? It might be an easy goal such as: go to the supermarket during lunch break to get groceries for dinner. Imagine the difference in success between the day you don’t set this particular goal and those days where you do set this goal. How many night will you end up ordering when not having set that specific goal during the morning or the night before? Further on in this article I’m sharing some tips on goal-setting as I highly believe that this can certainly make your day more productive as you are able to get more things done – as simple as that.
No phone: I do not check my phone at all for the first 60 to 90 minutes after waking up. I noticed that checking my phone as the first thing after waking up creates a reactive mindset – as your mind will get to a state in which it will respond to messages and notifications of others. When leaving my phone on the side and focus on making the bed instead, the mind will get to an active state, one in which it’s much easier to actually getting things done.
My morning run: I know, this sounds horrible to many of us. Those extra 30 minutes in bed can mean a lot to you and I am not telling you to skip those. I’m just here to say that a 4 to 5K run in the morning wakes up my body and improves my mindset by loads. And even if you would go run for 1 or 2K it will already be make a true different. There are also other ways of waking up your body and this doesn’t necessarily need to be a physical workout – it just really works well to me.
Meditation: Whether it would be ‘just’ 5 or 10 minutes or a longer session, meditating works really well to me. For a long time I wasn’t completely convinced how it could help me but I’ve found a number of benefits which motivate me to keep meditating. First of all, meditating clears my mind. Of course, many thoughts generally run through my mind during the meditation but that’s OK. I train myself concentrating by trying to focus back on my breath as soon after realizing that my mind has wondered off. Your mind and concentration need training too and as this is partly responsible for how we feel, it can be well beneficial for you to do so too.
Reading: I honestly do not read too often during the morning but it can be of great help I noticed. Just a period 5 or 10 minute of reading (preferably a book, which doesn’t need to be informative necessarily) can also activate a mindset that’s getting to be absorbing information. You are well likely to gain more knowledge during a day if your mindset is being set in the right way, wouldn’t you agree?
My evening routines
Proper night rest is a vital part of my day. If I don’t sleep well, I won’t enjoy my days. Some of the routines I do during the evening are focussed on the night, others on the day after.
Mobile phones: I aim to disconnect 30 – 60 minutes prior to going to sleep. This basically means no screens. I’ve bought an alarm clock so I can allow my phone to be totally off. There are days where I am still online just before sleeping and at all times I notice how much it effects my mindset. Earlier in this article I referred to ‘no phone’ in the morning, something I often take to the extreme by not having my phone on between 22:00 and 12:30 (lunch break). I know that many people won’t like to be offline for such a long time but to me it enables a brilliant focus during the morning normally.
Set goals: around the same time I shut down my phone and other screens, I’m trying (on a piece of paper) to write down a number of goals for the next day. I notice such a great difference in working on your to-do lists if you set goals. Generally I come up with 3 goals that are more personal and 3 goals which are work-related. In case you’d have a day full of meetings, it could be harder to come up with goals so I would advice to come up with a certain number of goals (1 or 2-3 can already make a great difference).
Examples of goals: calling the uncle you haven’t been in touch with for a while, send an email to your parents about your weekend, write in your diary, go for a morning run or change your bed sheets (all personal) and request days off for your holidays, send an email to HR about the lunches at work, finish proposal X or finish the motivation letter for that dream-job you would want to apply for (professional). Some goals might come back 3 times per week (like the morning run) and this helps me to stick to the 3 goals per day which make me quite productive.
Reading: just before going to sleep, I try to read. This would sometimes only be 5 minutes or longer and the books are fairly easy to read. Normally I would just read a novel that tells a nice story and won’t challenge your brain too much.
Weekly routines
My life’s pretty structured and I also have a list with ongoing goals. I notice that these goals include some which don’t need daily attention but it might be wise to create moments during your week where you will be able to dedicate time to it.
Goal-check: every Wednesday-night I try to quickly go over my list of goals. This makes me so much more active towards achieving my goals as it wouldn’t be unlikely that some goals might be ‘forgotten’ if you don’t remind yourself of them (it would also be fair to question yourself if you really want something if you would have to be reminded of it by some list.. In my case the answer would normally be yes).
Working on your goals: I try to have a couple of fixed moments during the week that I would work on my Spanish. Even if that’s just 20 minutes, it can already be leading to huge improvements (and those 20 minutes might not happen if you don’t plan it).
Learn from a professional
One of the people I learned a lot from is Jim Kwik. It was great to notice that some of his top-tips were regarding routines I was already following. Learn from the master himself.
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