Are You Set up for Success?
Do you take steps to ensure your days and weeks are set up for success? Have you thought about what habits would best do that for you?
No? Well, let’s start there. Where do you feel a bit “scrambled” during your day? First thing in the morning? Midday? Dinner time? All of it? Well, once you’ve named it, you need to change it. If something isn’t working, then its up to you to try something new. I was chatting with a client the other day who was feeling very overwhelmed by, well, all the things. And in our chat, I asked, “who has the ability to change this?” And the answer of course was that she has the ability to change this overwhelming feeling, “but”….and yes there is almost always a “but”. The self-awareness that is needed for growth can be uncomfortable, but once you begin to call yourself out on your unhelpful habits, with kindness and not judgment, that is where the shifts begin.
Here are a few ideas to help set your days up for success. They might seem minor, but they are “must-dos” for me, as with these habits, I have parts of my day that run on “autopilot” and reduce the chance of decision fatigue, something that drastically diminishes my productivity.
Now first, I’ll address the almost automatic reaction I get to the ideas I will present. The usual response is “well that’s not possible because I have this to do and that to do and this person won’t like that change” etc, etc, etc. I regularly invite people, with kindness, to get real with themselves. And remember, these are folks that have hired me to be their coach, i.e. to help them get s*** done, these are not just suggestions I am making to anyone I meet. Moving forward with your goals requires work, and often doing things that feel inconvenient and uncomfortable. Most often people don’t reach their goals because, honestly, they’re not willing to put in the work that it takes.
A few habits that I’ve been sharing via social media videos this week are compiled here:
1) Sundays (or whatever day starts your work week), do your laundry. AND put it away (that’s a biggie for a lot of folks). AND when you’re putting your laundry away, set out 5 outfits, one for every day of your workweek, according to what you need. If you need a workout outfit and a work outfit, then set those both out. This removes any wardrobe decisions in the morning and is a time saver!
2) Add detail to your calendar. Well first, if you don’t use a calendar, you must start there. And then, plan to the minute. It may seem extreme, but I will give you an example. Our family welcomed home another puppy in early June. And of course, there was some shaking up of routines in our house. I am a morning person through and through AND know that when I don’t have a few moments of quiet in the morning and a solid morning routine, I feel frazzled for a good part of my day. So, I plan my mornings to the minute. Up by 5:30. Dogs outside until 5:40. Coffee and puppy snuggles (honestly, one of my favourite parts of my day!!) until 6. Check messages etc adding any urgent items to my calendar for the day from 6-6:15. Dogs’ breakfast at 6:15. Walk 6:30-7:00 and so on. It may seem extreme and too limiting for some folks. I challenge that to say, without minding what needs to be done at what time, how do you feel? Ready to take on the day, responding in the way that you want to unexpected events? Or, do you always feel like you’re playing catch up?
3) Consider the little things. Ok, if you thought number 1 or 2 were a bit extreme, hold on to your hats! This one, well, might make you laugh!
I work from home most of the time now, as I know many of us do. At the start of the pandemic the working from home all the time, with all of the household chores and to-dos looking at me too, was tricky. I would often find myself taking a quick work break to grab a cup of tea or use the washroom, and then realizing that perhaps one washroom was almost out of toilet paper. So, I needed to fill that, and then while I was at it, I might as well fill the other washrooms. Oh, and look, in the laundry room, where I went to grab the toilet paper, those towels need put away. So upstairs I go to put the towels away. Oh and look, there’s a book on my bed I need to return. I better take that downstairs to put by the door to remind myself. WHAT THE HECK? All of a sudden, what should have been a 5 minute trip to the washroom, has turned into 45 mins of house “stuff”. So here is my takeaway. On Sunday, I do my best to fill things up and do a little walk-through to see what I can organize. I make sure the washrooms have tissues and toilet paper, the dogs’ food containers are filled, there are no things laying around to be put away. And in fact, I do this quickly in the evening too. It is a time saver and has really helped me minimize distractions.
4) And finally, our food. Gosh, can we waste a lot of time and energy here, can’t we? My rules? Pick one day a week to shop. Plan for that shop by laying out each night’s meal ahead of time, based on how much time you’ll have on each day of the week. Get to know your recipes by how much time they take to make. And cook more dinner than you need to harness the time-saving power of leftovers!
I hope these ideas are helpful in making your days and weeks smoother, so you can keep doing all the awesome things you’re doing, and more!
What are your “set up for success” routines? Please feel free to share in the comments!
Have a great day!
Deanna