Adding to Your Daily Routine to Be More Productive
How You Will Benefit When You Do
By Marlene Wagner
The Holiday Season is Upon Us
Halloween is behind us, and Thanksgiving is just weeks away. We’ve started feeling the stress of everything needing to be done and wonder how to do it all.
For many of us, it’s the favorite time of the year, and we love the hustle and bustle, friends and family, parties, and delicious foods and drinks.
It is truly a wonderful time of year, and along with it, we need to add much more to our list of “to-do’s.”
What plans do you have for Thanksgiving?
Will you be traveling to meet up with family? Or are you planning a family dinner with cooking and baking to prepare?
Or an invitation to join other family and friends at their home? Another popular alternative is eating out.
Throughout the years, I have had the good pleasure of experiencing all of these.
Do I have a favorite? Each has its merits, but I’m a big homebody and love cooking surrounded by great people and being in my home.
What favorite Thanksgiving foods do you look forward to the most? I hear stuffing and pumpkin pie are on the top of the list.
Just give me turkey and stuffing!
We’ve covered the pleasures of Thanksgiving, but along with it comes all the added work that needs to get done.
The previous two weekly articles stressed the importance of increasing productivity during the holiday season.
A great way to increase productivity is with a well-organized plan and prepared for everyday distractions.
If you have not yet had time to look, it’s a quick read well worth it.
This week we’re looking at daily routines as essential tools for those seeking to increase their productivity.
By taking the time to establish a daily routine, you set yourself up for success by ensuring that you are mentally prepared for the day ahead.
One of the most important aspects of a daily routine is setting aside time for self-care.
By taking care of yourself first, you will be in a better position to take on the tasks of the day.
Any routine will help improve productivity, but to maximize your efforts, here are a few things you might want to add to your regime.
Choose 3 Must-Do Tasks for the Day
Setting your intention and tone for the day is an important goal of any productive morning ritual.
Do you want to be focused or scattered? Are you going in with a plan or merely reacting to others’ actions?
Control of the story is the most effective approach to being more productive throughout the day.
One of the most straightforward approaches is to begin your day by defining your Most Important Tasks. MITs
These are the top 2-3 things you want to be sure you get done that day.
Writing these MITs down at the beginning of the day will help give you a clear picture of what a successful day entails.
Stay Focused on Your Goals by Journaling
Journaling isn’t just for therapy purposes.
Writing and reflecting on your goals, feelings, and dreams can improve anyone’s mood and help us perform better on work tasks.
I’ve called it journaling, but it may sound uncomfortable if you usually aren’t journaling.
Any notebook specifically labeled for holiday notes and to-do works too.
When we have an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve done, we get a boost in self-confidence.
Seeing what we’ve accomplished helps us feel we can do more things. Which in turn helps provide motivation and drive for future tasks.
Meditate To Prepare for the Day
You can’t always anticipate what the day will bring.
Incorporating a daily meditation practice into your routine helps you deal with challenges more effectively and peacefully.
Some of us are meditators. Others are not, have never meditated, and don’t know how.
Meditation is nothing more than getting into a state of total relaxation and quieting all the thoughts racing through your mind.
Some meditators lie on their back in a comfortable and quiet area. Others use a lotus position. Or you can make yourself comfortable sitting up and closing your eyes.
Start small if you’re new to meditation. Consistency is more important than the intensity at the outset.
Sitting in a peaceful place with your eyes closed for a few minutes and focusing on your breath may be enough to get you started.
You may be asking, what is this supposed to do? It slows you down mentally and physically for a brief period.
Five minutes or 20 minutes once you get used to daily incorporating this exercise, you‘ll start to feel like you’ve just had a short nap.
You’ll feel a new energy, a renewal that helps you through the rest of the day.
Schedule Plenty of Breaks
If you continue to work when your body needs downtime, it draws on your energy reserves to keep going.
It means that your body must release stress hormones to provide you with a boost of energy.
A better answer is to take breaks when you need them.
Listen to your body and schedule regular breaks away from whatever you do at least every 90 minutes.
You want to make the most of these breaks.
Take a walk outside and try to spend some time in nature. Both help us to rejuvenate and recharge our energy.
Reflect on The Day
It’s too easy to wind down with Netflix at the end of the day and “relax.”
Unfortunately, the human brain does not work in this way.
When left unresolved, ideas and feelings linger and spring up at inconvenient moments (like when you’re trying to fall asleep!).
A personal debrief can help alleviate the day’s to-do list or work-related stress.
It is especially beneficial when it focuses on your triumphs and the good things that happened to you.
This technique can even alter how you look at your days and prevent you from getting dragged into negative thinking.
It does not need to be a long document.
You can do something as simple as list three awesome things you accomplished or experienced during the day.
Most people don’t realize that being productive is a skill that can be learned.
Just like you would work on your fitness or learn a new language, you can also work on becoming more productive.
Try adding some of the things we shared above into your daily routine and see how it goes.
After a few, you might just be surprised by how much more productive you can be!
I’ve been sharing methods and techniques I incorporated into my life years ago and second nature to me now.
I’ll wrap up this productivity series with my final article next week.
If you have any particular challenges, let me know. I’ll include it in my content.
Starting today, make yourself a priority and begin living your best life.
But before we go, always remember to
Be true to your magnificent self,
Coach Marlene
Connect with me!! I’d love to hear from you.
https://attractloveatanyage.com/
www.facebook.com/coach.marlenew
Email: parkavenueunlimited@midco.net
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