How I organize my routine in order to get things done

My day always begins the night before, gifting my self with a smooth time the following mornings. Before bed, I make sure to lay out my workout clothes on the bathroom counter and pack my day clothes, a fresh towel and washcloth, and everything I need for getting ready post-workout in my gym bag. My jacket, purse, and my laptop bag are ready to go by the front door, lunch is packed and in the fridge, and my water bottle is full so that when I’m ready to walk out of the door the next morning, I’m not shuffling everything to make sure I’m prepared for the day. Lately I have been working diligently on putting away my social media by 9 pm and laying down with some hot tea and a book until I’m ready to turn off the lights, and I can feel the improvement in my sleep and in my dreams. I still wake up on and off in the early morning before sunrise but I’m hoping that’ll stop with time. My alarms are already set, even my coffeeshop alarm that tells me when I need to pack up my things to go to work after I’ve stopped for coffee. I sleep easy knowing that I can go on autopilot until I get to my car.

So I set a goal to go to the gym/yoga at least 6 days a week, and I will shower after my workout at the gym (don’t worry I keep my shower shoes in my car because germs are gross). After the gym, I head over to Starbucks in Roswell if I’m going to work, or White Windmill in Doraville (my all-time favorite coffeeshop). My drink of choice is an iced coffee, no sweetener, maybe cream if I’m feeling it. Yes, I spend money on coffee probably 5 days a week when I could always make it at home, but that’s a topic for another day’s post. At whichever coffeeshop I visit that day, I take out my planner first and set my goals for the day and look over what is already written.

Usually once a week I’ll write down all of my financials and what’s coming in and what’s coming out on whatever date it’ll happen. I love being in the know with my automatic payments and I love being ahead so doing this planning is one of my favorite things to do. There really is no special system or journal I use, just some blank paper in my planner so you don’t have to spend any of that planned money on anything extra to stay organized with it. My mom uses a spiral bound notebook. It’s that easy. Doing this allows me to plan what will go into my savings and my investments each month because I don’t touch that money. I use Acorns- a super easy and safe way for beginning investors to start their portfolio and it has the roundup feature to round all of your charges in your linked account to the dollar, which you can then multiply it by 1x, 2x, or 3x and it will automatically add it to your Acorns account once you reach $5 or so at a time. I have mine set to 3x as well as an automatic transaction of $30 each Wednesday into my account. Acorns also offers deals that if you use certain businesses or brands, that business will invest 25 cents into your account each time you charge your linked account with them (I use Chevron gas to receive this reward). I’m saving and investing without even having the think about it or really put in any effort, and Acorns is really transparent and informative with where your money goes and you’re able to personalize your investment portfolio however you would like. Give it try if you want!

Acorns referral link https://acorns.com/invite/RY3WHE

Once my financials are finished for the week, I then focus on my next email campaign that I’ll send out or take a look at my ceramic inventory to plan what I’ll make next, write down new ideas, and make sure I’m fulfilling at least one big business goal a week. Last week I re-photographed all of my ceramic inventory, edited those photos, and uploaded them all onto the website. This week I plan to update social media at least once a day to up my engagement, create my next email, and work on new products to get ready for my firing next week. What I have learned throughout all of this is to celebrate the small wins. I used to have 15-20 tasks on my list for each day! That just isn’t possible and I’m not in college anymore. I’m allowed to take time to enjoy life because I only answer to myself now and isn’t that freedom why we all look forward to finally being adults? Why do we need to burn ourselves out- like take a step back and just calm down! Now, I make sure to have my big to-do list in the right hand column of my planner and then divide those tasks out in my daily squares. And if I cannot get to something that day, or even that week, I’ll put an arrow on it and move it to the next week. I try not to spread out one task over three different weeks, but if life happens and that task is still incomplete on week three, then it is what it is.

I begin completion of my daily tasks, keeping my goals in mind and only using social media if that is a part of my task. I’ve become prey to the social media rabbit hole too many times to let it interrupt the one part of my day that I guarantee for business development, so I try to stay off of it because my self-control still needs some work. My alarm sounds for me to leave and I pack up and go to work.

My work day varies depending on the day. I enjoy it so much though. For the maybe third time in my life, I look forward to going to work. I get to experience giggles and learning and family and I leave fulfilled and ready to be back the next day. The importance of this is indescribable, and when I can sit down and put it all into words, I’ll share it with you.

When I leave, I continue my podcast from earlier, go home, cook dinner and enjoy it with Alex. If I need to do some work, I will, but I try to end my work day when I walk through the front door so that I can have some Alex and Puppi time, other than when I have to make some clay stuff- which honestly I really need to start getting better about doing a little every day or every few days instead of cramming it all into one weekend so can y’all hold me accountable haha? Around 9 I start to get ready for bed, preparing my outfits and my lunch. This is when Alex will make my hot tea for me to drink with my book and then I sleep.

Finding this routine has helped tremendously with my sanity, or lack thereof, and has given me peace. I do still sometimes waste my days off with Netflix and Hulu, but not as much as I used to. I celebrate my little wins because it keeps me motivated. I try to accomplish as much as my day allows because of how great it makes me feel. And I never regret the coffee I drank because it just tastes so delicious and it gives me that experience of letting me sit, distraction-free, achieving my goals.

What is your routine like? And if you have any suggestions or cool things that you’ve added to your day to improve your personal and business development, let me know so I can try them too!