Day 7: Make it routine #Roxys7daychallenge

Today's post is powered by Death Wish Coffee. Because I'm dead tired. Today's the day. It's the last day of the challenge, and we're going to make a routine for ourselves. Mine is going to be a morning routine. 

I have attempted to do Miracle Mornings many many times, but I always fell off the wagon. Why? Because I needed more than one. My most productive time is in the mornings, but my evil day job starts at different times. So I need routines to fit those various days. 

You've been living with your schedule for a week. You've seen when you're most productive, and when your energy is drained. You've also figured out your long game goal, and what you need to focus on for your health first. 




It's time to put some serious routine in place.

STEP 1. When are you doing this routine?
Are you a night owl, and need a before bed routine most? Are you like me, and need to start off your day with productivity or it's shot to hell? Or do you need something after everyone is finally out of your house?

If you've been following along for all seven days, you already have an hour set aside that works best for you. Maybe your routine can replace that time. 

Pick your time slot, and figure out exactly how much time you have available for this routine. Or how much you want to spend on something you're planning to do daily.

STEP 2. Write down your top 3.
If you make a four and a half hour routine plan to do everyday after not having one at all, it's not going to stick. Trust me. I've been there, tried that, made it two days and crashed and burned hard.

So pick the three things that matter the most to you in your routine. If you wake up late, or your schedule changes, what three things make you feel like you've kicked ass. You're not setting this in stone, but I'd say putting it in writing somewhere you can see it, is valuable.

My current top 3 are 
Morning Pages
Meditation
Blog Post

If the dishes don't get done, or if the counters don't get wiped down, or if I don't get any writing done, these things I can do no matter my mental or physical state. They are my top three.

STEP 3. Make your plan.
You know when you want to get your routine in place and the top three things you want to include. Now it's up to you if you can or want to commit to more.

Be honest with yourself. What do you know you can do? And what are you realistically able to accomplish? If you're giving yourself a morning routine, and stringing together complete sentences is damn hard before 8am, don't promise yourself you're going to write your next novel by getting up and writing at 6am. 

This is also where you can give yourself a kick in the ass with all the "Things I need to stop doing" notes you took yesterday. One of mine was that I need to stop checking my apps as soon as I wake up. So I'm putting a step in my routine to put my phone by the sink where I'll be listening to an audiobook while I do dishes. 

When you're first getting started make sure you figure in buffer time. If something takes you a couple extra minutes, you shouldn't have to worry about it throwing off your entire schedule.

My morning routine I worked up for this challenge is below, so you can see what I'm talking about visually if it helps. ​YES, I know. It's 3 hours long. YES, I know I just told you not do to that. BUT! This isn't my first routine rodeo. 

Also, there is some built in wiggle room. I can get the top three things done in fifteen minutes, and I have three times that amount of time set aside. That way if my dog decides to sniff every inch of our yard, I'm not behind.

It also takes me literally two minutes to start a load of laundry if everything is already brought downstairs. So that's when a really good part of my audio book won't let me stop listening, or I find that random pile of animal vomit because my dog decided to eat mulch again, gets taken care of.

I have also been working on my morning routine for the last month. Want to know what my morning routine was a month ago? That. It looked like that. I spent an hour. I only meditated for 5 minutes when I started. My blogs were whatever came up in my morning pages. And that was it.
​I'm not going to put all my morning routines in this post, because I'm making three different versions and y'all don't care that much. However, I am going to print and post those bad boys where I can see them. I'm going to have them up and ready to remind me that working toward my goals is important to me. This routine doesn't include my writing yet, but these items are ones that rev me up for the rest of my day and get me excited and working. Writing comes after my daily routine. In theory. ;)

STEP 4. Post your routine, and add it to your hourly calendar.
Print out or write up your routine. Even if it's a simple checklist of your top 3, write it out and post it somewhere you'll see it everyday. Your computer, your mirror, your fridge. It doesn't matter where it is, but it should be in your face. There's something about the act of putting a routine in writing that makes it more real. Today, make your commitment to yourself real.

I wouldn't suggest writing out each step of your morning routine in your hourly calendar. If you're like me, and want to be very detailed with your routine to visualize it better, you don't want a notification going off every 5 minutes. If your routine isn't taking place first thing in the morning, you may want to set up a reminder for you to get started on it, but on your calendar, just mark this as "Daily Routine" or "Morning Routine" or "Bedtime Routine". 

I keep my routines saved on an Excel file so I can tweak them as I see fit. As I shift my routines around based on my current goals, I don't have to update ten items on my calendar with it. Welp. That's it! That's my 7 day challenge. Even if you only took on one of the tasks, I'm hoping you got something out of it. I sure did.

I needed the kick in the ass and the push to work through these items myself. I can't exactly ask you do to these things without doing them with you.

I'm excited for my new routines to be posted in my office. Although, looking around my office space, I've realized I don't have a clock that isn't attached to some distraction ridden device. So I need to go shopping too. I'll add it to my calendar today.

Make sure to send me screenshots or pictures of any tasks you'd like to share. I'd love to see what you've accomplished this week. 

~Roxy