Wakeup and Smell the Routine

Getting the most out of your day and time requires disciplined routines that can eventually become habits. Being organized with systems can help propel any business, organization or individual to a higher level. Although summer is often a time of get togethers, vacations and relaxation it is easy to get distracted with the nice weather and things that keep you busy throughout the summer months. For those individuals that want to do better with routine and structure we thought we would compile five useful tips that might make it a little easier for you to stay on track for the rest of this summer.

 1. Treat your time like a valued commodity.

If every day you are looking to create a little bit of a better routine, what better way than to start with a little bit of extra time on your hands. If you are pulled away with summer holidays and keeping the kids busy and active you might find time is not something you have a lot of. Sure, if you are on holidays and want to sleep in that is great, but you may also like the idea of setting that alarm to get a jump on the day and get organized. On the other hand, setting an alarm for bedtime might help focus you to get the most rest that you need so that you can tackle each day with a little bit more energy, vigour, and resolve. Having extra time that is productive for you can only be a benefit.

 2. Be better than yesterday.

If each day you take a mental or a physical note on what transpired throughout the day you may be able to better track how to tackle the next day. Perhaps your focus today was to do a home project, but you got distracted throughout the day and couldn’t get started. By understanding how and why things didn’t happen today you may be better prepared to try and tackle that same project tomorrow with a better attitude an organized mindset.

3. Use reminders.

“Hey Siri create a reminder for 7 AM tomorrow.”  “What do you want to be reminded about?” “Ride the bike for 20 minutes and remember to do your stretches.” “OK I’ll remind you.” As simple as that now you’ve created a reminder that is going to put pressure on you to do things that you know are good for you. We often get pulled in so many directions and having a little bit of accountability may help us in getting better organized and creating the routine we know is good for us.

 4.Turn off your notifications.

How many times throughout the day do you get distracted because something on your phone pops up and breaks your train of thought. Do you really need to know what the latest Facebook Instagram or YouTube update is? I’m sure if you schedule some time once, even twice a day to get those updates you can find a better way to go through those notifications. Things like this can pull us from the important goals we are trying to accomplish, and every interruption makes it that much harder to get going. Even unsubscribing to those unnecessary emails can help free up some time and allow for more productive energy.

 5.Fill the new time with new tasks.

If now you’ve done a few minor shifts in your day, and you suddenly see yourself with extra time and you don’t know what to do with it it’s probably a good idea to sit down and put some thought into it. What are your goals? Are they career, health, finance, family, or hobbies? Whatever it is it’s probably a good idea to create some action items to eat up that extra time so that you can use it in a wiser manner.

With four weeks left to go till back to school it’s not too late to hit the ground running. If there’s something that you have been looking to do as a summer project and you haven’t gotten to it now is the time to act. With a little bit of organization, discipline, and better time management there is nothing to stop us from really going for it

Good luck and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Sensei Chris