In March 2020, I was sent home to work remotely to which my job became new and exciting! Jeans and sweatshirts. I almost eliminated all ironing. As great as the work environment became, my days were becoming unstructured. I needed discipline and the first step, I decided, was creating a routine.
Fun With Brain Dumps
I did a brain dump of everything I already do in the morning, afternoon, and evening. From the minute I wake to the minute I go back to bed. Next, I listed what I wanted to add to my life and what I needed to eliminate. With the brain dump completed, I began to schedule my day. I scheduled every minute of the day, which turned out to be a bad idea. My new routine worked great the first day. On the second day, I did not complete as many tasks as the first day. On the third day, I completed even less. It turns out I do not have that much grit. My failure could have been laziness or a lack of willpower. Actually, I talked myself out of doing the task.
Kind-of Disciplined
To get around my slothful brain, I created a routine. Just a simple morning routine of the tasks that I wanted to complete by 1:00p. No definitive time schedule except the 1:00p deadline. It worked for me. I stopped feeling like a failure if 10:00am came and went and I did not workout. I was no longer not disciplined. My new morning routine was a success! I also discovered that not a whole lot of self-discipline was necessary. I still track the routines with a Habit app on my phone. There are several that allow you to create a routine checklist. Hit me up and I’ll let you know which one I use.
Your turn
Sit down and do your own brain dump. Decide how you can become self-disciplined. Create your routine. Choose what tasks you want to keep, what you want to add and what just needs to go. Detail each task to make it important to you. I get a win for each task completed. Wins are good. Wins start a habit, and the end game is to start a habit. Keep your momentum going and create an afternoon and evening routine.
Remember that nothing is perfect. Give yourself feedback on what works and what does not work. Modify your routine until it is productive. I discovered that I love feedback/metrics, which made this a fun experiment.
Have fun!
Up next week: The Fitness System.