Even Sharper New Year Routines – STP053

Episode 53 - In the last of our revisits to helping you get even SHARPER this year, we go back to episode 30, where we summarised all the good stuff about routines. How is your start of day routine? Is it setting you up for the best you can be each day? And what about your end-of-day routine - does that help you wind down in the right way? These episodes are definitely worth another listen, which is why we did it!

If you'd like to listen to the FULL episodes, the links are here:



• Episode 12 (Hello, Good Morning), where we cover:

• Why you should think about your morning routine
• Planning to plan from a personal perspective
• Having a morning routine isn't just for people running multi-million-pound operations
• But if they do it - why shouldn't you?
• I've done the research in places like Success magazine, Forbes, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, David Allen and so on, so you don't have to. Here are some articles for further reading:
• (Success link removed as article has since been taken down)
• FastCompany - The morning routines of the most successful people
• Forbes - Routines of 7 successful but human millennial entrepreneurs
• What my morning routine is - and why I do it
• Circadian rhythms and - why they make you feel like you do
• Your alarm is a conflict, but you can make it work for you
• Why do I get up at 4:50, and why should you get up at 6:37
• Laugh, smile - do it FIRST
• The psychology of smiling
• Water water everywhere - get it inside you
• Run for your life - why some exercise every day is a good idea
• Oy - YOU! (time)
• Get cold - If it's good enough for Tim Ferris and Tony Robbins, it's good enough for us
• What 30 seconds in a cold shower tells you about taking things for granted
• The 6 steps:
• Alarm - set it with intention, don't snooze
• Laugh - look in the mirror, laugh or smile at yourself. I promise you, it's funny and good
• Water - half a litre, 16 ounces re-hydrate quickly after you've woken up
• Activity - walk outside, gym, run - whatever works for you
• You time - 10 minutes of meditation, yoga, or just taking 10 to stop and think about what you want to do today
• Shower - cold blast, 30 seconds at the end.
• Episode 13 (Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me), where we cover:

·

• How your 'start of day' and your 'end of day' routine support each other and support you in getting stuff done
• Why Forbes.com say how you end your day is critical - in this article
• Michael Hyatt says, "The right activities before you sleep can set you up for success the next day" in this article
• The two groups of 'end of day' routines - the workday one and the dayday one
• Why it's even more important to have a defined end-of-day process if you do work which doesn't have its own clear end to each day
• THE END OF WORKDAY ROUTINE:
• A great template for a 7-step routine from todoist.com - the full article is here
• 1. Clean up your physical and digital workspace
• 2. Review your to-done’s
• 3. Write out tomorrow’s to-do list
• 4. Set yourself up to “Eat Your Frog” first thing in the morning
• 5. Confront the things you’ve been putting off. (Break them down and choose one 'next step' for tomorrow)
• 6. Set a time to end your workday and stick to it
• 7. End on a high note:
• Forgive yourself
• Show gratitude
• Do someone a favour
• My personal end of workday routine (from 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done) looks like this:
• Spend 5 minutes asking yourself these key questions:
• How did my day go? What went well? What were my challenges?
• What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do - differently or the same tomorrow?
• Who did I interact with? Anyone, I need to update? Thank? Ask a question? Share feedback with?
• THE END OF DAY (DAY) ROUTINE:
• Set a 'turn off your screen' time - and stick to it
• What Scientific American say about - using screens before bedtime
• Coffee - did you know it has a 'half-life'? - The effect of caffeine on sleep
• Wind-down time, take it seriously
• Take the time to work out how long you need to start your wind-down process. Mine is 45 minutes between starting and going to sleep
• Journal. Take time in your wind-down space to write down:
• What went well for you today
• What you learned today which developed you or improved something
• Three things you appreciate or are grateful for. The more basic, the better