Are Your Daily “Success” Routines Working?
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Serious question though… Who actually has the time to do all the things on their daily checklist?
5:00 — 5:15 — Wake up and morning meditation
5:15 — 5:25 — Thought provoking journaling
5:25 — 6:25 — Workout
6:25 — 6:35 — Stretching
6:35 — 6:45 — Sauna / Cold shower
6:45 — 7:00 — Daily Affirmations
7:00 — 7:25 — Breakfast
7:25 — 7:45 — Get kids ready for school
7:45 — 8:15 — Breakfast for kids
8:15 — 8:45 — Drop kids off at school
8:45 — 9:00 — Drive to work while listening to motivational podcasts
9:00 — 5:00 — Full day of work
5:00 — 5:30 — Drive home in traffic while listening to a nonfiction audio book. Or YouTube videos of David Goggins
5:30 — 6:00 — Pick kids up from sports
6:00 — 6:45 — Family dinner
6:45 — 7:30 — Bathes and bedtime routine
7:30 — 8:00 — End of day affirmations/ journaling
8:00 — 9:00 — Read non fiction before bed
9:00 — 9:15 — Brush teeth/ lights out
And this doesn’t even begin to touch upon all the things that we “should” be doing.
This is a completely hypothetical schedule with some popular “success” activities that we’ve all read about and done from time to time.
But what about things I left out like:
Learning a new language
Writing a blog
Working on your side hustle
Working out two times a day (inside and outside)
Meal prepping
Drinking a gallon of water
Quality time with your kids
Quality time with your spouse.
What about when you’re sick or don’t feel well?
Are you a failure if you don’t check all your boxes?
This schedule is with the assumption that you start work at 9AM and end at 5PM. But what if you start at 5AM and have 12+ hr shifts.
What if you start at 5PM and work through the night? What then?
I’m going to take a stand here on this issue and say:
We try to do too much.
It’s so easy to keep adding and adding and ADDING things into your day with all the best intentions of finding success and bettering yourself.
But at what point do you stop?
Some, never do.
Some are so driven in the pursuit of success that they drink all the Kool-Aid and try to do it all.
I know this because I’ve been there.
I have 100% tried to do it all. In fact, I still battle with that natural tendency today.
And while that drive is a prerequisite FOR success, it’s possible to swing too far on the pendulum and over do it. Leading to NO success. Instead, burnout.
I truly believe there is a direct relationship between the number of things you’re doing and the quality of your work doing those things.
It’s not linear or exponential. I don’t like to think about it like a graph. It’s more of a visualization I’ll walk you through.
I’ve coined this The “Thanksgiving On A Fork” Analogy.
It’s Thanksgiving and you’re STARVING.
You load your plate up with all the fixings; Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, baked rolls, fruit salad, green bean casserole and of course gravy on the top. Mmm, so good!
Now that you have your plate packed high you sit down to dig in.
At this point you’re literally salivating over the food you just piled on.
You know how amazing it’s going to be and you can’t wait to chow down.
By this time you are SO hungry that you decide you want it all on your fork.
You get the turkey and ham on the fork then make your way around the rest of your plate on a mission to fit it all on.
Somehow, you did it. You fit it all on the fork. After dragging it through some gravy to finish it off, you bring that fork up to your mouth for the bite.
As you do, a green bean falls off.
“No biggie” you think. You’ve got this.
Without hesitation you swoop down to grab the bean. You want to be darn sure that everything goes on that fork. It’ll be so worth it!
But again, as you bring the fork up, something else drops. This time it was the stuffing. Much more difficult to get back on, but you manage.
This happens two more times in your attempt to have everything on ONE fork. But you’re determined and know it can be done.
Finally you do it. It’s all on. You manage to get it all up to your mouth on one fork.
But when you do, you realize that it’s actually too big for just one bite and you can’t fit it all in your mouth.
If ONLY you had a bigger fork or a bigger mouth, everything would’ve worked!
I know you want to do it all. Believe me, I KNOW.
While all those things you’re wanting to do are AWESOME, you can’t fit it all on your fork at once.
Put it on your plate. You’ll get to it.
But work your way through that plate by picking a few things at a time.
Prioritize the top 3 activities that you want to work through and then pursue those.
When you’ve found your rhythm with those, add something else in little by little.
And if you’re beginning to feel burned out, reprioritize and adjust.
Personally, I have a TON on my plate, but I make a very conscious effort to only eat what I can, when I can.
Here is my actual schedule (most days):
4:20 — Wake up
4:45 — 5:45 — Workout
5:45 — 6:00 — Stretch
6:00 — 6:30 — Shower/ breakfast
6:30 — 7:00 — Drive to work / Listen to audio book
7:00 — 5:30 — Work Day
5:30 — 6:00 — Drive home / listen to audio book
6:00 — 6:45 — Family dinner
6:45 — 7:30 — Bathes and bedtime routine for kids
7:30 — 8:00 — Journal / Second language work/ Wordle
8:00 — 9:00 — Read non fiction before bed
9:00 — 9:15 — Brush teeth/ lights out
Other things that happen through the day:
Write articles down in my iPhone notes and transfer those to Medium at a later time.
Record podcast episodes
Message back and forth with my VAs and business partners
Quality time with my wife and kids
This is not a busy day in the grand scheme of things. But that is by design.
For those of you that are still in the grind, working that W2, trying to build the bridge out, consuming all the books, all the podcasts and all the videos…
…Those of you trying to do everything you can to succeed and change your life and your families lives for the better…
Keep your head down and keep grinding.
DO. NOT. STOP.
But remember, you don’t have to eat it all in one bite.
You can have it on your plate and get to it when the time is right.
Prioritize and dig in.