The tools to help you get on track. 

As we continue to juggle more onto our plates between work, family, kids, friends, exercise, cooking, new classes, downtime and self-care time. All. Of. It. Builds. Up. 

Especially when we don’t have a plan. When we aren’t in control of what is happening. When the outside world is dictating our inside results. 

That’s why we have the three-step process to take back ownership so you can go from frantic to focused. So you can check one thing off your to-do list at a time. And you can really relax at the end of the day knowing that you made progress forward. 

Step 1: Schedule Your Week 

Scheduling might seem daunting at the beginning but once you nail down the process it actually brings a sense of clarity into your life. It’s the reason why we live by the law that “if it’s not in my schedule it doesn’t exist. 

Scheduling doesn’t mean that it’s all work and no play. It means that you are actually scheduling fun time into your routine. It means that you are intentionally creating a balance in your life between your work and personal time. 

It means to start with blocking the staples into each day: your morning and evening routine. The precious time when you wake up and before you go to bed. This time, when used properly, has the power to completely set you up for success. 

The next step is blocking the hours in the day when you work. This means that the goal during this time is to stick to the task at hand. It’s avoiding social distractions and focusing on what you need to do, to get things done within that time frame. And the fun part is blocking the hours where you don’t work. When you are committing to personal time with the kids, or for yourself, the goal during this period is that work isn’t taking over at all. 

This step involves using four simple blocks to decide how you will spend your time on a weekly basis. 

Step 2: Give yourself a mental break 

You might be thinking, sure that sounds nice but it’s not as easy as flipping a light switch. 

We get it. The thing is though we also have the opportunity to set ourselves up for success in this category too. It ties into step one because the mental break is incorporated into the morning and evening routines. 

That means consciously selecting a time in the mornings for you. So not opening your eyes and staring at your iPhone screen. Or avoiding your emails until a specific hour in the morning. It means deciding what mood you are going to be in before you allow the outside world to dictate your reality. 

The same applies in the evening. If we aren’t careful it can be really easy to be glued to a screen, from waking up on a phone, to working at a computer, to going to bed with the TV on. It’s a lot. And jumping between those three stages without taking time off means we are mentally operating on overdrive. 

A simple tool that helps to slow your state of mind is meditation. If you haven’t done this before then we want to remind you that this will be an adjustment but it will be worth it. It helps my starting small, so maybe that’s two minutes when you first sit up in the morning. Or maybe this activity works best for you just before bed. Either way, the first step is to simply try and see what feels good. 

Here are our top three mediation apps to help you get started:

1. Insight Timer
2. Calm App
3. Deepak & Opera

Step 3: Allow yourself the opportunity to reset 

This step is actually the most effective way to track your progress. It holds the power to allow you to pivot and grow at a rapid pace. Yet, it’s also the step that is easily forgotten about. 

It means taking 30 minutes at the end of each week to reflect on the previous seven days. 

To actually look back at what you planned so you can measure your results. So you can figure out what was achieved (insert virtual high-five here) and so you can figure out what needs to be moved or adjusted into the following week.

We love this step because it leaves room to evaluate the process. Maybe you set a goal without realizing the five additional steps that are involved to get you started. Or maybe you can actually skip over some of your smaller goals that no longer need to be a high priority. 

Regardless of the results you found, the point is that there is always room for improvement and this single step gives you the opportunity to step into that growth. 

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The Be Do Have Movement Team