In the last post about my expansion on Entrepreneur's article on the 8 daily habits that will make an explosion, I talked about the first four habits: getting up early, exercise, reading and practicing gratitude.
I really like those four habits because it's something that I've already had in my mind to change, and am on my way. Actually today I went to the first yoga class that I've been to in awhile and it felt (great). I think I'm motivated for awhile! At least for my next 4 "free" classes (thanks to Groupon). And actually, our new tenant-only fitness center at my office is opening on Wednesday, so I'm already planning out my workout regimen. The last time I had a gym this convenient is when we lived in the city after getting married and had a gym in the basement of our building. Ah, the days. We often talk about how much we loved living in Navy Yard, but that's for another day.
I also started reading this wonderful daily devotional, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, in addition to being about 60% through The Ladies Room by Carolyn Brown, which I really recommend! It's a fun read, and I love it as my commuting book. I'm already on the prowl for my new one (hoping I can an email from my local library that the many ebooks I have on hold might be mine in the near future).
Waking up early is still working, except for yesterday when I drive Mr. K to the metro at 5am (my car is sounding a bit wonky, so we need his), and then proceeded to sleep for awhile longer. Whoops.
As far as practicing gratitude, I shared just about all my thoughts with you in that post. Not much has changed.
So, let's get onto the next four habits:
5. Schedule your day before it starts
Try a daily to-do list each night, and then what I find helpful is scheduling out the week on Sunday. We have a chalkboard in the mudroom, which we see every time we come in from the garage. You can see it here, and we've started to outline the week starting on Monday. I'll include the scheduled evening activities that we have, something we need to get done that night, and if we're really organized, dinner ideas for each night (we're working on that this year).
This also applies to your workplace - before you leave for the day, prepare your tasks for tomorrow, outline what's important, and when you need to get things done. Which brings us to the next one...
6. Focus on high-priority tasks first
I feel like this is most applicable for the workplace, so make sure when you create that to-do list for the following day, put your most important tasks in the beginning. We're all probably guilt of saving those for the end because it's easier to get the lesser important, smaller tasks out of the way. But why not get the big one out of the way and then cruise the rest of the day!? Try that for a few weeks and see how it might lessen your stress and anxiety about your work days.
7. Always go the extra mile
This is an important one, and probably one that's often easy to fight each and every day. Consider doing one extra task every day that may put you ahead of the game, either personally or professionally, or both. This will likely improve your motivation and satisfaction. Who doesn't love ending the day on a high note and thus enjoying the evening even more.
8. Improve in one area each day
This can apply to both professional life and personal. Whether professionally, you read one good article about your industry every day and apply it; or personally, you improve the number of push ups you do, decrease pace of your mile run by a few seconds, read one more chapter of a book to reach a yearly goal, etc. (check out Goodreads if you want to set a goal for number of books to read in 2015).
Don't forget to write these things down at the end of the day, especially how you improved each day. This will keep you going, and at the end of the week you can look back on that log and be motivated for the next week! I love this habit, I think it's one every person can get on board with. It's definitely hard to stick to, but keep it in your back pocket, even if you improve in three things over the course of the next couple weeks, that's a great start.
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