A month ago, I had a breakthrough. I had a boat load of things I wanted to be doing, but felt like I didn’t have enough time. I have been feeling much better than I have for awhile. I had been feeling exhausted and “meh”. Having more energy, I now felt like I can handle more things. I wanted to be more productive, which makes me feel even better! But then I considered all the things I wanted to do, and that dark cloud of overwhelm started creeping in. I really didn’t want to go there, again.
Visual Planning
So I decided to list everything out. First, I wrote out everything I wanted to be doing on separate post-its. I had working out, eating right, getting my blog going, art projects, journaling, among other things. I then stuck each post-it on a board and tried to organize them in a logical manner that clicked with me. I’m a visual person and this has been very helpful for me to see the bigger picture. I can also see patterns better for planning.
Next, I also read through a copy of my vision that I had created a few years before. I’ll write another blog post about how important having a vision is for your life. But for now, suffice it to say, you’ve got to have a vision for your life or it’s sooo easy to get distracted. Not only do you need to have a vision, you have to read it regularly. This is exactly what I remembered as I read thru it for the first time in months. It was like a slap in the face as I read the priorities on my vision as:
Priority 1: Relationship with God with daily prayer and bible study
Priority 2: My health – eating right/exercising and healing physically/emotionally
Priority 3: Intentional time with family and friends
Reality sets in
When I read thru it, it became crystal clear that I was NOT living any of my top priorities. In reality, my top priority was work, followed by researching how to feel better (none of which I implemented) and I regularly dozed on the couch before bedtime.
I then asked myself the question out of all the things I wanted to do, what 1 thing would make everything on my list easier. The answer was really the top 2 things on my list:
- prioritizing my time with God
- taking care of my health.
With these 2 things done regularly, everything else would be easier. I decided I needed to knock these things out in the morning before I left for work to make sure they got done every day.
After calculating the time for each task, I determined I needed to get up at 4:30. I wanted to journal, workout, do my oil pulling, Switch app and bible study app. I usually woke up at 4/4:30 for some reason, but couldn’t go back to sleep. Now I had motivation to get up and get stuff done instead of laying there awake until my alarm went off.
My Morning Routine
I began to refer to this group of tasks as My Morning Routine. I’ve been doing it for awhile now, and I must say, WOW! I actually get up at 4:30, if not before, and I feel I’ve accomplished so much before I even leave for work! I’m definitely getting more done and I’m getting healthier for it—physically and spiritually.
How about you? Are you living in line with your values?
- Make a list of what’s important to you—your values, your passions, your purpose (otherwise known as your vision!)—and assign them a priority.
- Make a list of what you want to get done, big stuff and small.
- Put everything on a post-it if you think it might help you visualize your big picture.
- Determine what 1 thing you could do that would make everything else easier.
- Do you need to create a morning routine and get up earlier to make sure your top priorities get done? Try it! You might like it!
