Finding Your Process
For anything and everything
It can’t all be perfect all the time, sometimes the work just has to get done. No matter the method, just get across the line, close the deal and move on to the next one. Even when I do a fair bit of prep the night before, I still find myself rushing out the door most mornings to go to work. When I do have an on-time departure, I wonder what I did to make it so.
When you think about setting up for success every day, it starts with the night before. After a full day of making decisions and getting things done, it can be hard to keep going but I find it much easier making decisions for tomorrow so I don’t have to make them in the moment.
While I was taking a walk the other day, I saw two college athletes working out on the track - a track athlete and a baseball player. In the small bit of the workouts that I could see, I became impressed with the process they were clearing going through. On one hand, the track athlete was working on the first 50 meters of a sprint about half of the straightaway. The baseball player had a weighted ball he was throwing against the wall before eventually moving to a regular baseball. While I only saw about 10 minutes or so of each of these routines, I quickly realized that they were clearly taught this routine.
You don’t need to be taught the things you already do every day, but there is a way to make certain things more efficient. For instance, I am working on putting together my routine after bedtime with the kids.
First, clean up the toys then head to the dishes. Put away any stray clothes and start setting up for the next day. Having a set process and not having to think about it helps me get started.
Keep It Simple
When you are first looking to make changes and make improvements, make sure you keep it simple. Don’t try to change too much at once and think about if you can do it every day.
Let’s build a new habit using the 4 steps from Atomic Habits.
Make it Obvious
Make it Attractive
Make it Easy
Make it Satisfying
One of my biggest problems getting ready for work in the morning is remembering to pack a lunch and running out the door with a bunch of random snacks. So I’ll build a habit using the 4 steps above to make sure I improve in that area.
When I come home from work, I will leave my lunch bag in the kitchen so I will remember to prep stuff for my lunch the next day.
As I am packing away leftovers from dinner, I will build a small container of foods for my lunch the next day. I will leave them at the front of the fridge for easy access the next day.
Once I am done cleaning the kitchen and prepping my lunch, I will leave my bag next to the fridge at night so I can find it quickly the next morning.
As soon as I come down in the morning, I will pack my lunch bag so it is ready to go.
You can use this template to try and create new habits for yourself, feel free to reach out if you want some advice or an opinion on anything. The more specific your habits are the better. Another example of a quick habit I came up with is changing my younger sons diaper after naptime is over. He of course gets a relatively immediate change, but I started setting an alarm for 5:10pm to check his diaper and change it if needed because that’s roughly halfway between when he wakes up and when he goes to bed. Even if he’s required a change before that it gives me a good spot to check in with him and make sure he’s comfortable. Setting a specific alarm on my watch is incredibly helpful with all the things we have to keep track of during the day.
Building new habits can be challenging, but it’s important to keep learning and improving. It’s not always going to be perfect, but that’s part of the process.
Thanks for reading.
Back next week for more.
Brad