Daily Systems for Success

So today I woke up to a cloudy and rainy day which isn't a big deal but was definitely different than the past few weeks of hot summer weather we've been having lately.

Plus, I was tired from minimal sleep last night and feeling groggy and a bit off my usual positive energy.

So this is where the power of daily routines & habits come in.

On autopilot, I got up at our regular 6am time, made the bed, got dressed & made a healthy breakfast. Sat down with my husband for some quality time over tea & coffee before he headed off to work for the day. Then I spent a bit of time cleaning up the kitchen, doing dishes and shining the sink. At that point there was a choice, to follow the rest of my morning routine or climb back into bed...

What Should You Do Every Day?

Well, this is really up to you to decide what is most important, what habits or skills you're adding to your life, what your priorities are, areas you are succeeding and areas that may need some additional support.

I build my daily activities based off my Inside-Out Scheduling Strategy which basically looks at managing your energy, time, schedule, priorities and work/life by setting time for your personal needs first.

By looking at what you need to have a full "energy gas tank" each day, you can then build that into your daily schedule. This has taken years of evolution and building various systems into my life and work just as you have done with yours. But I find it helpful to see some ideas of systems and routines other successful people have to help inspire or expand mine.

I recommend looking at your daily routine in sections based on the time of day and the activities that go with it. I have a morning routine that has two parts, the stuff I do to get myself ready for the day and then the stuff I do for work in the morning.

My afternoon activities have specific tasks and my evening activities include dinner, resting then pre-bed routine.

If you're new to creating a daily routine then I highly recommend that you start by looking at how to set your morning up for success.

What are the key activities that you do each morning, what things can you add to increase your mindset, energy, inspiration and productivity for the day?

I like to separate it into two sections: personal and professional.

There will be different activities you'll do personally and separate activities in your professional routines to set up your day for success.

This all builds off my full Exhale & Thrive Strategy and plugs into the big picture, strategic/goal setting approach that I do each year that then breaks down into each quarter, monthly, weekly and daily.

So if you want to check out my other planning approaches, you can stay tuned and continue to follow this blog series on planning & productivity!

So let's dive into some different personal and professional daily activities that you can turn into Success Systems in your life.

Want to follow my daily success system checklist? You can download the free Empowered Monthly Planner Starter Kit to try out and build your own daily activities checklist! 

Daily - Personal Systems for Success

To help you build your morning routine for your personal activities, first it helps to know what you already do and then look at what areas you want to build in additional success activities to boost your morning so you begin your day THRIVING!

Step 1: What activities do you already do daily?

Some examples could be morning exercise, making your bed, personal grooming, healthy breakfasts, morning mindset activities like meditation, journaling, listening to inspiring audiobooks or music.

Everyone has different activities and I've found that mine change depending on my life at the moment. While they tend to be similar day-to-day, when I look at various chapters in my life, they have been different at different phases depending on my lifestyle and priorities at that time.

So you might want to pull out a journal or a blank sheet of paper and just list out what you actually do each morning and throughout the day.

What are the standard activities you do each and every day?

Step 2: What habits or routines do you want to add or are you working on developing?

Or maybe you aren't eating breakfast or doing anything much in the morning other than jumping out of bed and grabbing breakfast on the way to work. Don't worry if this is you, I've been there multiple times and know how you get there... tired from life, work, drained all the time, etc. So you stay up late and sleep in as long. as. you. possibly. can... press snooze a zillion times then dash out the door and barely make it to work on time even though you drove over the speed limit and ran thru every yellow light along the way.

This approach to starting your day leaves you in SURVIVE mode, where your body is jacked up on adrenaline (and maybe some coffee & carbs to give you that quick energy hit to get started) which has you bringing a fight-or-flight-or-freeze energy into the rest of your day.

It's okay if this is where you're at... just pick one thing to add to your morning routine to move you towards a more intentional start to your day. Perhaps it's choosing a healthy breakfast that you can eat in the car or waking up 5 minutes earlier, setting out your clothes or starting to go to bed earlier (and actually turning off your phone).

The intention around being conscious of your morning routines is that you can then deliberately design them to help you THRIVE!

• To start, list out your top priorities to ensure you're making time for them daily! 
• Then choose 1-3 activities you'd like to add into your daily routine to ensure you've got the important stuff in your day.

So even like me today, I woke up drained, uninspired and feeling groggy, my morning routine and personal lifestyle system allowed me to shift that energy to one of feeling refreshed, energized, calm, centered and inspired.

Daily - Work/Professional Systems for Success

Okay, just as we did above for your personal daily activities, we'll do the same for your professional activities.

Step 4: List out your currently daily professional tasks.

This may include checking email, working on projects, supervising/managing your team, reviewing documents, approving expenditures, creating content, building systems & workflows, planning, goal-setting & strategy, etc.

Step 5: List out the activities you'd like to add into your workday.

An example of something I've added in the past was a morning and afternoon check-in with my team to ensure they were on track with projects, address any challenges they were having and sign/approve any reports or documents they had for me to action.

This was a super powerful activity to add to my day, it gave us two solid check-in/action times to process things that needed to get done, ensured we were on top of any urgent issues, kept things moving along and then freed up the rest of my time to focus on my other tasks.

A way to find an area that could use some more attention is to ask yourself (and your team) what is going well and what areas are needing attention. Perhaps you are continuously running into issues around a certain process or if you aren't meeting your KPIs or goals, then you may want to build in a daily process to focus in on these areas.

Remember that where you put your attention and energy will improve, while areas that you "ignore" or don't give attention to will be less likely to flourish. You can check out my article on the concept of Trust, But Verify to get additional inspiration here.

Each Day (before leaving work or first thing in the morning) I highly recommend that you:

1. Identify your top 3 BIG ROCKS (the items that if you get one done, you're winning!)
2. Try doing one CEO-type strategic or project-based each day and two more tactical/detailed tasks
3. Avoid checking email or phone messages until you've put in 2-3 hours of solid work on your daily BIG ROCKS.
4. Ask yourself & your team what can be delegated?

Creating Your Daily Systems Checklist

This is where you pull this all together into a daily actions checklist.

You can find an example of mine in the Empowered Leader Monthly Planning Kit that includes multiple tools to help you set up your daily checklist and daily activities like your BIG ROCKS, delegation and "nice-to-do's" or gratitude list.

Just the act of becoming more aware of your current and desired daily activities can be powerful.

Actually following them and using them daily can be even more powerful!

Then evolving, adapting and changing your daily routines can help you build on each habit and each success action to master your life, leadership, business and impact in the world!

This is some of what I teach in my Lifestyle Mastery for Leaders program so if you're loving this approach to being intentional with your time, energy, schedule, habits & more, you might also want to check out the program HERE.

Want to get a daily checklist template? 

Download the Empowered Leader Planning Kit which includes an example daily checklist for you to build off of to create your own daily activities list.

This will help you build routines & powerful habits that will help set you up for success every day! Even on those days when you feel off... these are the days when the daily routine will be the MOST helpful for you.

Because they can help shift your energy, uplift your mood, create inspiration and prepare you for a THRIVING day!

And it is in each moment that we build the lives, health, wealth, happiness, businesses and leadership impact that we dream of. By taking the time to create, adapt & expand your routines, you will continue to build a life of mastery, one day at a time!