Self-care is productivity.
First, I want to say, I love my job, I really do. So much so that I forget to eat, breath, sleep, and take breaks….which often just leads to burnout.
As entrepreneurs and solopreneurs, we often feel like we’re always going and going, 90 miles an hour, from the moment we wake up to the moment our heads hit the pillow. Oftentimes, we feel like we’re burning the candles at multiple places.
It’s important and more productive to take time for ourselves in the morning when we first wake up.
MIRACLE MORNINGS
I’ve heard great things about the Miracle Morning By Hal Elrod and I’ve tried it, but something felt off for me personally…
One, I could never remember what all 6 items we are supposed to do are. Apparently, it goes something like this:
Each activity is one of the letters of SAVERS, and the idea is that in 1-hour you do each thing for 10 minutes
S -Silence: first you start by meditating for 10 minutes
A -Affirmations: You tell yourself positive affirmations
V -Visualization: You visualize the future you want
E -Exercise: You exercise or stretch for 10 minutes, or do yoga
R -Read: You read for 10 minutes anything that interests you
S -Scribe: You write for 10 minutes
Two, in a perfect world, I could do all of the things listed above easily but there were some places where I felt it awkward for me:
It feels like the 10 minutes is a long time to sit in silence on days where I feel very angsty and fidgety, especially for someone that has just started their meditation journey. The 10 minutes of silence can and does feel like an eternity.
On the other hand, If I have daily access to a gym I would make it a point to run everyday for at least 20-25 minutes. The idea here is to get your heart rate up and sweat the toxins out. So a 10 minute Exercise session felt too short for me.
Lastly, the first three activities I can do as one activity when I sit in silence, I can visualize or say affirmations to myself.
MICROHABITS
Then one day, I stumbled upon a video about using micro habits to hack your life. The idea is that you would do certain activities of habits everyday but in really small increments that you don’t have an excuse to say you don’t have time. Over time, you’ll have traveled a long distance.
The example the video gave was that if you read a page out of a book everyday, you’ll finish more books in a lifetime or over a few years, than if you just said you’ll dedicate a long hour to reading every week, let’s say.
I wondered if I could take the idea of the Miracle Morning and combine it with the theory of micro-habits?
So instead of an hour, can I just do each item for let’s say 5 minutes and combine the ones that I think are repeats?
So the new version would be:
First thing I do after waking up is turn on the hot water kettle.
- Meditate for 5 minutes
- Yoga for 5 minutes (on rest days)
- Breakfast + Tea
- Read for 5 minutes
- Journal for 5 minutes
- Workout 20 minutes
- Shower
On a busy work day, having this simple fast routine will get me ready for the day, by getting me in the right mindset.
What’s important is to create a system that works for you.
I just started implementing the Meditation/Visualization and journaling part of my morning routine, so we’ll see what happens. I’ll report back after a few weeks.
That’s why I encourage you to think about self-care from the perspective that it is just as important as the work you do.
Self-care is productivity.
Recent Comments