{"id":3105,"date":"2019-03-14T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/7a79d08315.nxcli.net\/?p=3105"},"modified":"2019-03-12T14:30:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T21:30:18","slug":"daily-routines-to-maximize-your-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/daily-routines-to-maximize-your-efficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Routines to Maximize Your Efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am obsessed with routines, particularly the routines that\ncan improve efficiency. Running six separate businesses can take a significant\ntoll mentally and energetically so it is important that I am always testing to\nfind the daily routines, rituals and habits that can give me the edge that I\nneed to efficiently and effectively operate. What follows are the systems that\nI\u2019ve adopted for my own workflow that can support you in your own professional\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What follows are routines that I suggest are done without\nnegotiable. This means you schedule the time for these items first and you\nnever schedule anything over them, nor ever bump them \u2013 despite how busy you\nmay get. The purpose is to become more efficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morning Routines<\/strong>
\nI start my mornings with either a brief meditation or a few minutes of calm\nbreathing. My goal is to do this before I check e-mail, texts, voicemails or\nsocial media. This is the hardest of all the items to stick to because it does\nnot feel concrete. But it is actually an imperative action. I find that the\nbusier I get, the better I feel the longer I meditate. The longer I meditate, the\nmore focused I can be the rest of the day. The longer I meditate the more\nefficient I can be. Imagine cutting your work time down significantly because\nyou took a few minutes at the start of the day to breath. By no means am I an\nexpert at meditating. That is not the point. The point is to meditate so you\ncan become better at life! Take a few minutes, get comfortable, close your eyes\nand breath. You can think about things you are grateful for, you can think\nabout your intentions you want for the day, you can think about the future you\nwant to manifest. That is entirely up to you. But at minimum take 5 minutes to\nbreath. If you can\u2019t afford those 5 minutes, then you are simply not serious\nenough about becoming more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After those 5 minutes I check my daily journal. I prefer\ndoing bullet journaling. This is quick bullet points and lines about action\nitems and notes I have for that specific day. I write most of these the night\nbefore (see below) but will update them in the morning based upon what I feel I\nneed to work on that day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Time Routines<\/strong>
It is only after I\u2019ve done those two things do I allow myself to check my e-mail, texts, voicemails and social media. Now the rest of the day is at your disposal on how you choose to organize your time.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I do my best, most creative work either early\nin the morning or late in the evening. For example my time writing I do really\nwell in the morning or night. Whereas in the afternoon I can\u2019t be creative to\nsave my life, so I save that time for responding to e-mails and doing paperwork\nlike my invoicing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, of course, give top priority to the items listed in my\njournal. Those are the most important things I have listed that need to get\ndone first. Once I accomplish those I can shift my focus to what every else\npops up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also try to sweat at least 5 days a week. Typically this\nmeans I take a break from work in the afternoon (when I am at my lowest\ncreatively) to go to the gym and sweat. Or I even will just walk away from work\nto take my dog for a long walk in the middle of the day. The exercise is\namazing to re-energize my brain and help me get back into focus for a second\nwind of work in the late afternoon, early evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is, the day should be organized based upon when\nyou do your best and most important work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Night Time Routines<\/strong>
I tend to keep my nights away from my laptop. The big exception to this rule is when I am writing and I feel my creativity fire up. In that case I will hit up a late night coffee shop and write until my brain turns to mush (just my process for writing). Otherwise I actually enjoy the time away from my 15inch monitor (or my two 24 inch monitors in my office). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each night I then pull out my journal and I will take a few\nminutes to write out the most important work I want to focus on the next day\n(what I referenced above). For example, as I am writing this I have my journal\nopen to tomorrow\u2019s page. My notes and action items are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n