Crafting My Ideal Daily Routine

I'm on my way back from a really wonderful visit with my in laws. My husband didn't even come with me. I'm pretty close to my mother in law and treasure the time I spend with her. The last time my husband Adam went to see them I couldn't go too.  I felt like just hadn't seen them in awhile so I booked a flight for myself to go out and see them in Texas all by myself. Such a fun trip. 

My husband's step father Jack is 91 years old. You would absolutely never know it from looking at him because he's really in great shape and only recently began occasionally using a cane. People who meet him are always in shock when they find out how old he really is. 

When I'm spending time with people who've made it to their nineties I'm seriously enthralled with finding out how they lived their life to have such longevity. What exactly did they do to live this long and what can I do in my own life to live that well for so long too! 

In hanging out with him this past week I've decided that one of the major things Jack has done in his long full life is to stick to his routines.

This man exemplifies the phrase "creature of habit" on a daily basis. Because of this I have a feeling he's stuck to his routines through his entire life. I think they've gotten a bit more rigid  as he's aged, but as someone who is terrible at routine, his close adherence to his daily routines fascinates me.

I've decided to see if I can come up with an ideal daily routine that I can strive for each day. It's nothing that I'll need to stick to on a daily basis like my father in law, but maybe I can create a guideline to steer me in the right direction. 

I think one of the most important things that Jack doesn't wrestle with each day is what he should or should not do. That's never even question for him. In his life, there aren't a lot of decisions to make. On Thursday mornings he and my mother in law have breakfast at the same breakfast place and he orders the same thing from the same waitress who knows his name. From there his day unfolds for the most part as most of the Thursdays before that. 

It's really quite interesting to me. He knows what works for him and he sticks to it. He typically makes it to the gym at least twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays) and for him it's not a question if he feels like going on those days. He just goes. 

I honestly don't have desire to make my life as rigid as this because God knows that will never happen. But in pondering Jack and his daily routines I thought it might be fun to craft in ideal daily routine as a sort of guideline when I need it. 

​Maybe you'd like to try crafting you own ideal day?
I've got a little worksheet here in case you're interested. 

Here's mine:

• Wake up at sunrise. I'm lucky enough to not usually need an alarm to wake up. I'm definitely a morning person and usually don't need to get up before the sun. Believe me I don't take this for granted. Very grateful for this!
• The first order of business for my day is letting my dog out into the back yard  and feeding my hungry kitties. Then I start the coffee maker.
• I'm definitely one of those people who needs to eat shortly after I wake up. So breakfast is next and my ideal breakfast consists of a nice protein packed fruit smoothie or some eggs, veggies and a slice of toast or whole wheat wrap.
• After this, I'll take care of the dishes in the sink. I'll admit I don't have any problem whatsoever leaving dirty dishes in the sink at night when I go to bed. Call me cray, but I'd personally much rather get up and deal with last night's dinner dishes the next day when I deal with my morning breakfast dishes.
• Ideally I'll listen to recorded book or podcast on my iPad. Or even some mellow music.
• Once the kitchen is finished up and the dog is fed, I'll take him for a nice little walk around the neighborhood. My dog is getting old so Usually 10 or 15 minutes will suffice for him.
• After the dog walk is my time to meditate. Even if it's just for 10 minutes, I like to find a little guided meditation on YouTube on a topic that speaks to me that day. I'll do my meditation on my back porch or at my dining room table.
• Post meditation is when I like to do some writing. I'm purposefully not checking my email at this time because I'm more of a morning person. This is the time of day when my brain is at its peak so wasting the brainpower on answering emails is kid of a waste.
• This chunk of time, before lunch is when I do the work that requires the majority of thinking. More writing, working on marketing tasks and doing anything that requires creativity. my brain is sharpest at this time so I skip the menial tasks (like checking email) and save them for the afternoon when I'm not feeling as sharp.
• Right before lunch is ideally when I'll check email for the first. I'll answer what I can and figure out what I'm going to have for lunch.
• My ideal day would have me joining a friend for lunch.
• After lunch is honestly when I like to do some sort of exercise. after I'm all digested I'll figure out what class to take or what exercise I'll do in my own. usually 45 minutes is the perfect amount of time. Then I'll shower and change my clothes. This the time I'll finish up any sort of work I need to get done for the day. Then I reserve the afternoon for any sort of coaching calls or teaching at my studio. 
• Then ideally I won't work too late and have dinner around 6pm or so, but that depends on when husband gets home that night. If he doesn't feel like walking the dog, I'll give Antonio the second walk of the day, or maybe I'll join Adam or get dinner started.
• Then I'll try my best not to continue working into the night and spend some time with my husband watching TV or catching up on our day. 

If you made it through this, I'm impressed. 

Not the most interesting blog post, I'll admit. But fun putting my ideal day onto paper. 

​I highly recommend everyone giving this a try!

You can get my worksheet here to help you with crafting your own ideal day. It's an easy and eye opening exercise.  

xo, Megan