I’ve recently been playing around with my schedule during the day – when I wake up, what I do to start out my day, how I get going on the tasks I need to accomplish. I work from home and tend to lead a very unstructured life. I’m an INFP if you know anything about Myers Briggs – and Tim is nearly the complete opposite being an ESFJ. If that means anything to you, great! I could talk all day about it! And if it doesn’t mean anything to you, then you need to go take a Myers Briggs test right now.
Some people don’t like to be put in a box (I tend to be one of them), but this test helped make sense of SO many things in my life. It put words to how I think about conflict, how I go about organizing (or not organizing) my life, my communication styles and comfort levels in various situations, amongst other things.
All that being said, I know that I tend to get uncomfortable in super structured environments with lots of rules and regulations. Working from home suits me SO well because I can set my own schedule, goals, breaks, and such. The downfall of this is that it can easily lead to procrastination and I often get distracted since no one is watching over my shoulder to make sure I stay on task. I’ve thought about setting up our GoPro camera to record myself and see how I work on a given day. It probably looks something like – check email, check Facebook, sort receipts, start an email reply, fulfill a print order, drink some coffee, pet the dogs, check Pinterest, finish email, start a load of laundry, check Facebook, eat a snack… You get the idea. The end of the day rolls around and I often realize I avoided the biggest task I needed to accomplish for the day. I did a whole lot, but often it wasn’t truly what needed to get done.
While I tend to buck routine and having any sort of structure, lately I’ve found that adding the smallest bit of structure to my morning will often help me throughout the rest of the day. Here are a few things I’m learning – I’d love for you to join me in trying some (or all) of these!
– Get sufficient sleep. This is a hard one for a lot of people, but it’s SO very important. When I’m running low on sleep I get grumpy and moody, I want to eat all the things all the time, and my brain feels fuzzy and unfocused the whole day.
– Start out the day in a way that refreshes you. The past several weeks I’ve been waking up and doing a short yoga video each morning. I’m loving Erin Motz‘s free yoga videos – they’re nothing too intense, just enough to wake me up and get the blood flowing. Some mornings I think I’m too busy for a little 15 minute video, but those tend to be the days I get tired and lethargic around lunch time.
– Don’t check your email first thing in the morning. I JUST started this one. For a long time I’d check my email every moment of the day hoping for new wedding inquiries to be waiting in my Inbox. I finally got to the point a year or two ago where I had to protect my weekends from that – now it’s very rare that I even open my email on a weekend. That has been so good for me and it’s helped me to be more present with my friends and family.
Now I’m trying to put off emails till later in the morning. If I read them first thing when I wake up, I’m not mentally prepared to respond, so I spend the next couple hours thinking and worrying about what I should say and how I should answer questions. Not healthy. By avoiding my email all morning till I’m properly awake and ready to respond, I avoid stressing and over-thinking about something that will be simple once I’m fully awake.
– Eat something that will give you energy throughout your morning. Lately I’ve been on an Everything Bagel kick. I toast half of it up and spread hummus on it, maybe add some sliced bell peppers or red onions, add a fried egg or a couple slices of turkey, and top it with feta or a slice or two of cheddar cheese. That’s been my go-to morning meal the past couple weeks and so far has proven to keep me going till lunch. This breakfast quinoa dish is another great option for a breakfast that’ll keep you going throughout your day.
Do you have any morning routines that you stick to? Anything that helps keep you focused and productive throughout the day?
The recipe below is very much a guideline for you to take and make your own! I’d love to hear if you have any of your own great breakfast ideas that keep you energized throughout your morning!
Breakfast Bagel
Ingredients
- 1/2 - 1 bagel depending on how hungry you are
- 1-2 eggs or a few slices of turkey or both!
- Bell pepper or red onion sliced thinly
- Feta or cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Toast your bagel
- Fry up your egg - read my new favorite method on Top With Cinnamon. It's seriously genius and I can't believe I didn't think of it before.
- Spread hummus on the bagel and add whatever toppings you like!