This episode is meant to build on a previous episode: “Is your morning routine killing your productivity? Mine was…EP 6” and discuss further what I do from from 7:30-8:10am Monday-Friday that has been, for me, a key to feeling successful in my day.
Enough Suspense…What Do You Do? 🤨
Every morning, I come home from the gym and quickly make my protein shake. Uninteresting, next? I then immediately take it upstairs with me to my office and set a timer for 30 minutes to work on my main priority for that week/month.
This work is more often than not a longer term strategy thing and not so much a day-to-day thing, like scheduling dentist appointments and such. It’s, for me at least, a longer term goal that I chip away at 30 minutes at a time.
For example, I’m writing this during that 30 minutes right now because this podcast and Bare Minimum Babe is a long term project that I feel I need to be consistent with if I want to do well and feel good about it.
Whose Idea Was This 30 Minutes? 💡
I will admit this was not at all my idea and YouTube came in clutch with the creeping on my watch history.
YouTube showed me this video from a man named Craig Ballantyne titled, “The Ultimate Millionaire Morning Routine.” Yes, very clickbait and hyperbole, but it obviously got me to click on a lazy Sunday morning in bed.
With my playback speed set to 2x and captions on, I listened and read for key points.
NOTE: if you’re interested in hearing the other things he brought up, watch the video. I’d recommend a watch/listen, he’s funny and good at making informational content entertaining.
The point that I latched onto was—as soon as you wake up, immediately start working on your main priority with a timer set for 15 minutes. Full stop.
Literally wake up and do your most important work for 15 minutes. No working out, no journalling, no meditation, eating, etc. just go straight to this 15 minutes of working.
As long as you feel good about whatever it is you’re doing, it’s serving you, and not hurting anyone else, then keep doing it.
Ballantyne called this the “Farm Boy” way of doing things. Because as a farmer you can’t take holidays off or take an hour in the morning to meditate or whatever. Those cows are hungry and they need to eat. You need to wake up and go feed them.
So if you take that farmer mentality and translate it to your life, you’re able to be successful and productive early in the morning because you’re thinking I need to do this thing or else the cows won’t be fed. Essentially, the cow is whatever you’re working towards.
How Do I Know What the Cow Is Each Day? 🐄
Another thing that he said to do, was at the end of every work day, write down what you’re going to be doing the following day, to the best of your ability of course.
This works because when you wake up the next morning and set that 15 minute timer you’re not wasting time thinking “hmmm I know I have to do XYZ…but which one is more important and how much time will it take…? Hmmmmm”
You avoid this waste of energy and decision making by writing a short list of the things that need done the night before so that you go to bed forming ideas and making connections as you sleep. You’ve “primed the pump” of ideas by telling your brain you’re doing this thing tomorrow so it better get ready for it.
Sunday Journaling 📓
I had something like this in place already because I plan my week out every Sunday afternoon using the guided journal, “This Year I Will…: A 52 Week Guided Journal to Achieve Your Goals” by Tiffany Louise.
The inside of the journal so you can see a sample of the prompts.
*NOTE: This is the journal that I mentioned in earlier episodes like “EPISODE 1: Why and how I followed my energy to create Bare Minimum Babe” that my friend and I meet online every Monday to go through together.
Each Sunday I go through that weeks prompt reflecting on what went well, how I could improve, what my main goals are the upcoming week, etc. Then based on that exercise, I write down my main things I want to execute that week and then MOST IMPORTANTLY I schedule it into my Google calendar.
Because I’m anal and like to cross things off, I also write these down in my paper scheduler that sits on my desk. PLUS it’s too easy to just click and move things around in a digital calendar. A paper calendar forces you to physically cross it off and think “sighhh do I really need to move this…is this a legit excuse…? It’s gonna make my calendar look messy…”
A sample page from my paper scheduler to show you how messy it is.
I want to note that this daily list is typically no more than 6 things because otherwise I get overwhelmed. Also, the days usually center around 1 or 2 main things so I feel good about progress in at least 1-2 things a day. There are also some constant things I can write down Monday-Friday since I know they fit into my bigger goals (for example: practicing guitar and piano).
How Do You Implement This Into Your Life? 😎
How I decided to implement Ballantyne’s “Farm Boy” mentality is different than what he insisted in the video that worked for him.
For one, I didn’t want to wake up and start that 15 minute timer immediately. My husband and I overlap for 30 minutes in the gym before he has to leave for work and I like working out with him and spending time with him (generally). And since I already wake up at 5:15am to go to the gym Monday-Friday, I neither wanted to cut into that 30 minute overlap nor wake up at 5am since 5:15 is already a struggle some days and I know I should be getting more sleep than I am.
So, I decided to ignore this “immediate” part because I value that time in the gym with my husband more than the testing this part of the routine. I figure the cows can wait an hour and a half or so to eat while I work out.
I write down my main things I want to execute that week and then MOST IMPORTANTLY I schedule it into my Google calendar.
What I do instead is, like I mentioned earlier, is I go to the gym as soon as I wake up and THEN when I come home I quickly make my protein shake and bring it upstairs with me while I work with that 30 minute timer.
As for the 15 minute timer, I obviously don’t do that part either.
I was initially setting the timer for 15 minutes but found that I focused very quickly because I knew I only had 15 minutes. I was annoyed when the 15 minute timer went off because I was in a good flow and didn’t want to stop.
Which is why for me it’s 30 minutes.
As with Anything…👍
You can obviously ignore everything I said and do you. It’s your life. Whatever works for you, works.
So if you rather do the “Farm Boy” thing where you start working immediately after waking up, or you don’t work out in the morning, or you only want to do 10 minutes instead of 30, 15, or whatever, OR you don’t want to do any of what I talked about at all…then don’t.
As long as you feel good about whatever it is you’re doing, it’s serving you, and not hurting anyone else, then keep doing it. Everything is a guide anyways.
Challenge for You! 🥳
Try setting your intention for tomorrow, today. And try setting a 15 minute timer to work on something important to you tomorrow morning based on that long term intention. Try it for a week and if you hate it you can return it for a full refund, no questions asked 😆
Ultimately though, find what works for you and don’t feel guilty for ignoring the other things “successful” people are doing.
Cliff Notes 🧗🏻♂️
It’s awesome to try new routines to emulate what works for others but make sure that they also work for you. For me, setting my intention the day before helps me focus the next morning, and using a 30 minute timer to work on the most important thing as soon as I get home helps me feel accomplished. Try it out for yourself for a week, if it doesn’t serve you then stop doing it. Simple. Also discussed:
scheduling tasks and objectives INTO your calendar to make time for them
the importance of reflection of the previous week to see how you can improve this week
how to decide what the “most” important thing is you’d like to work on each day
Mentions in the Bare Minimum Babe podcast episode:
“This Year I Will…: A 52 Week Guided Journal to Achieve Your Goals” by Tiffany Louise.
Is your morning routine killing your productivity? Mine was…EP 6”
Craig Ballantyne YouTube video, “The Ultimate Millionaire Morning Routine”
Bare Minimum Babe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bareminimumbabe/
Questions, thoughts, and feels email: bareminimumbabe@gmail.com
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