I am sat here on a quiet and calm Sunday morning with a lovely, freshly brewed coffee in hand and I find myself thinking what have I learned from my 30 years of working in a stressful job?
What better way to illustrate the importance of looking after ourselves as we move towards retirement than illustrating in a practical way some of the key ideas that I have tried to incorporate into my life every single working day. Hopefully I will be able to explain a little about my thoughts and reasoning behind some of these common rituals of my working day and the benefits these rituals have offered my life.
Some of the daily habits that I will highlight may seem insignificant, but in reality it is the sum of these small changes that add up to the overall improvement in the quality of life that we all aspire to. If you have any interest at all in this topic, check out the seminal work of James Clears’ Atomic Habits. James perfectly illustrates the compound effect of 1% improvements that are so important in all aspects of life. You may recall that this was a much lauded aspect of the the British Cycling team and subsequent domination of Team Sky with their philosophy of marginal gains.
How do you plan to eat an elephant? .... in small bites.
In reality, it is the accurate identification and implementation of the "next step" (the small bite habit), rather than the ultimate goal (eating the elephant) that is the most important aspect that drives success. Looking for that next action that will drive the 1% improvement and applying it consistently over a period of time will be the deciding factor in the desired goal. For example, we can all have the lofty ambitions to get in shape and lose weight, but in reality it comes down consistently applying the next action of deciding whether or not to eat the donut that is in front of you at the time that will be the outcome to our success.
The best way that I have found to build the consistency of these next step actions is to ritualise them within my day. Ritualising builds habits. Habits for me are when actions slip into the subconscious and we no longer need to think about making the actions. Once we have embedded the action as a habit, it can continue to build on it's merry successes over the coming months and contribute to the cumulative success of our ultimate goal. James Clear states that if you can ritualise an action for 28 days, it will likely become a habit. Try it...it works for me.
Before work- the morning rituals
I am generally a believer in the power of the Golden hour- something that I intend to go into much more detail in the future, but in essence it is time to devote to yourself, to plan, to develop, to reflect on the coming day. In order to get the most out of this time, many aspects of the morning are routines that I no longer need to devote any conscious thinking space to...they just happen, and I can devote all of my thinking space to what is really important to the day ahead.
I try to wake at 0530 every day...it could be earlier like many inspirational influencers on instagram, but this seems a good compromise that works for me.
I meditate before I get out of bed. I am currently 250+ days into a journey of meditation curtesy of the popular Headspace App. I would thoroughly recommend this solution if you want an easy and soft induction into all things mindfulness. The thing I love about this programme is that you can focus on particular areas of meditation that you think that you may benefit from. If you don’t fancy that, just follow the daily programme of selected meditations.
I used to check the news headlines via the BBC app before I get out of bed- this is the only source of news that I tap into during the day- I don't want to be distracted from the important things. I am however currently trying to re-track this habit as part of my effort to digitally detox. On reflection, I am increasingly coming to the view that keeping up to date with the news serves me no purpose.
I check my sleep pattern on my Garmin which offers me some sort of bizarre reassurance that I am rested!
Next comes by coffee routine. I am quite happy to concede that I have some pretty OCD type traits, but I am happy to embrace them- quality coffee being one of them. The choice of beans, the fresh grind, preparing the espresso machine and the perfect crema are one of my daily indulgences and routines that bring me real joy.
For the past 6 months I have been completing a daily journal routine. This includes checking off my values and habits that I am currently tracking, establishing my single priority task of the day, listing the many things that I am grateful for in my life and then completing my reflections on my daily stoic journal. All of these activities have helped me find a greater calm and focus in my life and it is something, alongside my daily meditations that I plan to maintain for years to come.
I also try to build in a short amount of time to read each morning- and this could be anything. I am naturally reluctant reader, but I know how important it is to develop me as a person. I read to learn, to relax and to enjoy the moment. I am not particularly discerning about what I read, it could be a magazine article, a blog or some fiction. Building the daily habit has allowed me to learn to love this rewarding activity.
Similarly, I am trying to build the habit of writing something every day. The famous American comedian Jerry Seinfeld, when asked why he was such a prolific joke creator put his success down to never breaking the chain of writing. He used to write a joke every single day. He had no concern of the quality, he just made sure that he continued to build the chain day by day. I am certain that I will never get to be a better writer unless I take the time out to write. At this moment in time, that time is best a taken in the morning as a key priority for my personal development.
I opt for a high protein breakfast, with limited simple carbs- bacon with 2 egg veggie hash and a slice of toast. I know that I am prone to OCD traits, but the simplicity of the same breakfast choice removes the need for decisions at this time of the day (I do change it up at weekends!). When eating breakfast, I tend to listen to either a podcast or watch something that interests me on Youtube- both of which are valuable sources of learning.
A steaming hot shower is a great place for ideas and reflection. I have some of my best ideas in the shower- I never feel compelled to rush a shower.
Once dressed, it’s the short 20 minute commute to work, always with the company of a podcast for either education, entertainment or both.
Workday challenges
I try to get to work early. This has obviously changed over time. When the kids were young, I didn't have this luxury of an early start, and needed to adopt a very different working pattern. However in the here and now, I have the opportunity to get to my desk early. This time before others arrive is so valuable and productive. You can get so much cleared before the rest of the team arrive. I have a simple system of prioritising my things to do for the day using trello, having the fixed points of meetings, lessons and calls that are scheduled in my daily calendar.
The basic principle throughout my day is to tackle the actions that have the highest priority, but also the actions that I am least looking forward to. By establishing one key priority task for the day, once this has been completed, the day is a success and everything else is a cheeky bonus. All too often I think that we find ourselves in the productivity trap- pushing to achieve more yet only focusing on the thing that we have not completed. Surely we should be looking to celebrate all the things that we have completed. A top tip is to not only have a things to do list, but also a things done list (and perhaps a things not to do list)- this is easily done using the free Trello app.
We all have these things that we like to put off. We know that we really need to do them, but we are not looking forward to them, so we avoid them. We need to learn to eat the frog. I was introduced to this principle early in my career by a very wise mentor. Look at every undesirable action on your list as a tiny frog at the start of each day. How would you like to eat that frog? Early in the day, when you could simply wash it down with a glass of water? Or would you choose to wait but have to watch the frog grow during the day. The more it grows into a slimy beast, the more unappealing the task becomes, the more unappealing, the more we delay, the worst the action becomes and the more we obsess about it.
It will come as no surprise that my nutrition is pretty set throughout the day- no wasted thought processes here. I tend to have healthy leftovers from the night before for lunch- a cheaper and healthier option to the school canteen. I have healthy, high protein snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon to keep my energy levels sustained throughout the day, with a strong espresso before leaving work to help with the evening workout on the way home.
My end of the day rituals have become much more disciplined of late. I went through a stage in recent years of leaving work super late- something that was not good for me and had an attritional effect on all aspects of my working and non-working life. The northern protestant work ethic that was instilled in me from an early age was "if in doubt...work harder", which I still believe in to an extent. However, if the "more effort" philosophy doesn't ultimately solve the problem, what then? Steven Covey talks of working hard to get up the ladder of life, only to get to the top and realise that you have climbed the wrong ladder that is against the wrong wall. James Smith in his latest book cites that our work ethic has cultural origins, and that different cultures have different views. German culture frowns on staff having to work late as it suggests inefficiency. These views certainly resonated with me, and I am striving to improve this aspect of my life.
I keep a checklist of my things to do before leaving school, building the ritual and habit to become automated. I have a motive to build the habit of leaving at a set time (burpees at Crossfit if I am late) and I try to inbox zero before setting my out of office email reply for the night.
Evening rituals.
I schedule my Crossfit training for on the way home each night, no way to avoid it! CrossFit is a lifestyle characterised by safe, effective exercise and sound nutrition. CrossFit can be used to accomplish any fitness goal, from improved health to weight loss to better performance. The program works for everyone — people who are just starting out and people who have trained for years. For me, my Crossfit Box (CWOne Crossfit) is more than a gym, it is a community. The thing that keeps me honest and attending training is the people that make up that community. To fail to show would be to let them down. As an added benefit, I normally arrange to train at the same time as Jackie...those that train together, stay together!
After getting home, our evenings are pretty standard, by design. They are a far cry from the busy schedules that we kept when the kids were at home and we appreciate that we are now in a very comfortable position with time for each other. We tend to have meals planned for the week after the years of budgeting when money was tight with the kids. We pride ourselves on the lack of wasted food at the end of the week. Sitting down and eating together has been an ever present in our family. Admittedly, when the kids were at home it might have been limited to Sunday dinner, but the coming together is something that we all valued as a family.
Hygge- is the Danish concept of creating a warm and enjoying the good things in life with good people. Definitely worth a look into, as creating this concept at home is one of the easiest ways to unwind at the end of the day. Candles, books, comfortable clothes and being together with the people who you want to be with is simply priceless.
It is important to find as many ways as possible to "switch off" each evening. This is considerably easier if you have a method to clear your mind of work issues such as the GTD (Getting Things Done- David Allen) system that I operate- much more of that to come in a future blog.
Another area that I have had to consistently had to work at is establishing effective sleep patterns and sleep health- it is a constant battle in modern society and one I intend to discuss at length in future blogs. More often than not, the unwind does involve a glass of wine, although I am happy to concede that this does have a negative effect on my quality of sleep- another area of my life that involves compromise.
On a weekday, I tend to be in bed by 10 at the latest, allowing me enough sleep to be ready to rinse and repeat the the following day.
So there it is...an insight into a pretty standard working day. I sincerely hope that there are some ideas that you can possibly take and apply into your daily routines. In addition, I hope to have provided some insight into where we see our blogs going in the future. If you have any particular requests or questions, just get in touch via the link below or via the chat facility. It would be great to hear from you.
Comments