Sixtysomething Podcast - Episode 8 - AM Routine Workshop

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Sixtysomething Podcast - Episode 8 - AM Routine Workshop

Welcome back, everyone. Thanks for joining us for another episode of our 60 something journey together. Today's episode is going to be a little different than those you've heard up until now. The title of this one is AM Routine Workshop. And that word, workshop, implies there will be more than just listening involved.

Yes, you'll be doing some work this time. That is, if you want to. In addition, I'll post some videos on my new YouTube channel and also in the 60 something Facebook group to supplement this episode and give you visual references to some of the things I'll be talking about in the workshop. I’m going to go through my AM self coaching playbook page by page and share the resources I use to boost my self confidence and motivation every day, so make sure to check that out.

Before I dig into the podcast, I'd like to take a moment to recognize our first two Facebook group members! Thank you so much for your support, ladies! I promise to provide some great content for you in the group…starting this week!

On with the show.

I like to start every episode with a quote. this time, I've chosen one by Marcus Aurelius. “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive. To breathe. To think. To enjoy. to love.” Oh, that's a good one, isn't it? That's starting us off on a high note, I think.

AM routine.Why this subject? You may recall I've talked in a previous episode about how I've struggled with improving my morning routine. I really want a robust one because I'm a big believer in having a plan for the day. I think we can achieve so much more if we do.

Otherwise, a person can lose track of time and the day gets away and all of a sudden it's 1:30 in the afternoon and you still have your pajamas on. I wouldn't know anything about that, of course.

Additional reasons for an AM Routine:

1. Improved productivity and focus: A structured morning routine helps you start your day with clarity and intention. It allows you to tackle important tasks early when your energy and concentration levels are typically highest.

2. Reduced stress and anxiety: A consistent routine can provide a sense of control and predictability, which can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. It removes the need for decision-making early in the day, conserving your mental energy for more important tasks.

3. Habit formation: A morning routine helps reinforce positive habits that can contribute to overall well-being. For example, incorporating exercise, meditation, or healthy eating habits into your morning routine can make it easier to maintain these practices consistently.

4. Increased self-discipline: Adhering to a morning routine requires self-discipline and commitment. Over time, this practice can strengthen your ability to follow through on your goals and commitments, which can positively impact various areas of your life.

5. Better time management: A well-designed morning routine can help you prioritize and allocate time for essential tasks, ensuring that important activities don't get neglected or pushed aside by the demands of the day.

6. Improved mood and mindset: Starting your day with a positive and intentional routine can contribute to a more optimistic mindset and better overall mood, which can influence your productivity and interactions throughout the day.

An AM Routine might include:

1. **Wake Up at a Consistent Time**: Starting your day at the same time each day helps regulate your body’s clock, which can improve your sleep quality and morning alertness.

2. **Hydrate**: Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up to hydrate and kickstart your metabolism.

3. **Morning Exercise**: Engage in some form of physical activity, whether it’s a brisk walk with Dorothy, a yoga session, or a light home workout. This can boost your energy levels and improve your mood.

4. **Mindfulness or Meditation**: Spend a few minutes in meditation, prayer, or deep breathing exercises to center yourself and set your intentions for the day.

5. **Healthy Breakfast**: Have a nutritious breakfast that includes proteins, healthy fats, and whole grains. This will provide you with sustained energy throughout the morning.

6. **Plan Your Day**: Take a moment to review your schedule and to-do list. Prioritize your tasks and set clear goals for the day. This can help you stay organized and focused.

7. **Learn Something New**: Spend a few minutes reading, listening to a podcast, or watching a video that contributes to your personal or professional growth. This could be related to your interests in movies, theater, or even new teaching strategies.

8. **Connect with Loved Ones**: If time allows, have a quick chat or breakfast with your family. Connecting with your loved ones can give you a boost of positivity.

9. **Prepare for Departure**: Ensure you have everything you need for the day. Pack your essentials, check your appointments, and perhaps double-check any work-related materials.

It’s important that we tailor our plan--fine tune it. We Sixtysomethings need to take into consideration our energy levels throughout the day, priorities such as health, relationships—being sure to make time to keep in touch with family and friends…whatever we decide are most important to us.

As I researched quotes for this episode, I saw something Oprah said regarding this subject. I'll read it in a second, but seeing it inspired me to take a look at what Oprah's AM routine is and I thought you might be interested too.

Her quote is, “I have a morning ritual that I need to do to start my day right. A sequence that lets me connect to myself before connecting to the world.”

Oprah’s AM practices are:

1. **Waking Up Early**: Oprah often starts her day early, around the time the sun rises.

2. **Expressing Gratitude**: One of her first steps is to express gratitude. She has mentioned that before she even gets out of bed, she lists things she’s grateful for.

3. **Meditation**: Oprah includes meditation in her morning routine to help center her thoughts and set a calm tone for the day.

4. **Exercise**: Physical activity, often in the form of a treadmill workout or a more peaceful practice like yoga, is a staple in her morning.

5. **Healthy Breakfast**: She emphasizes the importance of a nutritious breakfast to fuel her body for the day.

6. **Setting Intentions**: Oprah also focuses on setting her intentions for the day, considering what she wants to accomplish and how she wants to feel.

She makes a big deal of setting intentions. I’m not sure I have been completely clear on the meaning of this.

Further investigation reveals that Setting intentions for the day is a practice that involves consciously choosing the attitudes, behaviors, and actions you aim to embody throughout the day. It's different from setting goals in that intentions focus more on the present moment and the process rather than the outcome. Here’s how it typically works in practice:

1. **Reflection**: Start by reflecting on how you want to feel during the day or how you wish to interact with others. This could involve seeking to be patient, focused, kind, or productive.

2. **Visualization**: Visualize yourself acting on these intentions. For example, imagine handling a stressful work situation with calmness or completing tasks efficiently.

3. **Verbalization**: Articulate your intentions either silently or aloud. Statements like "Today, I intend to be grateful for small joys" or "I intend to approach my work with enthusiasm" can be powerful.

4. **Reminder**: Keep your intentions in mind throughout the day. Some people find it helpful to set reminders on their phone or keep a note visible as a prompt.

It’s important because

1. **Provides Direction**: Setting intentions gives a clear direction for how you want your day to unfold, influencing your decisions and behaviors.

2. **Increases Mindfulness**: It encourages you to live more mindfully, making you more aware and present in each moment.

3. **Enhances Focus**: By setting intentions, you can focus more on what truly matters to you, which can reduce distractions and increase productivity.

4. **Improves Emotional Well-being**: Intentions focused on emotional states, like maintaining peace or joy, can help improve your emotional resilience throughout the day.

5. **Fosters Growth**: Regularly setting intentions supports personal growth as you consistently align your daily actions with your broader life values and goals.

Incorporating this practice can significantly influence both the outcome of your day and your overall satisfaction with your daily life.

As for me and my routine, I talked about previously in Episode 2 of this podcast. The importance of the morning routine and I let you in on the embarrassing secret that my real morning routine is not exactly what it should be…

Excerpt from Episode 2

That's the real reason for this workshop. I need a new and improved morning routine I was hoping we could do it together in case you’re interested in doing the same.

A quick review of my current morning routine:

I wake up around 8:30. I rarely set an alarm, but my girl, Dorothy, is often my alarm clock, jumping into the bed and kissing my face until I get up. I’ll sit in bed and read my texts and the top news, real quick.

Sometimes, TikTok does rope me in. I’ll text my husband so he doesn't worry about me. Then I hit the bathroom and brush my teeth. Sometimes I’ll get dressed, but not usually. Into the kitchen for my coffee and my ice water. Once in a while, I’ll have breakfast.

Then I read the paper, followed by a podcast or two…or five. I take Dorothy outside for a bit. I come back in and make a written plan for the day. I always do that. Then I might work on something, likely this podcast. That takes up a lot of my time now. Or read a book. Or take a bath or a long nap. I’m not at my most productive right now.

BUT for this summer, I'm creating a new routine. I’m hoping it will help me improve my health and be more organized and productive. I used to have a much better AM routine and I’m hoping to bring back many of the practices that worked well for me in the past.

I’m starting with a goal of getting up at 7 30 every day. Yes, using an alarm! I will Mel Robbins’ 5-Second Rule myself out of bed…5-4-3-2-1—GO!

I hit the bathroom and I practice Mel’s High-Five-Habit and high five myself in the mirror as I leave the room and start my day.

First thing, I've done this before and it worked great for me: I get up and I have my tennis shoes by the bed and I put them on immediately and in my pajamas, I grab my headphones and phone and I get on my exercise bike which is in my bedroom for just 10 minutes. It gets the blood going and right off the bat, I feel I did something. I got a little exercise.

10 minutes isn't enough but it's better than nothing. It's a positive way to start the day. I feel some momentum.

By eight o'clock, I’ll be at the kitchen table and having my coffee. I want to start having a light breakfast instead of eating my usual nothing, and I'll read the paper while I’m doing that. After 30 minutes, I’ll jump into my self-coaching routine, which includes six or seven mindset items on it, but doesn't take long.

I'm just going to quickly read through it. But as I mentioned, I'll do a video that will dive more deeply into this.

First on the list will be reading my devotional book--the message for the day, then saying a prayer and doing a short five minute meditation. I use the Chopra app.

Next, I do what's called a priming exercise. It's a recording and it involves mindset, gratitude and breath work-- it's approximately 10 minutes.

After that, I read through my affirmations and positive messages that I’ve collected over time that I’ve found especially inspiring.

Then I’ll write in my journal which is a phone app. I write in my journal any time of the day that I feel anxiety or emotions rising up in me-- it really keeps me calm. I work out so many conflicts in my journal—it’s my best friend. Well, besides Dorothy.

Finally, I make a plan for the day. I use something called the Passion Planner, which is a calendar with a week’s days laid out on sheets of paper. More about that in my AM coaching video. But you can find the sheets and many other downloads available free at passionplanner.com – link in show notes.

Part of my system is two master lists of short term and long term goals, projects, initiatives.

After this mindset practice, which I’ll wrap up by 845, I take Dorothy ¬¬outside. And by 9 o'clock, I'm going to start working through the next two hours which I call tiger time.

Just like it sounds, it's meant to be a ferocious time where I'm going to really dig in on whatever work it is that I have for that day. I have to give credit where it's due. I learned the term Tiger time from Amy Porterfield, an online entrepreneur, she's an author, an educator, and you can check her out at amyporterfield.com. She teaches online course creation and she also wrote a book about how to start a side hustle. I’ve followed her for many years.

For that couple of hours until 11 o'clock I'll work on my podcast, work on my new blog or one of my business ventures, and then at 11, I'll get on the treadmill get some cardio as well as do some weight training. I need it!

As an almost 66 year old woman. I've got to get that in there. It could really make a difference for me. I am like a big lump of flab! I've lost like 25 pounds, for heaven’s sake, but it's not showing because I'm not doing the work. But I’m going to start.

Then I'll walk Dorothy at the park. We live in the desert where it's too hot to walk her on the street in the day throughout the summer, so I'll take her over to the park, come back, have a little lunch, and then meditate for 30 minutes. I'll start working again at 1:30.

That’s my plan for MY morning routine, but this is supposed to be a workshop. So let's turn our attention to you, your morning routine.

I’ve created a Sixtysomething AM Routine Workbook for you that includes a lot of my resources I use, but it also has a worksheet with some exercises to help you plan your morning routine.

And one of the first questions I ask on that worksheet is: what are your goals?

My top five goals, they are: Relationships, health, projects like this podcast and my legacy building activities. And reading.

If you define your top five goals, then that's going to help you considerably when you plan your routine. The actions you include in your routine should all contribute to your top five goals. So, that's the first thing you want to figure out.

And second, what is possible?

For example, if you can get up super early, and you want to get up early, do it! I can't. You’ll notice I don’t have myself getting up that early. Because I know, at least for right now, I won’t do it. Not sure I can do it.

I'd love to get up at five o'clock. And I'd love to work on my projects as soon as my husband goes to bed and work until midnight. But I can't do it. I’m tired and not at my best and if I force myself, my brain becomes too stimulated and I can’t sleep. And sleep is my number one health priority. If I can't sleep, I can't function.

So, I have to set reasonable goals for myself. Up at a do-able hour, no real working at night.

I encourage you: Be realistic!

Start planning your AM Routine employing the art of the possible as your guide. You can always get more ambitious later.

Go through the worksheet and answer the questions I’ve asked to help you prioritize your various action items using your top 5 goals inside a realistic framework.

Next, start crafting your short term and long term goals on those worksheets in the workbook.

Just do a brain dump. List everything you can think of that you’d like to do. Everything.

Then go review those lists and use a highlighter or just circle the items that fit into the framework of top 5 goals and realistic expectations you’ve set.

Take those top actions and put them on the “Quarterly Goals” sheet in the workbook. There are spaces for your goals and for actions you’ll take to move toward accomplishing them. You should have a list of approximately 15-20 action items.

Take those items and plug them into the daily/weekly calendar pages I’ve included. These sheets are free downloads you can get from Passion Planner, a company that sells planners, but also offers these daily/weekly calendars and additional free downloads like a 5-day self-love challenge. The link is in the show notes of course.

Now just transfer your short term and long term projects into your planner in doable chunks. (Not all at once—as you finish items, you will add others.)

I’ve put some examples of versions of these pages I’ve completed in the workbook so you can see how I do it.

A lot of people have appointment books and planners that are in book format. I love them, but they don't work for me. I've used everything. But these loose sheets of paper are the best fit for me. If you don't have a printer, my way probably won’t work for you. Though you could go and get a bunch printed at Staples if you’d like.

Truly, any kind of planner will work. I’m just sharing my system.

As far as digital goes, I have a digital calendar on my phone and I use that in conjunction with my paper planner. Actual appointments go on both my paper planner and in my phone calendar so I can set reminders.

I love technology, but I can’t give up my paper. If you want to do everything digitally, you can easily use the system I designed for myself, just move it into a digital planner. You’ll have digital versions of my resources if you want to include them.

Once you complete the exercises and have your first schedule set up, I'd love for you to share it. You can post it in the Facebook group or just send it to me in a direct message. All of my contact info is in the show notes.

As for the videos I mentioned I’ll be sharing, I encourage you to watch them. I'll be going to go through everything in my self-coaching notebook page by page--there's some good stuff in there--go to my new YouTube channel or over to the Facebook group and you'll find everything there.

Are you interested in creating a PM routine? I’ve thought about it, but haven't done it even though I know it could be really helpful in establishing a wind down ritual to help me get ready for sleep. Let me know if you feel the same and I can do an episode about that in the future.

Please! Take the time to go through the workbook and start an AM Routine or fine tune your current routine if it’s no longer contributing to your goals. Just like I am! A solid morning routine can get you off to a great start and help you spend your precious time on the things you really care about.

Even my current sub-standard routine has gotten me across the finish line on a few things that were top priorities of mine. Which encourages me to continue—and do better.

Don’t be a perfectionist! Because you're going to have a bad day. You're going to have a sleepless night and you're not going to be able to be as productive the next day. You're going to get sick and it's going to put you down for, a week before you can get back to your routine and productivity.

It's okay. Be kind to yourself. You'll get there. Get back on the horse when you’re able. I believe in you. Remember! Be realistic!

To close up shop on this episode, I want to share one final quote…

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”

Steve Jobs said that. I think, for us, that's probably the most important question we can ask as we look at our AM routines and our daily plans. That question is included in the workbook exercises, but make sure to ask yourself that every day. I guess that’s what Oprah would call setting a clear intention.

That wraps up our AM Routine Workshop. The podcast portion. Remember, there will be some videos available to provide you with more information on this subject. As always, the links are all in the show notes for this episode.

Thanks for listening and being part of the Sixtysomething community. I'll see you over on YouTube, the Facebook group and hopefully, in my DMs if you have any questions for me.

And if you feel like sharing, please let me know if this episode was helpful to you. Share best practices that have worked for you with your AM Routine. And if you’d like to, share your workbook pages—we’d love to see your spin…

Make sure to join us next time on 60 something for…something joyous! The Grandkids episode! Can’t wait! I'll see you then.