“Taming the Beast” that is Me

I have big, beautiful plans for what I want to accomplish in life. I hope to be successful in bringing my plans to fruition. It’s a challenging pursuit.

It’s safe to say my biggest obstacle to success is myself. I can sometimes be lazy, reckless, grouchy, and pessimistic. That’s why, over many years, I’ve had to “tame the beast” that is me, so I can live a good life, flourish and accomplish my goals. It’s an ongoing process. My tools for getting the best from myself are self-discipline, hard work, strategic planning, cooperation, and patience. Also, daily routines, habits, and systems have been key to my ability to get successful outcomes at work, home, and life in general.

In this article I’ll tell you how I use daily routines at work and home to get better results. Maybe you’ll be inspired by my experience and try some daily routines of your own, if you don’t already. I’ll start by telling you a little about my past, so you know where I’m coming from. I’ll work my way up to the present, and I’ll show you my real daily routines.

I Disliked Routines in the Past

I used to hate routines and habits. They can be deadly boring. But when carefully-chosen routines, habits, and systems are used long-term, the results can be outstanding.

These days, I’m pretty tame. I work hard, mother my 1-year-old son, treat family and friends with respect, care for my home, handle my finances with my husband, and nurture my own health. Being tame is working well for me.

But I do have a wild side. I had a somewhat reckless phase that lasted from ages 15 to 29 (I’m 36 now). I disliked habits and routines for quite awhile. At times, I let the beast run wild. Toward the end of high school, I was more interested in socializing than schoolwork. During the first two years of college, I pretty much majored in partying, and my grades reflected that. Despite good intentions, I was a little self-destructive back then. Still, I had many great times and made some lifelong friends.

I realized around this time I’d need to work hard and deliberately focus to achieve my goals. I slowly became more open to developing routines, habits, and systems. In my years approaching college graduation, I continued to play hard, but I worked hard too, and my grades became quite good. Upon graduation, I got my dream job as a one-man-band TV reporter/videographer, and I was thrown into the deep end. I worked this job for three years. It was thrilling and rewarding. But it was incredibly demanding and didn’t pay well. I dealt with some stage fright. Also, in TV news subject matter, if bleeds it leads, which led to several scary experiences when I was in the field gathering stories. I eventually quit and tried to gain some freedom in self-employment.

A year later, I was fortunate to meet the man who would eventually become my husband. I ran a photography and video business, sold 1500+ items on eBay, and worked at a coffee shop to make ends meet. It was constant work and the money still wasn’t great. But with self-employment, I developed loads of resilience, creativity, and work ethic. I’m grateful for this 14-year stretch where I was a bit wild and willing to take some risks (and I’ll always have a touch of wildness). Those years shaped me and leave me smiling at the memories. I grew up over the years (and I’m still growing). The professional and personal challenges forced me to adopt routines, habits, and systems, so I could survive and thrive.

I Eventually Came to Appreciate Routines

Then I made some good decisions that established routines, habits, and systems into the foundation of my life. At 29, I married my husband, who is a solid man and an excellent life partner. At 30, I went back to a traditional job, this time in vacation sales, a field that suited my feisty, friendly temperament well. Both of these decisions worked out exceptionally well for me.

Around this time, I started thinking more about the future. I began to realize more fully how my present-day decisions and actions would affect my future, and the future of the people around me.

I had already lived 30 years. I wanted to make the most of the rest of my life. I envisioned a happy, healthy, financially secure future for my family, in which I’d have abundant free time for my family, friends, hobbies, and making the world a brighter place. I understood these worthy goals were something I could largely achieve in the present. But to increasingly enjoy these ideals and realize my long term goals over my lifetime, it would take significant work to achieve. Around this time, I found a quote by motivational speaker Earl Nightingale that really resonated with me: “never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”

I was willing to put in the work and time: I’ve worked very hard at two sales jobs over the past six years, and I’m happier because of it. My husband and I moved to the Portland area four years ago. Portland is my hometown, and my wonderful parents still live here, as well as many friends and extended family. My husband and I both began our current jobs about four years ago too: his in college academic advising, and mine in medical lab sales. Then we decided we wanted to have a baby, carefully planned for our new family member, and welcomed our adorable son into our lives about a year and a half ago.

Time is Limited and Life is Demanding

Now I’m 36. My life is beautiful, but it’s still rich with day-to-day challenges. My biggest struggle is that I feel time is too limited to fit it all in. I often wish I had unlimited time for friends and family, professional success, financial abundance, artistic expression, talent development, helping others and leaving the world a better place, as well as time for exercise, eating well, house cleaning, sleep, and free time to do nothing. The days are too short, and life is too short as well. It’s way more than I could accomplish in one lifetime. I’m still coming to terms with this. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop wanting it all. On top of all that, life is really demanding and complicated, as you know. The best I can do is prioritize the most important things and keep chipping away my goals by using routines, habits, and systems. I’ve found this strategy keeps me on track and yields the best results.

Routines are an Effective Tool for Taking Control

Daily routines help me get control of myself. They help me overcome my wild and lazy tendencies, and harness my energies and natural abilities. This way I can create a happy, satisfied, and productive life every day.

Routines help me build a good future too. I have some solid plans that I believe will result in wonderful things. This requires me to follow through and execute my plans, as well as work hard, be resilient, focus, and channel my wild energies into productive things. This is why I created and use the following work, morning, and evening routines. These routines don’t include one-time events, special projects, or even weekly activities. I have Google Calendar, other systems, and my memory for that. My daily routines include a good chunk of my tasks that need to be repeated on an ongoing basis. I almost never finish everything on all these lists on any given day. That’s not the point. These daily routines are like gentle reminders of things that need my ongoing attention:

Work Daily Routine

I’ve used variations of this self-created work daily routine for almost four years. It has treated me extremely well and led me through many successes and challenges. This is the list I take most seriously. Every morning, when I sit down at my work desk, I use a fresh paper daily routine and write on it. I cross items off as I accomplish them. Anything unfinished at the end of the day, I schedule for later. Using this routine helps me keep track of all the moving pieces, so the important things are always on my radar, and I can more easily stay on top of things.

Morning Daily Routine

I’ve used variations of this morning routine for about a year and a half. I have been toying with morning and evening routines for about seven years. I originally got inspired by FlyLady, an amazing home organization guru. Then I played with the idea or routines and made them my own. I have my morning and evening routines posted in the master bedroom and kitchen, for easy access. When I wake up early on weekdays, I’m pretty tired, so having a written routine helps keep me moving in the right direction. I still follow my morning routine on weekends, except I sleep in.

Evening Daily Routine

Weekday evenings go by fast, so it’s helpful to have this evening routine. As I mentioned before, I don’t complete everything on these lists every day. But my daily routines remind me to take care of these tasks as time allows. I enjoy the results when I complete these routines more fully: a clean, functional house, a well-cared for family, and a well-cared for me. However, I’m sometimes willing to throw out my home routines for social plans, special projects, unexpected events, or just because I feel like it. My son often hijacks my evening routine, and that’s totally okay. He’s priority number one around here.

Progress, Not Perfection

Like I mentioned, I don’t expect myself to finish everything within these routines every day. These just keep me focused on important actions that will keep me successful and living well. These routines are constantly evolving, especially as life changes, and as my young son grows up. I’ve tried to simplify my routines, and I’d like to further simplify. But I just can’t give up my ideals. All of these things do need my attention regularly. These routines give me peace that I’m headed in the right direction.

I know routines like this are not right for everyone. Some people understandably think my routines are a little much. Many people in my life don’t even know I have them. But they’ve been really helpful for me. If you think routines like these might benefit you, I encourage you to create your own and give them a try. It’s possible you’ll find this strategy extremely helpful. It has been for me.

At times in my past, I’ve been hard on myself for not accomplishing everything on my gigantic routines and to-do lists. But even if there isn’t time for me to accomplish everything I want to in life, I’ve since promised myself not to be a perfectionist or be hard on myself. My results aren’t perfect, but they’re really good. I do have some strict standards for some things. Some other things don’t need to be so strict. I regularly celebrate the progress I do make and graciously let go of the rest. I’ll love and accept myself for being perfectly imperfect.

Routines Ultimately Create Freedom

My routines help me take care of the dull business in life methodically, so I can squeeze some enjoyment out of my long hours of hard work, and take extremely good care of my myself, the people around me, and my professional life. Having this day-to-day stuff nailed down to routines allows me the head space to focus on my big exciting goals and life experiences. It frees me up for fun, relaxation, and time with family and friends.

I wish you the best in all the days of your life, whether you choose to use daily routines or not. I hope you’ve found a few ideas here that lead you to good things. Feel free to share what works well for you.

As for me, I’ll continue to use and refine my daily routines, so I can keep on “taming the beast” that is me. My routines, habits, and systems are effective in controlling my wild energy, and channeling it appropriately, so I’m better able to make the magic happen in life now and in the future.

NEXT WEEK: “365-DAY PERSONAL CHALLENGE – BLOG EVERY WEEK – MY PROGRESS AT ONE MONTH”