Dear Steemians,
in my recent blogposts I shared with you some of my fun travel experiences, my birthday weekend etc. and I feel like it's time to switch it up and share with you what I did today and do on most usual days.
I want to quickly remind you that even though I have a lot of freedom in my life, I travel often and I have shared with you mostly the more interesting and fancier parts of my life, there isn't anything fancy about what I do with most of my hours every day. I sit and work, some days for a minimum of 6 hours and on busy days 12 hours or more.
Don't get me wrong, it's a choice I made that I'm happy with, but that doesn't mean it's always easy. While I do try to take at least 1 day a week off, and work according to a set schedule I create for myself, there will always be days (especially before a launch or any deadline), sometimes an entire week where I don't look at the clock at all and just focus on progress and getting as much done in a day as possible.
Just Another Day In The Life Of: A Digital Entrepreneur
Today for example I got up at 11 AM (went to bed at 4 AM the night before), without my usual morning workout routine went straight to my desk with a cup of coffee, and continued where I left off. I'm working on quite a few projects (excited to finally be able to share the most recent one with you next week) and when I can see the finishing line at least of phase one, I tend to automatically double down.
So I sat and worked until I felt my back started to hurt, my body's way of telling me to get up and move. I was shocked when I looked at the clock, it was already 5 PM, and definitely time to get some food in my system. After some lunch, and about an hour break of stretching and closing my eyes, I felt tired. So I had to make a choice, either take a nap at 6 PM which I knew I would regret the next day, or... *as I'm looking at my progress jar* get up, get a quick 30min home workout in and finish what I was working on.
So I jumped up in an attempt to trick my mind into thinking I still had enough energy left, put on some music and started the workout routine. Quicker than I thought, the 30 minutes passed and all of a sudden my back pain was gone and I felt more energetic than I did throughout the entire day.
I worked for another 5 hours, until midnight and I was finally done for the day, and still had enough energy left to go on Steemit, reply to some of your comments, read a few blogposts and write about my day.
Now it's almost 3 AM and time to sleep for me, but I can say that I feel great, exhausted, but great. I love going to bed, feeling I truly deserve to rest.
I hope you enjoyed this less fancy diary entry of mine. I'm planning on turning this into a vlog, so you can actually see for yourself what it's like to live the "laptop life" and make this diary style even more personal than it already is.
DIY Progress Jar
Above I mentioned something I call the "progress jar". I want to connect this to an interview I watched the other day of Sheryl Sandberg, in which she shared something that reaffirmed what I started doing at the beginning of this year, that has not only improved my sleep, my mood during the day, but also my overall state of mind, happiness and health.
A Gratitude Journal:
You can use a checklist, journal or even a jar where you physically write on a piece of paper what you're grateful for and as Sheryl describes it you will find yourself looking for positive things throughout the day.
Now take this example of improving your happiness through gratitude accountability, and apply it to progress ! You can create:
A Progress Jar for example with tasks you need to get done, or even exercises for a fitness challenge:
Your jar can be for any reason. You can of course use a journal or something else, but I find a jar to be particularly motivational, especially when you label the top of the jar with the "end goal" and you can see it reach closer with every piece of paper you put in it.
I've mentioned it in one of my earlier posts, but I think we all need this reminder sometimes.
Our habits determine the quality of our life. Habits make us, so it's important to be aware of your choice of habits. There is nothing stronger than a habit! And this is a great way to hold yourself accountable. Stay consistent for about a month, and even the most seemingly most difficult task like working out in the morning won't stand a chance, and turn into a habit.
Question of the day: What would you put in your gratitude or progress jar today?
Much love,
- Mrs.Steemit