Schedule Your Daily Wins or Accept Daily Defeat

Before Covid-19 hit and left us all stranded in our homes (or safe at home, I should say), pickup was an active part of my day. Every time we turned on our street, a flock of ducks would be crossing. It was uncanny. This would happen every single day, and I loved seeing them. They are creatures of habit.

Being a creature of habit is a good thing... if your habits are healthy. Are you a creature of procrastination or of getting things done? I know which one I want to be!

“Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts. Habits are also weakened or broken, and contrary habits are formed by the repetition of contrary acts.” ~ Mortimer J. Adler.

Your Habits Rule You

In the moment, you don’t think to make a choice. Your brain and body rely on the habits you’ve created to know what to do next. It’s super important then that you ensure your habits are good habits – as opposed to putting off your important tasks every day. That would fall under the “Bad Habits” category.

[Tweet "Not choice, but habit, rules the unreflecting herd. – William Woodsworth"]

It’s understandable that we stick to our habits. Change activates fear, and fear triggers negative emotions that will stop us in our tracks.

How many of us get stuck in the “I’ll do it tomorrow” habit? I was trapped in the high-achieving procrastinator habit until I almost missed a major deadline during my graduate studies. I knew it was time for a change. I decided to work with my mood instead of guilt and you know what? I became a time management ninja! It felt pretty great getting work done so I can enjoy life too.

Schedule Your Non-Negotiables

Make your good habits non-negotiable. Even if they’re not fully part of your life yet, live them, feel them, dream them, and when you finally become a time management ninja, you’re already owning it!

With the stay at home restrictions, it has become a bit tricky to stick with good habits. To be honest, I have to make a definitive, non-negotiable schedule for my daily walk. This appointment is like all others – it does not get cancelled. How can you schedule any goal into your day? If it’s important to you, you will find the way. If it’s not important to you, you will find an excuse. It really is that simple!

The Cancellation Dilemma

If you have to cancel your daily walk appointment, for example, you have to look yourself in the mirror and explain why. Feel free to debate yourself. Here’s an example:

“Hi, La-Dana, it’s La-Dana! I can’t go for my daily walk today because... uh... my daughter needs a nap and I have a deadline! I mean, um, I don’t have time!”

“Oh, really, you don’t have time? Well, while you’re talking to me, couldn’t you be doing squats instead? How much time will you spend on Instagram tonight after you put her to bed? How many leg lifts could you do while you’re cooking dinner?”

It’s so easy to incorporate any goal into your life if you’re willing to challenge yourself into believing that there really is no excuse.

*NOTE: don’t let your neighbor see you debating yourself, or the men with white coats may come running!

Put simply, you need to schedule your wins to actually gain your wins.

If you’re ready for a more in depth exploration of how to schedule your wins every day, enroll in my free workshop, “Six Steps to Becoming a Time Management Ninja.” We’ll look at how you can develop good habits that make scheduling the day work for you not against you. See you there!