Introduction: When I think of the ideal day, I think of waking up after 8 hours of sleep feeling amazing, jumping straight into doing my gratitude journal, exercises, an hour-long shower to shave my legs and do my skincare followed by a nutritious breakfast and homemade juice (argh wouldn’t that be nice) When in reality I am generally waking up after getting probably 5 hours of broken sleep (on a good day as I run my own business which means catching up on work after little miss is asleep and since I co-sleep /breastfeed through the night I am constantly woken). So I am already waking up feeling like absolute death, usually with my toddler demanding I get out of bed (not exactly the aesthetic ideal day, but it is realistic).
So how do you plan a “realistic" ideal day:
1. The first step is to grab a notebook and flip to a blank page. Then, I write out a list of everything that I generally need to get done in a day (for example, I usually cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which generally occur at the same time every day). This is also where you list any regular appointments, classes, etc., that you have at the same time every week.
2. It is important to reflect back on previous days, even ones that didn’t go to plan to see different points of my day look like as well as possible interruptions and use this as a guide (For example, every morning, no matter the day my daughter generally wakes up around 6:30 am give or take and the first thing I generally do is get us both breakfast, then straight after breakfast is showers). Knowing this information will allow me to pre-plan whether I need to get up earlier or not to accomplish what I would like to do during the day.
3. When creating your routine, it is also important to think of 1 to 2 things that you could do for yourself. Even though, for one, I would love to create an ideal day full of pampering and relaxing with a toddler or busy schedule, it’s just not going to happen. I find setting time aside for two tasks, such as a 20-minute home workout, 10 minutes to write in your gratitude journal, etc., is achievable, especially if you are already finding that time for scrolling.
4. A great way to stay productive and ensure you are getting through what you need in a day is to merge tasks, what I mean by that is things like my daughter and I usually shower together so she is supervised and safe, k do my skincare at the same time or when I cut up fruit for my daughter breakfast, I cut some up for her afternoon tea as well. I also use this method with exercise; instead of viewing exercise as needing to do a set task, changing your thinking to any movement is good movement. Merge getting out with your toddler and exercise; my toddler and I walk to the park; I run around the park with her, push her on the swings, comb the steps to the slide and then we walk home. So if that day I didn’t do a dedicated workout at least I feel good I got that movement in and mentally feel better knowing I spent quality time with Rosalie.
So now that you have these tips in your toolbox on how to create your ideal (but realistic) day. Next it’s time to think about what you put in your routine. When you think of your ideal day as a whole day, it can tend to feel a little overwhelming, so I like to break my day down into 4 categories (morning, midday, afternoon and evening), tackling each portion in bite-sized pieces:
1. Morning Routine: I usually classify my morning from around 6 am to 9:30 am. Any later than this, you're heading into morning tea/midday territory.
My ideal morning routine consists of waking up, breakfast, showers, skincare, taking Rosalie to the park and a 20-minute home workout. Breakfast, showers and skincare usually take me about an hour and a half, depending on how Rosalie is feeling, and then we usually spend 30-45 minutes at the park.
2. Midday routine: usually between 10 am (leaving a 30 min leeway) until about 2 pm. This part of my routine I allow to be more flexible in case of appointments, catch-ups, Rosalie needing extra attention etc the 2 main tasks I like to make sure is definitely pencilled in are lunch, generally from 11:30-12:30 and quality time with Rosalie, which I am for tat least 30minutes around 1 pm after lunch is all tidied up. All of that takes up around 2 hours. Then, the rest of the time, I do as much work as I can when Rosalie is having an independent play or watching a movie.
3. Afternoon Routine: In our household, it starts around 2:30 (again, leaving 30 minutes of leeway) and goes until about 5 p.m. Between 2:30 and 3:30, I spend pretty much all my time finishing off some work, supervising Rosalie's bath, getting into my pyjamas, and having some downtime, as I like to start cooking dinner by 4 p.m. We usually like to eat by 5 p.m., and then Chris usually tidys up, while I take Rosalie to bed.
4. Evening Routine: around 5:30 pm, I lay down with Rosalie to watch a movie, to which she usually falls asleep around 6/6:30 pm. I do an end of day clean, and then from there, Chris and I get into work (Chris works from home in the business full time, whereas I am mainly part-time as I am a SAHM with Rosalie). But we usually work from about 7:30 pm, and I try to be in bed no later than 11 pm as Rosalie still wakes through the night.
Of course, if you don’t run a business, you can customise these hours to suit your needs.
Conclusion: Above is what a realistic ideal day for me looks like, I have this schedule that I use as a guide and reminder of what's important to do in a day, especially to be more present with my quality time, but overall, my day chops and changes depending what’s on and Rosalie’s needs on any given day. This blog is designed to give you the tools to create your own ideal day that suits your needs. Sometimes being able to visualise what this may look like for you can give you the motivation you need in order to get a head start.
If you would like to follow along for more relatable and empowering content, watch out for my upcoming blogs right here, or I regularly post on Instagram @ultimatebloom.
Comentarios