Tackle it Tuesday: Routines

In the month of January, I decided to take back my life.  I have realized that if you want to have joy, you must be intentional.  The enemy is out to kill, steal, and destroy, and if you do not have a battle plan he will prevail.   I've had a lot of life changes in the last year and the one that has had the biggest impact was my job change.  If there has been one thing that I have realized over the past year it is that you have to be intentional to keep the joy in your life, and that begins with how you spend your time. When I took my job as a nanny, I thought I'll have all the time in the world, finding time to study scripture, time for prayer, and time for myself won't be an issue, but boy was I wrong.

I found that without the structure of the "work day" I spent my time just going with the flow, which was good for a while, while my heart healed from all the changes and hurts that had been in my life, but as the holidays approached I found myself frustrated all too often for feeling like I never accomplished anything.  I found myself beginning to question the value of my job, and then my value.  I think if we all slow down and really are honest with ourselves, there is a link of some sort between how we perceive our productivity and how we perceive our worth.  I found myself doing less and less because I became discouraged and began to think what's the point.  When the whirlwind of the holidays were over I found myself questioning if I even knew what day it was.  I was just existing, I wasn't thriving.

When I realized the lies Satan was feeding me, I made a decision to take back my life. There were several things that I decided to do through this decision, but the implementation of routines was the biggest one.  This was something that had been apart of my life when I was working a "cooperate job," that I had given up when I became a nanny. I had given up my schedule, structure, and routines, and my I had started living my life with a fly by the seat of my pants mentality. What i didn't realize when I became a nanny was how unpredictable life with toddlers can be.  The first few weeks everything ran right on schedule... I had to be up at 6 when the Kids mom left for work, they didn't get up till nearly 8:30 and I had plenty of time to get up spend time in the word, get dressed do my hair and makeup, and actually be ready to conquer the day, but as time went on and things got more comfortable Things got crazy and I looked down after the holidays and found myself with my hair pulled up on top of my head in the leggings and t-shirt I had slept in the night before praying the kids would go to sleep so i could grab a 3 min shower, and guess what... they didn't.  I was in a funk the rest of the afternoon and when i finally got done with work and was able to get a shower, dressed, and ready to go out to dinner with a friend, i realized how much more energy and what a better outlook I had on life just from one simple action.

So people think I am crazy to schedule my day down to the minute, but its how I make sure to keep control of my joy and make sure that I am productive.

To develop my morning routine I actually started with my evening and night routine first.  What i do at night depends on how my mornings go.  After watching several you tube videos, I have finally gotten it just about right.

Here is a look at a typical day. ( disclaimer... not everyday is like this, there are some days I enjoy my yoga pants and my extra hour of sleep, but this is what I strive for.)

Here is my Evening Routine that I do every night after work:

Gym
Shower
Dinner
Load Dinner Dishes in the Dishwasher
Start Dishwasher if needed
Wipe down all surfaces in the kitchen (this literally takes 2 min)
Quick Swiffer of the kitchen floor ( yet again less than 2 min)
15 minute pickup of the entire house
Put away a load of laundry
Think about Dinner for Tomorrow
Pick out Clothes for Tomorrow

Then I have time  In between getting all this done and getting ready for bed for whatever things I want to do before getting ready for bed.  Usually it Netflix or catching up on TV

Here is my before Bed Routine

Ready for bed ( Take off Makeup, Moisturize, PJs, Brush Teeth ect.)
Wipe Down Bathroom ( same as the kitchen just a min or two)
Swiffer Bathroom floor
Devotional/ Bible Reading
Read/TV
Bed

Now you can imagine that If i do both of these lists I wake up rested and refreshed to a clean apartment and everything is ready to go)

Now for my Morning Routine:
I listen to Dr. Stanley's Intouch Devotion before i even get out of bed. www.intouch.org
Make Bed
Turn on Pandora to something that will help me get moving ... Most mornings its AC/DC and Def Leopard (lol) but some mornings its something else depending on what kind of mood I'm in. :)
Vitamins/Breakfast/Stretching
Unload the Dishwasher
Prayer
Wash Face/Brush Teeth/ Hair / Makeup/ Get Dressed
Scripture Study ( Ill post a blog post on how I study the bible later)
Wipe Down the bathroom, and swiffer the floor if it needs it.


Keeping up with this routine helps me only have to do light cleaning once a week, and keeps me productive and ready for the day. Tackle today ... Take back  your life.  Set up your routines to get you started.