Structure the Day, Feel More Clear Headed and HERE

Hello Full Potential Beings directing your attention towards your highest and best self. A new day is here and it’s a glorious start to the new year.

The sun is shining. Classical music is playing. The animals are moving to and fro. A smoothie is being prepared. And I am getting this post off to you from our village here in Costa Rica. Life is amazing. The dream is real.

So the first download I had since starting the New Year is around STRUCTURING the day.

What Does It Mean to Structure Your Day?

Structuring means is blocking time out for what’s important in a way that feels the best and most productive for you and your values.

Now I realize you might be in a situation that requires you to have a less flexible structure at the moment. So work with whatever free time you have and structure it. And aim to become more free so that you can structure all of it.

I’ve explored all kinds of ways to structure the day and here’s what I’ve found works for me at this present time.

LIMITED SCREEN TIME / ACCESS

No Screen Time Until 12 PM
I find that the single biggest thing I can do to structure my day is limit my screen time. This means not accessing my cell phone until noon. The only exception is creating a blog post.

I’m taking this so seriously that I’m now going to use my old cell phone for instant messages only and leave it in one place – the office. So my mind begins to associate a specific location and a specific time with handling instant messages & communications.

My newer phone will now be used only for accessing my mind map and producing video / audio content. I want to associate my new phone with creating content and not consuming content or communications.

Otherwise the phone becomes too pervasive and I find myself communicating and consuming anywhere and everywhere. It’s the easiest default activity. And then my mind get’s so clouded after a while its hard to focus or structure anything else.

WORK WINDOW FROM 12 TO 6 PM

I have created a work window from 12 to 6 PM where I focus on productive work related things. This leaves me an entire morning to focus on what I need to do to prepare my energy for work. It also helps me get really clear on what I want to accomplish during that 6 hour window. This includes my screen time as well. So I want to make sure any communications or on-screen content consumption I do is specific to the goals and things I want to accomplish.

MUSIC & CREATIVE ENDEAVORS AFTER 6 PM

Having a clear boundary on work mode and screen time gives me a clear cut off to then create music and dance. This feels like a perfect before bed activity versus late night screen time and Netflix.

EATING CUT OFF 8 PM, FAST UNTIL 12 PM

This is another big one that goes hand in hand with screen time. When I fast from both the screen and eating until noon.. It just increases the clarity I feel – thus making it easier to be and stay structured in my approach.

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My morning feels very aligned with my values now. My afternoon feels very clear and focused. And I am looking forward to the evening time.. and the day just feels longer and more spacious with these clear boundaries. My mind feels more clear.

This approach definitely takes some discipline. And there will be some occasional exceptions. For example my love just prepared a smoothie and its before noon.. its 11:47 AM. I’m not being overly rigid but I have a general direction.

And if special events come up I’m going to adapt my structure.. like when we travel or camp out at the beach.

If you do feel like you’re getting off track, I would default back to a paper plan (focus sheet) to get you back on track. You can see an earlier post on this.

Remember the goal here is not perfection, its trial and error, finding what works best for you. Structuring your day is a practice that takes time. And often discovering what you don’t want or what you won’t do again .. until you get it right.

What’s amazing here is that if you do start getting it right.. it’s like your whole life will start to flow and make more sense. You are disciplining your life, your mind, your eating habits and so much will start falling into place.

I hope you feel inspired by this post and take some time to think about how you want to structure your own day and see some of these benefits for yourself. I’d be happy to hear more on how it goes for you. And any challenges or set backs you experience and how you overcome them. I’m also happy to try to give some pointers on what works for me to stay focused and disciplined.

Happy New Year and see you tomorrow. 🙂

P.S. Here’s some planner ideas that might give you inspiration for how to organize your paper planning. (I suggest a blank sheet of paper so you can customize it however you want.)