It takes a lot of hard work to take care of the self. A few days ago I sat down and wrote out the things I wanted to do every day to make sure I was taking time to maintain certain activities for myself. So for the whole month, I want to journal, read, and go for a walk. After I completed the month, it was shockingly obvious how little time there was for anything else.

And if I was going to be able to get client work done and maintain my life outside of my workday on the other equally important things like being a father and tend to my relationship, I’d first better figure out how to maximize my time throughout the day while still allowing the time spent with my daughters, work, relationship and self care to flex and flow as they need to. This is why having a morning routine has been very helpful for my life, both for business and personal. Having some parts of my day be structured allows me the flexibility to choose what times of the day work best for me. In fact, most of the work I want to do for self-maintenance usually gets done before anyone else is the house is up, like journaling, meditating and planning my day.

After the kids are up, fed, and off to school I can then sprinkle the other activities I want to do in between my work day. Knowing how much time I have to do something opens up many more channels for creatively getting everything accomplished. If you are a go with the flow type person, like me, with tendencies to just let the day go how the day goes. Try writing your day down on paper for a month or two, then watch how the time you don’t have turns into more time than you need.