My Daily Habits For a Productive Lifestyle

As a self-identified "Type A" kind of person, I've always been very adamant about my routines, habits, planning, and etc. If you also have a Type A personality, you probably know what I mean. To be even more specific, if your Myers-Briggs personality is ENTJ or INTJ, you definitely understand or can relate in similar ways.I've always found it motivating to read about others' daily habits, especially those I admire or aspire to have a similar lifestyle to. Over the past few years (especially the last two), I've really kept my habits consistent and continue to refine them over time and I want to share some of these key habits that I maintain to keep up with my hustle and entrepreneurial lifestyle.1. My wake-up time. I'm not perfect (obviously), so I haven't been 100% at keeping the same exact wake-up time each morning, especially since I haven't started working full-time yet--aka, not forced to wake up by a specific time...lol. BUT, knowing that I have to do it at some point in my future, likeeeeee real soon, I've been working on keeping a consistent morning wake-up time the past two years. In 2018, I focused on being up and starting my day by 8-8:30am, depending on how tired I was from the day before and whether I had enough rest. Fast forward to this year 2019, I have slowly shifted to a morning start time closer to 7-7:30am, again with the same variance--depending on my body and how much rest I need.2. Making my bed. Again, not perfect, but I'd say I might make my bed more consistently than I keep my wake-up time (lol)...but maybe just by 5%. I'm kinda a clean freak and need to see my room in a beautiful clean and organized manner, so making my bed is a key part of getting towards this feeling. I find it really easy just to implement this quick habit in my morning routine while I'm getting ready for the day or sometimes (not often, but sometimes), I'll just do it as the first thing when getting out of bed. Either way, it's a habit that I 100% believe should be implemented some way in everyone's daily habits. It's so easy and simple, yet easily overlooked by most and thought of as a mundane "takes long" type of task. If you can't even make your bed for two minutes, what can you actually accomplish then?3. Get moving + some sort of physical activity. For those who didn't know, I grew up as a competitive elite-level figure skater and USTA ranked tennis player. So running miles, sprinting, working on my endurance and stability--that was all part of my normal routine for almost ten years. Unfortunately, I no longer compete at such a rigorous level in either sport (although I am planning to compete again in USTA Women's Open Tournaments), so I haven't been nearly as physically active and pushed like I have in the past. Because of that, if I am not that active, I feel extra sluggish because I catch myself in comparison to my old athletic regime and endurance. Only recently have I been extra mindful of getting some sort of physical activity in for the day and I mean literally anything! I used to take breaks on certain days, but now instead of a full day off of "no physical activity or extremely light", I either hit the gym for thirty minutes, take a walk on the treadmill, or just do something that forces my body to move and feel active (even just intense ab workouts in my room). On the days I am really focused on getting an actual workout in, I'll do pilates, a full-body gym workout with light weights, spin class, and/or an hour long session of tennis or skating practice.4. Batch time to get sh*t done. Since graduating college, my schedule has been slightly lighter with more free time, which is really nice because for awhile, it felt like I never had a break. But, that does not mean I use that free time for nothing or to just watch Netflix or whatever lol. I might not be working "full-time" right now, but I batch my time during the mid-day timeframe everyday and assign specific work to do and get done. Some days it'll be my business Elite Skate Wear, other days it may be podcast outlines/recording/meeting, writing blog posts, freelance + brand projects, and etc. It's a habit that I've implemented consistently every time I'm not in school so I find myself batching my time during my most productive hours and I've maintained it ever since. I prefer to do this instead of sporadically doing work throughout the day because I find that my brain can lose productivity by doing so...and as far as I know, yours likely does too (sorry, just how we are biologically made).5. Review the calendar and plan ahead for the day/week. This is something I do each day, but also on a weekly and monthly basis, depending how far ahead I'm looking. As I said before, I am very Type A and an organized, planning type of person, so I like to review my calendar in advance and see what my day looks like. Usually, I'll look at my GoogleCal during the evening to prepare for the following day to figure out how early I need to be in bed by, where my energy needs to be, any final tasks I need to finish before ending the day, and etc. The key helpful part of this habit is not the planning part (although I personally enjoy it), it's about being able to maintain some sort of structure and focus for the day, rather than wondering what you could be doing. I know plenty of individuals my age who are not sure what they could do for the day, so they resort to Netflix/Hulu and other unproductive activities instead. This is also super helpful for anyone that works part-time only on specific days, so by using a calendar like GoogleCal, you can visually see your availability and plan for productive ways to utilize your free time, whether that's working out, grabbing lunch with a friend, running errands or urgent tasks, and etc.These are some of my key daily habits that I do every single day and I hope perhaps one of these are useful to you and you can apply in the near future. Let me know what your daily habits are, I'd love to read them!xx