Free Routine Assessment!
Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
If you've been feeling overwhelmed lately and unsure of what to do to relieve the stress, stay tuned. In this episode of the routine and things podcast, I'm sharing three things you can do every single week to lighten your load. Let's get into it.
Ashley Brown 0:28
Before we get into today's episode, have you ever wondered which routine is the best for you to start right now, if you are unsure of which routine will best meet the needs of your home and life at this very moment, you now have a way to find out. I've created for you a very simple and free routine assessment that will help you identify which routine you really need most right now, to take this quick assessment that will point you in the right direction and get you started with the right routine. Click the link in the show notes or head to routineandthings.com. All right, let's go ahead and get into today's episode.
Ashley Brown 1:05
Hey, girl, hey, welcome back for another episode of the routine and things podcast is Ashley here, your host. And I am so excited to talk to you today. This is a very digestible, practical episode. And I'm going to be sharing with you three things you can do every single week to lighten your load. Right lighten your load, if you're feeling stressed. If you're feeling overwhelmed, if you're like, Girl, I'm doing way too much. Girl, I need some help. Listen up. I got you, you know I got your back. Okay, so let's get into it. Because we ain't got no time to waste. Do these three things every week, and it will really help you one plan. Yep. Planning is so helpful. Planning is helpful because it allows you to one have a roadmap to have a reference for your week. Let me be very clear, a plan is not designed for you to stick to a plan is designed for you to have a reference for where you're headed. To be able to get back on track when you get sidetracked.
Ashley Brown 2:16
It is not for you to stick to if you're able to stick to it the exact plan that you wrote down on Sunday night great. But it's not a failure. If you don't stick to that you did these things on Monday. Maybe they can be done on Tuesday because you had to shift something. But planning is really helpful because it clears your mind is so great for easing anxiety and stress in the moment because it clears your head so that you can think more clearly, especially when you have a planning routine that allows you to clear your head. That's why we have in the routine and things planner a place for you to brain dump every single week, because every week, you need to be clearing out your mind so that you can really focus on what's important. Because everything swirling around in that head of yours is not important. Everything that's swirling around in your head of yours does not need to get done this week. So that's why we have that brain dump. But planning is such a helpful tool for you. When it comes to managing your life. And feeling like you're managing life with more ease and intention.
Ashley Brown 3:23
Planning is awesome. If you struggle with planning, the thing that I want for you to think about is the fact that it is not for you to stick to it is for you to have a reference a roadmap. So when you get sidetracked or when you need to put out tiny fires that you weren't expecting, you can come back to and be like, Oh, this is what I said I needed to do. Or this is what needs to happen today. Or it can't happen today. So let me move it to tomorrow a plan is readjustable, it can be adjusted. Okay, you can replan if you need to. But a plan is helpful just in allowing you to clear your head and be able to manage keeping up with the things that need to be kept up with in order for you to feel good in your life. Because when you're scrambling to figure out what to do, you're wasting a lot of time, when you don't have some plan about like how the day is going to flow in some sense.
Ashley Brown 4:22
Many times you're exerting a lot of mental and emotional energy that you don't want to be exerting because you want to give that mental and emotional energy to the things that matter. Not in you having to figure out wait what am I doing today? You already know and you have a clue. You have a sense of what you're doing today. It may not land perfectly like how you put it on that paper, but at least you have. You have a sense of what's happening. That will ease alive anxiety for you. It's going to lighten your load when you put a plan in place. So that's something you want to be doing every week. And choose a day choose a day choose a time. Try to stick to that day and time. Even if you can't stick to the day and time, just make sure you're doing it every week, take out time to plan, at least weekly. And if you have really busy days daily, okay, especially if your days look different day to day. The second thing that you can be doing every week to lighten your load is doing your foundational routines, keeping your routines up and going, oh my gosh, this is huge.
Ashley Brown 5:23
Having foundational routines. These are the routines in your life that you stay consistent with lighten your load so much, because it's a predetermined set of steps, predetermined things that you're doing, that you are not having to think about on a constant basis. That's helping you to release a lot of stress and anxiety from your mind. That's allowing you to get things done in a way that's done with ease and intention. Routines are really great at lightening your load mentally, they are great at lightening your load. Use them, continue to do your routines. If you don't have routines up and going right now that you feel like are helpful and healthy for you. Start one by one, incorporating healthy routines into your life. Just start with one routine, I will say choose your bedtime, especially if you do not have a bedtime routine that allows you to get to bed at a decent time and get to bed in a way that's going to allow you to rest and sleep well start with that bedtime routine is so important for you.
Ashley Brown 6:25
That's something I want to really ingrain in you is that having foundational routines are so important in lightening your load is going to allow you to not be so stressed because you have places to land. So like when the craziness of the world is happening. I'm like, Thank God, I got my morning routine, I got my bedtime routine that gives so much love to me. Because this world is crazy. And I don't feel like dealing with this world today. Let me go do this bedtime routine, clear my head, meditate. And rest well tonight so that I can rejuvenate from the craziness of this world. So I can refuel from the emotional craziness of this world. Like honestly, routines do so much for you. Okay, I'm off my soapbox. The third thing that you can do every single week is to take inventory of your life. I know you may be like Ashley, what are you talking about? What I'm speaking about here is you getting curious about how you're living life every week.
Ashley Brown 7:35
Because right now if you're stressed, and you're overwhelmed, things that you're doing, and ways that your thinking is contributing to that stress and that overwhelm, things that you're doing. And ways that you're thinking are contributing to the overwhelm and stress that you're feeling. So if you never assess and take inventory of how you are living day to day, you will not be able to identify the thoughts that are driving you to behave and take action in certain ways that don't serve you. Take inventory of your life every week. And that can just be through a simple reflection every day. That's why I journal I've been journaling every night because I created a new bedtime routine. I'm doing the routine and things accelerator right now. And I created a new bedtime routine. And my bedtime routine right now is journaling. So that's a way that I reflect every night. And that's what you can do reflect on your day every night and say what worked well today, what could have been better today.
Ashley Brown 8:43
And you'll see you'll start to see patterns that will pop up. Okay, so I've been feeling stressed about this same thing for the last five days, what's happening during this time of day what's going on, take inventory, because then you will be able to know what the problem is. Because once you can identify a problem, you can work towards a solution to that problem. So take inventory of your life. And that is going to lighten your load because you're going to start to take steps to solve the problems that you see are popping up in your life on a consistent basis. And you're going to get to a point where you don't have as many problems coming up day to day. And that helps you tremendously to feel good in life. So that's the last thing. These are just three things I want to share with you that you can do every week. I do this every week. I'm always taking note. I'm always like paying attention to like how I'm feeling and what has led me to feel the way that I'm feeling in my days.
Ashley Brown 9:44
Because if I keep seeing a pattern pop up. No. We got to start getting that pattern under control and what I put in place, it's usually a routine to reverse the pattern. Because routines are great at getting you out of have patterns that are not helpful for you. So these are three things that I do every single week plan. I do my foundational routines, and I take inventory of my life. And I want you to start doing the same. I want you to start doing the same. You can lighten the load, you can lighten your load starting today. And these are things that you can start doing in order to get there. I hope this was helpful. I'm so excited that you are a listener of the podcast if you've been listening for a while thank you so much. If you are new here, thank you for being here. Please leave a review. If you enjoyed this episode. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate and review the show. I would love to read a thoughtful review from you. But until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing, stay happy girl and I'll talk to you soon.
Ashley Brown 10:52 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social I would love to know you're listening. And for tools to help you start maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com Here's to staying happy