Best Practices
What are best practices, anyway? Simply put, they are the behaviors or habits that you purposely engage in to be your most productive, with the least amount of struggle.
One of the most important things you can do when looking to establish and put into place best practices for yourself is to increase your awareness of what you do to set yourself up to win. Successful people are successful in part because they act with purpose. As you’ll see below, many common best practices are quite simple. The genius in them is that they are carried out with intention when you want to generate something in your life.
Let me give you some of the heavy hitters that work for a lot of people.
1. Find comfort in routine - Take a look at the foundational habits of your days like the quality of your sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Do they support you in giving your body what it needs to work well? Maintaining routines can help to make the challenges of your goals more manageable.
Some people notice their day is more productive when they begin it a certain way. Maybe it’s a few extra minutes in bed to focus on the day ahead, giving yourself (more than) enough time to get out the door, or enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. Maybe you value some time to stretch, meditate, or do a gratitude practice. Anything that sets you up for the day to be better.
Establishing a routine that puts self-care at the forefront of your day can be a best practice that sets you up for success!
2. Be intentional about time management. This is huge and often overlooked. Start by looking at your schedule. Do you have an organized method of allowing yourself enough time to accomplish the things that matter to you? Leave wriggle room for the inevitable curveballs that arise.
Is there a realistic amount of time allotted for everything? Check again… is what you’re asking of yourself in a given timeframe realistic? Are tasks broken down into manageable chunks to combat feeling overwhelmed? An example might help.Rather than writing “Plan event” or “Write a 10-page paper”, have you written a specific, doable task for that block of time like “Draft guest list” or “Write an outline for my paper.”
Your time is valuable and limited. I think this is one of the biggest contributors to people’s stress these days, trying to do too much with too little time. It also makes interactions with other people more positive; you know how it feels to be around someone who’s always rushed or late. Bringing a calm vibe to the table is a great best practice for a relationship.
3. Reward yourself! You’re worth it! Are you someone who benefits from small rewards as you complete each step on the way to reaching a larger goal? If so, be all over that. For some people, that is critical to building and sustaining momentum.
4. Get grounded, especially if you’re feeling scattered or stuck, or don’t know where to begin on a goal. Getting organized in established areas of your life can ground you in a way that strengthens you for new challenges. This is where the well-known advice “make your bed” comes in. This simple, familiar task sets you up to achieve larger successes. It creates an experience of confidence that carries over to the new task you’re attempting. It acts like a competence booster shot in unfamiliar territory to make it feel less challenging.
5. Successful people are flexible. They know when to push themselves, and they also know when to meet themselves where they are. Let’s say your project requires intense concentration or a creative process. You scheduled time for it, get started, and it’s just not happening, even after you’ve made a few attempts. A best practice, in this case, might be to take a break and work on something that matches your energy level—trusting that you’ll return to the task when you’re back in the zone.
6. Triage, triage, triage. I think the ability to set and reset priorities as a guide to know where to put your efforts is one of the most powerful best practices out there.
7. Who are you in touch with? Notice if there’s someone in your life who, after you talk with them or spend time with them, you feel lifted somehow. If so, regular contact with them could be a best practice for you to fill you up and keep you going.
These are just a few best practices that may work for you and could be a good place to start. What do you think YOUR best practices are? What are the tools you put into place to maximize your productivity? If you think you don’t know, don’t worry. You have them; you may not realize what they are yet. You can find out what yours are by doing some detective work. Think back to a time when you accomplished something. Recall what specific actions you took that helped you start or finish a task let you focus, or gave you energy. Maybe you noticed yourself feeling a little zip, your version of “Yeah. I nailed that!”. That is golden information for you. Think about what SPECIFICALLY you did that led to that. That is likely one of your own best practices. One you’ll want to remember for the future I want you to stay open to this process. You will be amazed by the power of figuring out the secret ingredients to your success.
If you’re having a hard time drawing from past experiences, don’t worry. Just try things.Don’t rule anything out. If you notice right away that something elevates your mood, gives you the energy to work on a task, inspires you in any way, make a note, and keep doing that. You may not feel positive results right away. You may need to try something several times to see if it helps you.
I believe that the secrets to our success, and being our best selves, lie within us. The trick is to take the time to uncover what makes us the happiest, most productive people we can be. If you’re stuck, feeling like your keys to success are buried just a little too deep, or can’t figure out why what works for everyone else, doesn’t work for you… That’s what I’m here for. Reach out any time.You deserve a fulfilling and vibrant life; let’s get you there!