For me, I feel very productive if I get four things done in a day. Of course, I have to do more than just four things to take care of my family. But the BIG four leave me feeling accomplished. Unfortunately, I haven’t done all four of them in the same day for a long time. How awful! It’s definitely time for me to get back on track. So what are the four priorities I feel I must do every day?
Pray: During the school year, I make every attempt to get my son ready on time and allow us two minutes for a quick prayer together. We simply stand inside the front door, with him all ready to go, and we take turns saying a prayer to help him throughout the day. Then off he goes. Personal prayers are equally important. We have family prayers at night, but I need to do a much better job of saying personal prayers in the morning and at night.
Scripture study: I read in my hard-copy scriptures so that I’m more apt to underline and take notes. But I have no problem using electronic versions of the scriptures either. I don’t give myself a time goal. I just read for a few minutes. I also read frequently from the Ensign magazine, enjoying snippets of scripture or sometimes in-depth understanding from the various articles.
Exercise: I so bad need to get back into a regular exercise routine. It used to be that I didn’t shower for the day until I’d had my workout. Guess I got tired of looking frumpy all the time. But now I feel frumpy, even if I’m dressed to the nines. So I can’t make excuses! I need to head out for a walk before my boys wake up (during the summer) and right after my oldest goes to school (during the other months). Exercise DVDs and Youtube videos are my next go-to. I really feel better if I do at least 30 mins daily. For me, it doesn’t work to break it up into chunks throughout the day; it’s all or nothing.
Journal writing: I think that keeping a food journal and a life/personal journal are worthy endeavors. I cannot lose even an ounce unless I track what I put in my mouth. I use the MyFitnessPal app but am sporadic about it. I also have a FitBit. My husband has lost 80 lbs. since using both. He is also a diligent daily journal keeper. So it’s his word against mine when recalling many family events in the past, because he took the time to record what happened. My favorite form of journal writing is doing digital scrapbooks. But I am years behind in recording our precious family events. So sad! So it’s time to improve. If I set aside just 15 mins each day to write in a journal or do a scrapbook page, I’d accomplish tons.
To accomplish these daily goals, I need 60-90 minutes. That’s tough to squeeze in now that I work a little from home. But I can’t let these four key areas slide anymore. By doing them faithfully, I’m better focused for the rest of my day with my youngest son and can accomplish what needs to be done around the home for my family.
What things are a must in your daily routine?
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