Phew. If I told you how many times people have asked me to talk or write about planning my day and all. Phew.
One of the many graces on my life is DISCIPLINE. And I am not averagely disciplined. I am EXTRA disciplined. Once I need to put the brakes on anything and get a hold, I go all out. I am not afraid to be BRUTAL. Normal doesn’t quite cut it. And because I am a #JesusGirl, I also know God has called me to inspire his daughters around the world with this grace, so if I am going to inspire you, that is call you on higher, I better not come on the normal level. I have to be EXTRA so maybe I can get you up to the normal level.
Which is why you really should not strive to be like anyone. Their grace may differ from yours. God has instead called you to be the VERY BEST version of you. So be inspired and then BE you, while embracing your stretch.
And let me just share this scripture the Lord showed and explained to me recently…
2 Corinthians 2:14 (NLT)
So Paul says he spreads the fragrance of God everywhere. For the bad people, it is a stench… they say he is just showing off, his own is too much, he is lying, etx.
To the good people, it is a sweet smelling fragrance… they are the ones who say if Paul can, then I too can. The ones who say well done, thank you, I hear you AND actually change.
Paul then concludes by saying he has a hard job (I KNOW THIS), but he cannot water down the message of God aka be any less EXTRA because GOD is watching him.
So that is really me. Some people may look at me and perceive my life wrongly but really, what can I do? Sometimes it is not me, it is THEM. The fragrance is perceived as STENCH because satan is winning.
Ok that was a side bar. Receive what is yours.
Now let’s go into the main gist
How I plan my day. I will share the general principle and a few specifics.
First, man know thyself
I KNOW myself.
Gosh I know Eziaha.
I know that waking up at 2am on week days is the BEST gift of productivity I can give myself in any 24-hour day. So you may say I am being too extra but I am just stewarding what I know works for me.
Next, 90% of the time, I start my day with JESUS. I can’t do otherwise. These days, I mostly start with a 2020 prayer capital of praying in tongues for 30mins straight. If you are my friend, you possibly know about a 2020 goal I have, so that is me pouring a prayer capital into it, and asking God for wisdom and heaven’s strategy. I mostly pray with either a Word God has given me or this prophetic word from Elijah list
Then I do other spiritual disciplines…
Pray, read/study the word, journal (I have at least 52 lol, worship and more. It is the BEST part of my day and the one thing that makes me not be Judas and Satan lol.
If I still have time that morning, I read. Otherwise I read later in the day.
Check out this post on READING and how I get it done here. Now in the middle of all of that, even from prayers, different things come to my mind that must be done today. I have various stick on and loose sheets that I write them on so that later, I put them into my Planner and arrange it all.
This process is so important to me and on most days, I actually allocate timings to it so that I don’t just coast. Even if no timings, I usually have quite a slammed schedule from work so it out fire to my bum. Then I use the countdown timer to make sure I am on the clock, literally.
As I accomplish, I highlight it or strike it so I have a sense of DONE…
For instance, look closely at this day
I divided my day to tasks I could do on the road as I was going out, and tasks to be done when back and then the rest of the tasks I could do before leaving home.
It takes a bit of time to plan out the day but what you think you lose in time, you gain at the end, cos then your day moves fluidly
Look at my Sunday plan for instance
I was going to my parents place for a meeting after church but I had a full day so I woke at 2 and got into planning the entire week first. Then wrote out the task for the day and threw my planner into my bag. In the car, I got some done. While waiting for the rest of my sibs to appear, I got some done. During the meeting, I got a few more done
I also write out tasks I wanna allocate to my assistant or someone on my team so those go to them in voice notes. It may be rough sketches but a rough pen is better than a mental memory in case you forget
The koko is have a planner, write stuff down, and have a way to show when done (I highlight)
Then I have a few daily musts. First, spending time with God and all I do therein. I actually have a prayer schedule I use daily.
See it below
Sundays are for ZIVAH, which is a certain exciting project I am on to launch in 2020.
Then I must take at least 30mins to strategize for the grand 2020 plan I am working on
Then at least another 30mins to gain knowledge in my fitness and healthy living field and then for this Domestic Queens assignment. Add the prayer capital to this and you have the three things I MUST do daily.
I also must read. Like I have to read daily too.
I recommend having a DAILY MUST list of stuff you know will really make the day a productive one and stick to it no matter what. It is not uncommon to see me struggling to gain professional knowledge late at night just before I sleep cos I have to do it. Nobody will beat me if I don’t, but hey for self-respect
On most days, I work out at 6.30am. Exercising is super important to me.
I also allocate time to spend with my kids and play with them.
Oh then when it comes to work, I also have this list of stuff to do on each day.
E.g., there are days I write and send in BN article, some days I create Nutrition plans, some days I schedule birthdays for the week, and so on. Even when not work related, I have days to catch up on my leadership podcast, Girl talk on better together TV, Lovely by Jenn Johnson, days I listen to DDK, and Ibukun Awosika message and so on. That is me being intentional about my teachers. Yes sometimes I enjoy them on extra days but having days allotted to each mean in a week I cover it, as opposed to being random. On Saturdays at 5am, I pray with Idala, a fitness comrade who I love (she is fleximum coach), Sundays I pray with my best friend at 4am and we just catch up afterwards on the week, Monday 12am I pray with a few of my married sisters, Mon, wed and Fri I pray in the mornings with hubby, and all that. I have a schedule for my three blogs too. So I am intentional.
On Fridays, I try to work outside the home for some change at least and then I enjoy a nice treat of parfait and moimoi when I can afford to eat it. Working from an eatery (I favor The Place) helps me rev my brain up to produce different and better. I typically strategize on those days. It can be market noisy but I don’t even hear them, I am deep in focus.
I have also learned to leave my personal line away from me during work hours. This one thing changed my game and I am so glad I learned it. That way I can really focus and crush the day’s task especially this season where I don’t have any staff.
So now I don’t chat anyhow. Instead after work and domestic waka, I can then catch up and I usually have such a short window too, so it means I prioritize messages. If for instance I recall a personal thing to be done maybe for or with a friend, I make a note of it in my journal so when I can get personal, I send to you. If urgent, I get my work phone, ignore EVERY OTHER message and focus on what brought me there, until it is time to catch up on chats.
And finally, at least for this post, my Best, EFG introduced me to something last month when she was fasting…
Praying at every watch
So 6am, 9am, 12noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm.
We now both do it so we have alarms set. I pray for different things each time but at 6am, we pray for EFG which is both of us (since God has literally stuck us together forever but hey we will choose each other still sha). Each prayer watch lasts 15mins but some days if no time, I do 10mins. It is set on all my phones so I can’t miss it.
It also gives me a good reason to interrupt my day especially when my head is hotttt from the level of work lol.
So that is basically it. As events come up that I must attend, or meetings, I write in my planner too.
I basically live off my planner and this has pretty much been me since Uni, only I have evolved and I am getting better.
Get a Planner. Write down stuff. Give timings and priority to each, then drop your phone and take away any distractions so you can work and work well. I also have a task board where I post my sticky notes for some quick stand-out reminders. It is just above my eye level on my work space so I see them.
And this even for housework. In my latest BN Post, I talk about how I even batch housework especially when I had no help.
Another thing that helps is waking on time, whatever time works for your productivity. But you can’t sleep away your whole life sha, abeg
I also try to sleep early. 9pm most days I am in bed. And hey, hubby sleeps later but because we are married and sex is part of what we do, he mostly wakes me up and I am game. I looooooove my husband so that’s fine. Some days though, I am literally dead and don’t feel a thing haha.
Oh and waking on Sunday is super important as that allows me plan the week on a broad scale…
If not Sunday morning especially cos I have to pray and catch up with EFG, I do it when the family sleeps in the afternoon and the house is quiet. If I don’t plan my week Sunday, phew I am toast. Lol. So that is when all the social media post, blog posts and all are planned. Like today, I know what will go up until Saturday on all my pages
Ok so I may have missed some things. Ask me in the comments section and I will get on it. Will personally answer every comment that comes in early.
But that my darlings, is how my day gets planned!!! Is it perfect daily? Nope. But I try to do my best and literally leave the gap for Jesus!!! And then wake the next day and go at it again. Having a plan is always better as you know where you need to do better and all as opposed to being casual about it all.
Let me know how this helped too. And please APPLY them
Zivah&Chazaq (Light & Strength)
Eziaha