Welcome to episode 19! There are a lot of resources out there about how you start your day. Intentional. Reactive. With your phone. Early. Later. With coffee or without. We all have a routine for our mornings.
The real question is, does your current morning routine serve you? Today’s episode, however, is about how you end your day. Yes! Today will get you thinking about how you end your day and give ideas to better serve you as a high achiever in Direct Sales needing good sleep, more energy, and enhanced focus by purposefully ending your day.
Balance Work and Family as a Women in Direct Sales
You’ll feel more balanced, between business, family, and personal pursuits by taking a close look at how you end your days.
I’ve actually broken this conversation down into three episodes.
If I’ve got you wondering about your morning routine, and how to start your day with intention and purpose, go to episode 17. I share The Number One Difference Maker in Your Morning Routine for High Achievers in Direct Sales. You can find it at crazybigdreams.biz/17.
How You End Your Day as a Female Leader in Direct Sales Matters
Today is dedicated to how you are ending your day.
If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you’ll know there is typically always a purposeful ending. I’m also a yoga teacher and have been for years. At the end of every class, before we exchange “Namasté” our palms are pressed together with arms lengthened overhead.
As we lower our hands to our forehead, I say “think positive thoughts”. As hands lower past our mouths I say “speak kind words”, and as hands rest at our hearts I say “with a grateful heart, Namasté.”
I love giving my fellow yoga students a familiar and intentional end to our practice. Can you feel how this would pull things all together for their experience at the end? A class that was maybe difficult, physically or emotionally. A class that maybe disappointed them. They were expecting something different.
A class that had them experiencing just what they came for and a little bit more. They’re so glad they showed up. It stretched that tight area and helped them feel strong in more ways than one.
Regardless of how they felt the class went for them that particular day, I end with intention, sending each person back out into the world, and to whatever awaits them on the other side of the door, with peace.
High Achieving Women in Direct Sales Gift Themselves Peace
I’m inviting you today to gift yourself the same thing. A purposeful end to your days. Whether your day was what you hoped for, more challenging than you would have preferred, brought you to your knees, or was your best day yet.
The impact of ending your day with purpose can be life-changing! Sound grandiose? It should! Because it is. That’s how powerful this is. And I know. Like many high achievers like you, they’ve thought about this with their morning routine.
High Achieving Women in Direct Sales Book Club Topic
They know it. They’ve tweaked it. They’ve even led a book club for their teams on the importance of starting your day with purpose. Is this you too?!
When it comes to ending our days with purpose, well, it’s not as popular or trendy and there certainly aren’t as many books written about the whole experience. Hmm, maybe I should write one!
Three Important Strategies When Ending Your Days with Purpose as a Direct Sales Leader
Ok, so let’s get on with how you go about ending your days. Three strategies to consider:
- Make it serve your season of life and business now.
- Give yourself time, trial, and error to implement your new practice of ending your day.
- Know you can tweak it as you go.
The “How-To” for Ending Your Days with Purpose as a Direct Sales Leader
What to actually do to end your day with intention and purpose.
- Decide when you’re going to shut the screens off. For so many reasons, the screens need to go off. Better sleep and more quality family time, or personal time are the top two reasons! For me, it’s 1 hour before falling asleep. Find what works for you. I started with 3 hours before bed but found it just wasn’t working.
My husband and I need to do some work and connect with each other about things that live online. This happens after the little one is in bed. But, I do make sure all screens are off for me at least one hour before I fall asleep.
I don’t have my phone from the time I pick him up from school until after he goes to bed. It’s such a gift. If you’re panicked by the sound of that, your strong reaction likely is signally an area for you to take a closer look at.
2. Make your Top 5 Important Things list. Basically, you’re reviewing what you got done and didn’t get done today. Then create a list of the most important things you need to do the next day. I’ve dedicated a whole episode to this Most Important Things List. Check out episode 20 at crazybigdreams.biz/20.
3. Tidy, organize, clean. Spend a few minutes picking up, tidying, and getting your things set out for the next day. Anything you can do the night before to not only save you time but save you mental energy and thought, do it the night before.
I know, it’s so easy to push it to tomorrow. Don’t. In your mind, you may feel like it’s going to take a lot longer than it really will to do it the night before. That’s your end-of-day-I’m-just-too-tired mentality talking to you. Set it aside. Do what you need to do. And let yourself be surprised at how little time it took. Mostly, you’ll enjoy the freedoms it gives you the next day!
4. Last, but not least, gratitude. The last and arguably most impactful activity you can do at the end of each day is to acknowledge what you are most grateful for that day. Write it down. Pen to paper.
Do it in a way that resonates with you. Maybe it’s a bullet list. Maybe you write full sentences. Maybe it’s a combination of these styles. It doesn’t matter how you do it. It matters that you do it.
You’ll capture what you’re grateful for and equally important, why you are grateful for it.
For example, I may write that I’m grateful for my son, the warm breeze today, and for my husband.
But when I write I’m grateful for my son because he makes me laugh in a way no one else can. I’m grateful for the warm breeze because we live in a magical place, Hawaii. And I’m grateful for my husband because he helps me think about things in ways that I could never on my own and in a way that is so enhancing to me, our relationship, and my growth.
Do you feel the difference? The why makes it resonate. It has a deeper meaning.
I’ll leave it at that for now, but of course, these highly impactful topics I dedicate their own episode to. Check out episode 21 for all things gratitude. You can find the full transcript at crazybigdreams.biz/21 when it hits the podcast airwaves soon.
When you’re intentional about how your days end, do you see how this can help you sleep better by putting a ribbon on the end of your day, regardless of how it unfolded?
It will help with your energy and focus by making your important things list. And you’ll go to sleep with a grateful heart, ready to conquer the next day.
Let’s leave you with a recap of these four things to end your day.
- Decide when you’re going to shut your screens off. For yourself. Your family doesn’t have to be on board. You have to choose this for yourself, first.
- Make your top 5 important things list.
- Tidy, organize, clean.
- Write down what you’re grateful for.
This, in my opinion, covers the essential things to end your day with a purpose that serves you. I also do some stretches and yoga. What would you add? Click over to Instagram @yourcrazybigdreams and share what you’ll add to your evening routine to make it intentional and purposeful.
The best is yet to come, friend. Always.
