When it comes to your success as a female entrepreneur, your daily habits are a huge factor in whether or not you’ll achieve your goals.

Here’s how I focus on my body, mind, and soul each day to stay successful.

Like everyone else, I have 24 hours in a day. But many days I found I would abuse this time I was given. I would overthink things, while easily getting sidetracked on the newest shiny object that caught my attention. I was left wondering what happened to my day.

I’ve learned that the most successful entrepreneurs spend a large amount of time in mindset. That’s how I start my day, working on my mind and working on my soul. Journaling has always been part of my life. I started taking it seriously five years ago. My book of affirmations, I Have Time For You, was a transcription of my journal. Journaling has been one of my non-negotiables in starting and ending my day–but so is washing my face.

Within these 24 hours of mine, I’ve learned that my body requires movement. Exercise helps my brain. I joined Club Pilates after leaving my job. At my job I was active which meant if I didn’t continue actively moving my body every day, I would be a mess. There’s a theory that the body holds memory at the cellular level. By keeping my body moving it fires up my brain pulling out toxic energy.

My daily method of operation has shifted from a life of “living” to a life of “giving.” My early years of being an entrepreneur unfortunately were ones of being a taker. Changing my energy from living to giving has made a huge shift. I am grateful covid-19 brought two hobbies, baking sourdough bread and growing a garden of zinnias. Both have given me the ability to share with friends and family something I create. This allows me to be a better me through gratefulness and giving.

Baking sourdough bread doesn’t take much time or effort. It’s opened my mind to an even healthier lifestyle. Clean eating isn’t difficult. Drinking more water and with lemon I’m quite sure has boosted my immune system. An adequate amount of sleep boosts my immune system as well. Early to bed, early to rise heals the body, mind, and soul. In order for me to be at my best one-sixth of my day is spent sleeping, not the most common thing to do, but it’s important to me to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep.

Mind, body, and soul are my priorities not in that order. My first hour of the day is spent in prayer, journaling, and meditation. (6am – 7am). Reading email and my first touch with social media comes next. When it comes to social media, I’ve found it imperative to set healthy boundaries. Clocks and timers have helped me keep my sanity, without binging. Otherwise, time melts away. (7am – 9am)

Business is always on my mind, leaving the feeling that I’m always working. My mind is always on the go and a change of scenery clears my mind. After a quick check-in with my zinnias or feeding my sourdough, the next hour is devoted to domestic love. This includes sweeping, dusting, making my bed, and general cleaning. These small jobs create a sense of accomplishment as well as the satisfaction of knowing I don’t have to squeeze in time later to take care of these tasks.(9am – 10am).

Each day I know my schedule because I planned it the night before. With another look at email and social media, I’m responding and engaging with my community. Building relationships is important as an entrepreneur because our days as solo entrepreneurs require that boost of extra energy. The next three hours are devoted to my to-do list. (10am – 1pm). My to-do list does include meetings both in-person or virtually. Projects and troubleshooting take up the majority of my time. I post once a day on Instagram and twice a day on my Facebook Business page. My posts are congruent with my daily email campaigns. If everything is congruent, there is less time to over-think. If you haven’t noticed, I’m an action taker.

Lunchtime is at 1pm mostly because I believe in the benefits of intermittent fasting. I give myself a one-hour uninterrupted break. Learning from the Nordstrom way, lunch was a mandatory step away from everything work-related. I’ve continued this non-negotiable because it’s easy to forget about myself and keep pushing through the workday. (1pm – 3pm)

Keeping my inbox to less than 10 messages has always been a daily goal. When I worked corporately this helped me stay organized, so I’ve incorporated it into my daily method of operation. Given it’s been a while since I’ve worked corporately and I was receiving fewer emails back then, it’s a method that still works for me today. It allows me to respond to requests immediately. I have always been a fan of the “Touch it Once Rule”, but I modified my way. In the past, overthinking and perfection weighed down my daily to-do list. Removing the clutter of unanswered emails, allows me to focus on each and every email. Like others, I receive thousands of emails a day. I’m on hundreds of mailing lists. I am an online marketer and I had to find a system to keep my sanity. I rely heavily on subject lines based on the sender. Most authors of emails send content based on their niche. Some of their emails are filled with value, others are short and to the sale. Obviously, most will be deleted.

Another non-negotiable is reading one book a month, or 30 minutes a day. Much of my creativity comes from the books I read. Typically at 3pm, I’ll read to give my eyes a break from staring at my computer. I may take a short walk if I’m feeling stuck or need a break. Between 3pm and 6pm is uninterrupted project time. I’m a believer that we are more productive when we focus on only one thing at a time. Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World explains it’s a skill that allows you to produce better results in less time. Plus with a little caffeine, these three hours can be pretty intense.

Downtime doesn’t mean feet up and relaxing. There are plenty of ways to use downtime productively. There’s a major difference between the kind of work we do for money and the way our brains work to support us in our daily lives. The next two hours are devoted to my family and dinner. (6pm – 8pm). There is usually time for a 30-minute walk or cleanup duty for the day. And it’s always the perfect time of day to water my zinnias and the lawn, which happens to be pretty therapeutic.

One last look at email and it’s time to create my morning email. This is the email that kicks off the next day. I’ve written hundreds of emails, probably thousands. Creating my morning email campaigns can be completed within 30 minutes. The remaining minutes of my day are spent planning my to-do list for the next day and writing down three things I’m grateful for. You’ll usually find me in the rocking chair in my bedroom responding to social media comments with sometimes one last look to ensure my email inbox is empty. 

Washing my face has been a relaxing self-care ritual in the morning and in the evening, as well as slipping into clean sheets. (8pm – 10pm). Staying away from harsh chemicals and unnecessary additives works from head to toe. No more chapped, red knuckles after washing hands several times a day. No more irritated skin from harsh laundry detergent and cleaning products.

Perhaps you may find this as a rigid schedule, but I feel it’s fairly loose. My days don’t always go the way I expect them to, but with a blocked schedule like this, I can be empathetic when the next crisis pops up.  I can negotiate my blocks of time. If I know I need uninterrupted focused time, this allows me to switch a block of time. For example, sometimes it’s better for me to write a blog post as soon as I wake up. Weekly blocks can be moved around too. I wash towels and bedsheets during the middle of the week and then wash clothes on Fridays or Saturdays. This allows for an impromptu invitation to a coffee place, lunch date, or happy hour.

Typically my head hits the pillow by 10pm for a good eight hours of rest.

When it comes to your success, your daily habits are a huge factor in whether or not you’ll achieve your goals.

Lisa Carmichael ~ Owner & Creator of EPIK Mastermind