THE ROUTINE OF A CEO

As a CEO, we all know there are endless things to do. Your mind races at a million miles an hour with different ideas and notes.?

So for me, keeping Monday as free as I can really helps me to work on the bigger picture things rather than getting caught up in the day to do. You know, that 20 year plan, five year plan, three year plan. It's important to start the week creating the ideal life for ourselves. Life goes by so quickly so you need to spend time on the important things.

I try to wake up with my natural body clock in the mornings when I can or if it is a big training day, I’m up at 5.20am. Working out for me means getting out of my head and into my body. I try to fight aging in the gym.

After my regular exercise or on my day off, I try not to look at my phone first thing in the morning. I turn off all alerts, notifications and alarms as I want to deal with those things when it suits me. It doesn’t work being dragged from thing to thing and if you let it, those notifications can take you a million places you didn’t plan to go first thing.

When it is time to connect, a quick scroll through social media and some calls with the people I need to talk to are a must.?

When it is time to get my head into the game I like to strategise my time - which I do by writing my tasks down in a particular way that works for me.?

Visualise this everyone. My notepad is a column of a short list of things in the top left that are absolute musts. Non negotiable things and as I get older and wiser, I want this list to get smaller.?

Top right column are my non-negotiable calls and meetings and the bottom columns are my mind churning notes and the ‘nice to dos’.?

When figuring out your own routine for you, I think it is important to listen to other successful people and what they are doing. I myself listen to a variety of podcasts and it's great to hear how people do things because it makes me think, well, what am I doing? I’ve picked up some great tips for doing this.?

Balance is everything and I make sure I convey this to my team as otherwise, we are all bound for burnout. I’m a massive morning guy but when it hits 3pm, my brain starts to go and I start to enter the homezone.?

One hack I’ve found that allows me to get an energy boost around this time is jumping into freezing cold water. I do this most evenings so that I can give myself another 90 minutes of good energy to play ping-pong with the kids or help them with their studies. That’s the real quality time.?

And then you know the classic thing: Everyone struggles to get seven to eight hours sleep. Many are buzzed from a chaotic work day and the mind doesn’t just shut it out. I have taught myself that this doesn’t help anyone and I need to stop. I enjoy reading to switch off and get away.

These are just some points of my daily routine of running a small business that I find work well for me. If you are trying to get into a more habitual and healthy routine, find what works for you most importantly and roll with that.?