6 things I do daily to stay grounded
Life is crazy these days. Distractions abound. There’s crazy $#!+ happening everywhere in the world and we’re constantly bombarded by an endless stream of information and BS.
Ever since I started working from home, I’ve found it takes a lot more effort to stay focused, sane and grounded in real life.
Here are 6 things I do every day to stay grounded:
Leave my phone in another room for the first 1-2 hours every morning. Mornings are my favorite time of day, and I feel drastically better if I don’t let anything from my phone enter my mind while I get ready for the day
Read. This has easily been the biggest game changer in my life over the past 2 years. I’m addicted at this point.
Walk or get outside early in the day. Bonus points if I don’t have my phone on me or airpods in. I’ve had a disproportionate amount of moments of extraordinary clarity while on walks, and walk are often where I’ll get my best ideas.
Write! My girlfriend and I both started writing daily in a 1 Line a Day notebook, and the goal is to keep doing it every day for the next 5 years. Even though it only takes 20-30 seconds, simply reflecting on what I did the previous day and writing it down causes me to slow down, be present and increase awareness of how I’m actually spending my time.
Lift heavy things. Working out has been a mainstay of my mental health for years now, and it both humbles me and gives me an outlet to work through whatever is going on in my head.
Have a consistent ramp-down routine at the end of every work day. I got this idea from Cal Newport and Ali Abdaal, and all it is is a designated sequence of actions that I do to signal to my brain that work is done and set myself up for success tomorrow. For me, this looks like responding to final client messages, checking that all client programs are done, writing down the most important things to do tomorrow, and blocking events in my calendar for tomorrow. After doing these things, I can shut my computer and turn off my brain from work tasks, so that there’s a clear delineation between my on and off time, and I can be present the rest of the day.
None of these are particularly revolutionary, but they’ve been incredibly impactful for me as anchor points that ground me throughout each day. Even a few minutes of presence and intention can make a world of difference in how you experience each day 🫡
