Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, my name is Sheila. Welcome to the course that's going to make your evenings the best that they can possibly be. We're always looking for ways to be more efficient with our time and be more productive. And what I found is that the old adage still holds true. If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. This is sometimes more obvious. At the end of the day when we're tired, we've had enough. And we know there are those last things that we would like to do, but we're not sure at how to make it happen. As a person who is a busy professional, a fitness YouTuber, and a community advocate. I got a lot on my plate, but I'm most concerned about how we take care of ourselves in the best possible way. This is from both a physical and mental perspective. In this workshop, we're going to talk about your goals for your evening routine, your fears related to those goals, and the resources you need to accomplish them. We're going to come up with affirmations to help you succeed and even time periods that will work best for you. So if you're ready to take control of your evenings, then let's get started.
2. Get Started with Your Space...from Fantasy to Reality: Welcome to your first lesson. This is a lesson that sets the stage for everything that you want your evening routine to be. But first, we're going to take a step back and engage in a bit of a fantasy thinking. Here's what I want you to think about. If you can see it, you can believe it. If you can believe it, you can be it. So we're going to start with seeing, seeing that fantasy or that dream and then making it a reality. I want you to close your eyes. Imagine that you're in the place where you would have your most productive evening routine. Picture what your environment looks like. Are you alone? Are you with others? Is the setting quiet? Are filled with voices. Is there music in the background or is there perhaps white noise? How is the space LET do you need exposure to natural light or is artificial light satisfactory? How is the space filled? Are there affirmations framed on the wall around you or do you prefer minimalism? What does this maze smell like, if anything? When you think about the first thing that you want to accomplish while you're in your most productive space. How is it being accomplished? Are used sitting at a desk, perhaps you're sitting at a table. Maybe you've created a perfect corner spot on the floor. You might not even be still at all. Maybe you're perfect. Evening routine includes you getting a variety of things done, everything from housekeeping it to paying bills, and then a shower before you work on your list of things that you have to do for the next day. What tools are you using? A laptop, a smart phone, maybe even a journal, if that's part of your process. What things are you missing? Once you've envisioned your perfect productivity space, I want you to see meant the look of that into your brain. All of the details, everything that makes the space yours. When you've finished envisioning your space, I want you to open your eyes. Next. Take out a piece of paper and write down 10 things. They immediately come to mind about your space. Now, they don't have to be in any particular order. Just write down the ones that you most easily. Remember. I've actually provided a worksheet for you to use to make this easier for you. After you've finished developing your list, it's time to move on to the next lesson. So congratulations on taking the first step to creating your perfect high productivity evening routine.
3. Create Goals & Focus on Your Why: In this lesson, we're going to discuss how to create goals for your evening routine. Nahal, I know a lot of you are going to say, But Sheila, I already know how to create goals. I've taken workshops about creating goals. Either had to create goals for work. I get it. And I'm sure you do who already know a lot about creating goals. So we're going to do a short review of creating goals. And then we're going to focus on something else. Your, why. You're probably already familiar with creating smart goals. Smart is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Here are a few examples and just as a reminder, for a goal to be specific, you want to consider who will be responsible for the goal. For example. For a goal to be measurable, you will need to know what data will be collected and reviewed for goals to be attainable, you need to know about any roadblocks or challenges. I want to know what skills and resources will be needed in order to make the goals happen. Just another example. For a goal to be relevant, it has to matter to you or to maybe someone else. And finally, for a goal to be time bound, there needs to be a deadline or a due date that is attached to the completion of the goal. Now that we've reviewed a smart goals, let's switch gears. Let's talk about your why, your motivation, the reasons why you want to achieve these particular goals. Sometimes we create goals because we believe that society has certain expectations for us. And unfortunately, we feel like we have to do them. We haven't set these goals for ourselves. No. We're actually working on autopilot and deciding we're going to do something because it's something we think we're supposed to do. And that's unfortunate. Other times, we create goals because someone else is actually pushing our buttons. That person is telling us what we should and maybe even why we should do it. It could be a family member, a friend, or even a mentor. But instead of taking control and accountability for our goals, we blindly listen to what we're being told in them. We follow through on those goals without really determining whether those goals are for us. Then there are the times when we're scared, fear is holding us back. And so we set ourselves up by making a fake goals because we're too scared to be honest with ourselves about our real goals. We might be afraid to fail and our real goals. And so we choose fake goals. We might think that others will laugh at us if we share what our real goals are. We might even tell ourselves that some day I'll pursue those goals. And that now, well, is not the right time. Here's what you should remember as a takeaway. You only have one life. You're not guaranteed tomorrow. Life is not a dress rehearsal that you get to perform over again if you don't get it right this time, there are no stand-ins for you. The role you play in your life is you, you don't play Anyone else, nor should you want to. Instead, you should treat your role like the Academy Award winning performance, that it should be because your life is that special. So start writing down the goals that you want to accomplish with your high productivity evening routine. Beside each goal, you're going to write down your reason why this goal matters to you. It's important that you understand your why because your y is what's going to keep you focused on your goal. I've provided a worksheet for you to use. Once you've completed the worksheet, congratulate yourself, then proceed to the next lesson.
4. Face the Fears Holding You Back: Welcome to the lesson that's going to require you to take off your personal protective gear and get a little more comfortable with fear. Fear is not something that most of us desire to feel. We say things like, I feel great, I'm looking forward to this. I'm so excited about that. Those are feelings that are comfortable there like putting on a pair of comfy shoes in your closet that you've worn in just a right. They are like putting on that outfit that always lifts your spirit. You know, the outfit, it's your go-to outfit that you would wear everywhere if you could. But we don't wake up wanting to step into fear each morning. We don't say to ourselves, oh, I can't wait to be fearful today. I'm looking forward to being scared about some things that I have to do. No. Instead, we run away from fear and it's instinctive because we don't want to be heard. We have a natural instinct for self-preservation, not self annihilation. The only problem with running away from fear is that if we don't at least face or confront our fears, we won't be able to move beyond them. We will always act from a perspective of being scared. So let's first discuss how we can appreciate what fear does for us. How we can use it to create our perfect high productivity evening routine. As I stated before, fear is present to protect us. Our body even provides cues to us. We call it gut instinct or aspire, $0.80. Our intuition, our body even imparts physical responses. We get goosebumps, we get a lump in her throat or that feeling that something is just not quite right. Sometimes our fear is a spot on. It lets us know that we need to make a different decision. For instance, once you've been burned by a hot stove, you remember not to touch the hot stove. Again. It will burn you. That's experiential fear. You experience something and you don't want to experience it. Again. You fear being burned and everything that goes along with it. Other times we mistake or excuses for fear. For example, were scared what someone will think about us. And it keeps us from taking a certain kind of job, buying a particular car, or going to a certain caliber of school, were afraid of what others will think. And so we do or don't do a thing based on that fear. The same thing applies to goals. If we don't step into the fear and acknowledge the fear, then it makes it harder for us to plan for them. For each of the goals that you made, I want you to write down the fears that you have about achieving or not achieving those goals. You can write those down on the worksheet that's been provided to you in this workshop. Once you've completed the workshop, congratulate yourself and proceed to the next lesson.
5. Build Affirmations to Combat Your Fears: In our last lesson, we discussed the fears that may hold you back from creating the goals for your high productivity evening routine. In this lesson, we're going to uncover the affirmations that you need to reinforce your goals and combat negative self-talk. They're frequently comes from fear. Let's first discuss what affirmations are and why we need them. According to positive psychology.com, they are positive phrases or statements used to challenge negative or unhelpful thoughts. This source goes on to say that you may choose to use positive affirmations to motivate yourself. Encourage a positive changes in your life, or just boost your self-esteem. If you frequently find yourself getting caught up in negative self-talk. Positive affirmations can be used to combat these often subconscious patterns and replace them with more adaptive narratives. But here's another thing. The benefits of positive affirmations go beyond boosting your self esteem and motivating you. According to the US Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, affirmations can decrease stress, increase well-being, improve academic performance, and actually make people more open to behavior change. So let's go over five rules for your affirmations. One, you'll want to begin your affirmations with the words. I am, too. You'll want to use the present tense and not focused on the past or the future. Three, you'll want to only reference yourself and no one else. For you want to state your affirmations in the positive and not the negative. 5, you'll want to use words that inspire and motivate you. Like before you're going to fill in your worksheet with the affirmations that directly combat those fears that you've already stated. You may even want to consider a having more than one affirmation for each fear that you have listed. Once you've finished, congratulate yourself, you're ready for the next lesson.
6. Build Your Resource List: In this lesson, we're going to help plan the resources you need in order to develop your high productivity evening routine. First, let's discuss the types of resources that you may want to think about. One, financial resources, will your goal require you to spend money? And if so, how much and how often. Consider creating a budget so that you will be able to plan for the expenses that you'll need to pay to labor resources? Will you need to hire employees or contractors? If so, again, you'll need to plan what these people will do, how much you will pay them, and how long you expect to have them under contract. Three, physical resources. You will need to also review your equipment needs. Do you have the equipment that you need to buy or lease? Do you heavy equipment that needs to be repaired? What about building space or office space? For intellectual resources, you need any particular skills or talents. Will you have to take classes to obtain these skills, or do you already happened them? Five emotional resources. What kind of emotional support will you need, if any? And then finally is 6, digital resources. What kind of digital resources will you need in order to make your goals happen? For each goal on the worksheet, you can list the resources that you'll need so that you can work on a plan to obtain them. Congratulations on finishing this lesson. You're ready for the next lesson.
7. Build Your Resource Plan: Welcome. In this lesson we're going to work on plan to help you secure any of the resources that you'll need in order to meet your goals. First, let's talk about some of the different ways that you can access resources. And we'll start with the best 1 first. Usually that means it's free. Number one, free resources, yes, there are still times in life where it some things are free. So start here when you're reviewing your list to determine which resources can be obtained without a cost. For instance, some apps and software programs have freemium versions. They're usually free, however, you might have to watch advertisements or have their logo on your final products. In some cases, the free version may be time limited, so definitely read the fine print to barter. This is almost as good as free and can sometimes be better since both parties have something on the line, some skin in the game, so to speak. Barter may be appropriate. In some instances. Usually you see service oriented companies operate under a barter system. In that case, the parties agree to provide a service to the other that the party usually provides for a fee. In this example, neither party has to pay anything out of pocket. Of course, you'll want to vet any one that you're planning on bartering with to make sure that their service and quality meets your standards. You'll also want to make sure that both parties feel like it's an equitable exchange of services, three, discounts, coupons, returns, and as specials, don't overlook specials, that can help reduce the cost of your expenses. If you find that a particular company doesn't use coupons or doesn't have a special running square there, you can get a discount. Hey, all they can say is no for full cost resources, in some instances you may have to pay a cost. Make sure you understand any additional fees, taxes, delivery costs, maintenance costs, anything that may be associated with the item that you plan to buy. Next, you'll want to research the costs and add those costs to the resources plan worksheet that I've included. It may be better to identify a cost range since prices can fluctuate, instead of stating an exact number. After you've added your anticipated costs to the worksheet, you'll want to determine when you will actually obtain the resource and how you will obtain the resource. They are also spaces on your worksheet for those answers to. When you've completed the worksheet, you're ready to move on to the next lesson. Congrats.
8. Set Your Evening Routine Time Period: Welcome to the lesson where you'll determine what your evening routine time period is. This is important because it's personal to you and therefore, I can't tell you when your evening routine should start and when it should. In the purpose of this lesson is to help you walk through things that you should consider as you determine what your evening routine time period will be. In the next lesson though, I'll provide you with an example that may also be of assistance. So let's jump right in. Evening means different things to different people. If you go to bed early evening is going to mean one thing to you. While it is going to mean something entirely different to a night owl. Merriam-webster defines evening as the latter part and close of the day and early part of the night, and also as the period from sunset or the evening meal to bedtime. But what does evening mean to you? What time on the clock are you going to look at and say, this is when my evening starts. This is where my evening ends. Here are a few questions to think about. One, What time do my responsibilities to others? And for example, this could be a job, organizational responsibilities or family commitments like making dinner too, will I need to vary my evening routine and depending on the day, it may be that you have numerous evening responsibilities that occur several evenings, such as an evening class that you're taking on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Or it could be that your evenings during the week are open. But on the weekend, your evenings are filled with other engagements. As a result, you need to have a different routine for weekdays. And weak ends. Three, how much time do you want to set aside for sleep and rest? This will impact the end time for your evening routine and then how much time are your goals actually going to need? As an easy example, you could decide that your evening routine time period is going to be from eight PM until 10:00 PM during the week and seven PM until 10:00 PM on the weekend. By starting your routine later during the week, you're able to take into account family responsibilities and organizational responsibilities. All right, the next thing we wanna do is think about how you're going to break up this time period for the goals that you want to achieve. In the APM to 10 PM example, you could decide that by breaking Up Your goal activities into 30 minutes segments, you're able to work on a four goal activities during that two hour period. Or it could be that you decide that for the first hour it needs to be 15 minutes segments and the second hour needs to be 30 minutes segments because maybe that's the time period that you'll use to unwind and prepare for rest. Finally, understand that your evening routine and everything about it may change from the goals that you want to achieve to the time period. As a result, you'll want to revisit your evening routine on a regular basis to determine what if any, changes need to be made. This evaluation could be done on a quarterly basis or on an annual basis. It will be up to you to determine how often you should evaluate your evening routine for possible changes. Congratulate yourself on how far you've come with this workshop. You're nearing the end and you're now ready for the next lesson.
9. A Personal Example: While you're filling out your high productivity evening routine, a worksheet. You might want to find a great space to sit down and just sort of take your time and reflect about what you're actually wanting to have in this routine. I sat down in my office and gathered, of course, all of the paperwork together. This is probably not the place where I want to have my evening routine because I don't want my evening routine to feel so work oriented. But I started with my environment. Remember going from the fantasy to reality and I filled in the ten, I don't think I got to ten. I think maybe I got to nine. But what I was looking for in those spaces, so I really need a quiet space. I love my living room and the sofa. I love the fact that there's natural light in there. Even at the end of the evening. It is so great to have. I'm not necessarily wanting to be around a whole lot of people at that point. My husband and my daughter are heading toward, you know, shutting down for the night. I like to have maybe a drink there with me, my laptop, my phone. I'm in comfy clothes. I'm just wanting to be in a place where I feel really productive and really relaxed and that's sort of what I am going for. So those are the nine things that I filled out in terms of what I wanted to see in my environment when I'm having my high productivity evening routine. The next thing that I did was to fill out the big bucks on my white. Now remember you're also have this on the second page of the worksheet. But I just wanted to jot some notes down to myself before I headed into sort of breaking them down so that they matched my goals. But I wanted to just really sort of reflect for a few minutes on why I wanted to do this. And I felt like there were so many evenings where I just was not taking advantage of the time that was available to me and I felt like I was just operating on autopilot and that there was just so much time that was being wasted. And I really wanted to start doing that. I have personal goals, financial goals, fitness goals, goals from our house, just so many goals, things that I want to do with my life. And I just kept feeling like I was wasting those evenings. I wanted to do a better job of understanding what was really going on and what my y was so that I could get those down hand. The last thing I wrote down I think was because I can't afford to fail. I don't want to feel a really want to have winds for myself. I want to feel good about the things that I want to accomplish for myself. On the second page here, you'll see I've already started to break up my time at period. And I was really thinking that I probably need to have 10 or 15 minutes where I'm just sort of planning what each night will be. I don't think I'm going to be one of these people who's going to be able to have the exact same routine every single night. So I think what is going to be going on with me is that I'm going to have to plan first what that's going to look like. So in this case, I did designate the first 15 minutes for planning my evening routine because like I said before, I've got all of these other commitments and I really need to stay focus. What are my fears? Well, you know, I'm constantly worried about what other people think, whether it's my husband or my daughter or whoever. I think they care about it more than they do and they just really don't. And so I need to remind myself that I am my own person and I don't really need to worry about what other people are thinking. And then finally, of course, the resources I'll need will be my laptop and cell phone, where I'll probably make notes in regards to what that's going to be. And then I started on the next section. So as you can see, this is my personal example of how I was starting to put together my high productivity routine for my evening.
10. Class Project: Now that you've completed all of the lessons in this workshop, you're ready to finalize your high productivity evening routine. As you've gone through the different lessons, you've had an opportunity to fill in some of the worksheet, but now is the time to review the worksheet and truly make it your own. Now, I don't want you to feel like you have to complete at all during this course. For me, it took some time. I had trouble coming up with an affirmation for one of my goals. And like I said in one of the previous lessons, your routine isn't a permanent. It is not written in stone, just like your life. There will be changes. Once you've finished a routine, you'll need to display it in a place where you can see it. This is not something that you're going to create and then place up on a shelf somewhere. In fact, you may want to incorporate your goals and activities onto your calendar, whatever calendar system that you use. For me, I use Google Calendar that way. Every morning. I receive an e-mail of everything that's on my calendar for that day, including the goal activities for my evening routine. So congratulations, you've completed the workshop and don't forget to share your class project.
11. Conclusion: Thank you for taking this class. I hope that it was everything that you needed it to be. If you have any suggestions, please let me know if you have any questions. Definitely share those so that all of our class members can learn to peace and love to you. May your evenings be as productive as you need them to be.
Shelia Huggins, Lifestyle & Business
