It started like any other typical day.

A late start, fussy toddler, the dog barking the house down, and my daily stand-up meeting going on in the background.

And just when you think you're on top of it all and about to leave the house to go to nursery, the dog knocks a full glass of water on to the floor.

The importance of routine

I need one.

I'm late to nearly everything if it's before 10 am.

This morning's chaos made it glaringly obvious that something needs to be improved.

So that's what I'm working on right now. All I need to do is list down the times that everything should happen.

• 07:00 wake up and walk the dog.
• 07:45 wake everyone else in the house up and do breakfast.
• 08:20 Make sure clothes and toothbrush are ready to go for my 3-year-old.

Follow that and the mornings should go a lot smoother. But pets and children are unpredictable.

That leads to my second point 👇

The power of flexibility

We all know that kids, their moods, and their love for Peppa Pig episodes don’t follow a rigid schedule. Hence, the need to be flexible.

That's where buffer time comes in. My daughter doesn't need to be at nursery until 9 am.

If I start doing toothbrush time and getting dressed at 08:20, I’ve got half an hour to get it all done. Even with things going wrong, half an hour should still be enough time to do those two things. I hope…

And if it's really not going to plan, do not stress. That's my only advice there.

You'll be able to find plenty of tips online for learning how to relax in stressful situations.

The need for a plan

So what's all this got to do with this productivity and business?

Well, I'm applying each of the insights above into my client work.

My routine for CickUp coaching calls:

• Make sure my family knows I have a call
• Get a drink, chargers, and devices and take them to the studio (really my shed in the garden) 20 minutes before the call
• Turn everything on and make sure it's all working and no updates are needed

Staying flexible:

• If my Windows PC stops working, I have the MacBook as a backup
• If the webcam doesn't work, I can join the call on my phone at the same time as the computer
• If my Wi-Fi goes down, I can walk down the street to where there's 5G

And when I'm tasked with larger client projects, I boot up my client project template in ClickUp so it's all ready to go.

Summary

Mornings are tricky. And so is business!

Everything works better when we have a routine, are flexible, and utilise templates to stay on track.

Book a discovery call with me if you’re looking to save time in your business and make your projects run smoother with ClickUp 👇

Book a free call