---
description: Playing with the building blocks of my life.
---

# Routine Design

### Routine Cycles

I operate within a few different cycles. Here’s the rough overview of how it works:

#### Yearly

Every year I conduct a yearly review to check how did my last year go, and adjust my course for the next 12 months. The entire process is spread over a few days. I also book at least 2x holidays of at least one entire month.

#### **Quarterly**

I like operating within 90 day cycles to review the progress and set goals for my business and myself. I also use this time to plan my days off within the quarterly cycle.&#x20;

#### **Moonly 🌕**

Every New Moon I start a new page in my [Minimalist Journaling System](2020/financial-freedom/the-minimalist-journaling-system) and it always makes me feel like a new beginning. I also like to celebrate the Full Moon, ideally somewhere in nature with a group of friends and a campfire. 🔥 That’s something I’ve learned in Rainbow Gatherings and I’m very fond of. I'm also sharing a public Moonly Review in my [personal newsletter](https://mindjuggling.substack.com).

![A few years back, somewhere in the Isle of Arran, Scotland.](https://3355687584-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6918yja89ROhx2H_vo%2F-M6oXlYRkuexJpgyDzxX%2F-M6oYg9mpJqtgc6rAnsc%2Ffireandmoon_Original.jpeg?alt=media\&token=e9fc1218-9a0e-47d4-a1a2-7ef013149511)

#### **Monthly**

{% hint style="info" %}
I no longer do this. I prefer to align with the Moon 🌕.
{% endhint %}

Each month I update KPI (Key Performance Indicators) for myself (eg. habits in my digital habit spreadsheet) and my business. I also conduct a relationship retrospective with Silvia (here’s a [podcast episode](https://anchor.fm/michalandsilvia/episodes/Relationship-Retrospective-ed9is3/a-a21l6sj) about that).

Note: I might suggest to align this review with the Moon. Somehow it feels nicer this way.

#### **Weekly**

**Monday is my self-day**. No appointments, no commitments, no work. It’s a perfect time to do whatever I feel like doing, and have some time to myself (we’re trying to spend as little time together with Silvia on that day as possible).&#x20;

Tuesday to Friday are for work.&#x20;

Saturday is for work, too, although I’m working towards making it my day off.

Sunday is a day off.

Every Saturday I conduct my [**weekly review**](https://journalsmarter.com/minimalist-weekly-review)**, which is one of the fundamental journaling practices in my life**. I used to do it on a Monday, but it felt like a commitment and I want to keep Mondays commitment-free.

#### Daily

My daily routine changes depending if I work or not, but the morning routine remains the same every day for some time. **I tend to have a fixed routine for a while, gradually implement tweaks, until I hit a day when I feel like a complete reboot/routine makeover.**

Here's a sample morning routine, which I was sticking to in Spring 2020:

* Wake Up (ideally at 0530)
* Toilet / Brush Teeth
* Put away the dishes from the drying rack
* Quick Stretch
* Drink 1.25l of warm water with lemon (while looking at the Ocean)
* Journal (30-60 minutes)
  * Minimalist Journaling System&#x20;
  * Dream Journaling (if I remember my dreams)
  * Most Important Question (If I have one)
  * How am I feeling right now
  * Anything else that I feel like journaling about
* Meditation (30-60 minutes)
  * (ideally) read a little bit from _The Mind Illuminated_
  * write down intention for the sit in my journal
  * meditate
* Stretch and quick dance (I recently found that doing a [plow pose](https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/plow-pose) here make a huge difference to how I feel)
* Breakfast prep
* Breakfast (a porridge with fruits or a smoothie–a huge bowl with loads of delicious toppings)
* Reading while eating–mostly non-fiction books or articles related to what I’m working on.
* Morning walk with Silvia (or alone on Monday and Thursday)
  * Check In / Connecting with each other
  * Processing / Consolidating Learning / Brainstorming / Coaching / Fun
  * (here’s [a podcast](https://anchor.fm/michalandsilvia/episodes/Our-Daily-Collaborative-Meetings-ecsgsg) we recorded about our morning walks)

As you can see, I’m quite a routine beast. I found this structure to work perfectly for me over 3 years of intentional experiments and documenting the process in my journal. I’m not a slave to it though.

**My routines are there to help me be in the best possible state every day. I can change them as I see fit, whenever I see that they are no longer serve me.**

Notice, that by the time I hit 10 am, I’ve already journaled, meditated, learned, fed and hydrated myself, and moved my body quite a bit. I’m pretty much ready for anything that the day can throw at me.
