Make Today Matter

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie

For many years I dreaded the question, “what did you do today?”

Most of those days I did more than my 20-year old self thought possible.

I spent a big chunk of each day designing websites for clients.

I figured out what a family of 5 would eat for three meals a day, and then played airplane with spoons to get more in their mouths than on the floor.

I drove more than was environmentally responsible to get everyone where they were going.

I played doll, figured out lego sets, and pretended to make ice cream.

I wiped bums.

I ensured that clothes were clean and cute. 

There was often a trip to target.

I took the trash out.

I bathed the kids.

Sometimes I took a shower, but not as often as I wanted.

I hoped that carrying a car seat counted as weight training and running up our apartment stairs counted as exercise.

By 6, I was done, and there were usually a few more hours until bedtime.

If you asked me what I did that day, you might have gotten an empty stare or the “busy” word.

Does any of this sound familiar?

The truth was...

Inside it felt like I did nothing.

Then about 10 years ago when I decided it was time to take care of my body, I also started the practice of planning one day at a time.

This practice changed my life.

It helped me lose 65 pounds.

It helped me focus in on what mattered most each day.

I still did all the things, but I also hugged more lovingly, took more showers, went to yoga, and started to feel really proud of what a day can hold.

Today, if you ask me how my day was, I usually have a big smile.

This does not mean I don’t have long lists.

This does not mean that sad things don’t happen.

It does mean that each day I go through a process and know that what matters most has a place in my day and that always feels good.

This practice became the foundation for the FLOW planning process.

It is super simple, and today I break it down on the podcast.

At a high level, it looks something like this:

• Start with gratitude. Before tending to my kids or grabbing my phone in the morning, I recall 3 things I am grateful for. They can be small, but I have to feel that gratitude in my gut and write it down on paper.
• Choose 3 things. From that space of gratitude, I choose the three things that I am committing to doing that day. I usually have a list of hundreds of things that I think I want to do, but I choose 3.
• Decide the food. After the three things, I choose what we will eat for the day. I write down all the things on a piece of paper. If I have made a meal plan for the week or subscribed to one, I still do this.
• Time block. I put my morning ritual, which includes this planning, my three things, and my food time into my calendar that has the hours. This makes a list fit into the actual day. 
• Reflect and learn. At the end of the day, I see how it went. I learn from what went well and what got derailed. I do this in writing, without judgment, and with a lot of curiosity.

It is a simple practice.

It is five steps.

Listen to the details in the podcast above.

Get the five-part video series and Today Planning Sheet.