To be productive, you need to feel satisfied, energized, and fulfilled; that does not happen overnight. It needs to be built from the ground up, and it is an ongoing process as well. It gets harder when you are required to work from home. The best tool for this job is a solid daily routine that keeps you physically fit and mentally fit. In this. article, I will share the daily Routine that does this for me. I call it the resistance routine. Read more here about why it is important to take the path of most resistance: The path of most resistance.

Start the day strong!

To start the day strong, I start with something I really look up to and don’t like. When I start like this, I don’t have any trouble doing things I don’t like. So what do I do? I start the day with an ice-cold 5-minute shower. Besides the mental benefit mentioned above, it also gives you a real energy boost.

Before starting work, I make sure I join the family for breakfast. I have a coffee because I’m on an intermitted fasting diet, skipping breakfast. After that, I drop the kids off at school. This aspect is very important since this gives me a lot of energy.

When I get home, I have some spare time before work starts, so I often use it to talk with my wife or do some preparations for work.

Then working starts, and it starts with our daily SCRUM meetings. After that, the front-end development team, which I’m part of, will move to a mob session.

Break the day and get ready for the second part of the day

When lunch starts, I’ll start with the second thing of the day I look up to, which is an intense kettlebell routine of 30 minutes. When I completed the Routine, I have some lunch, because I can start my meals starting from 12:00. This is the routine I follow on a daily basis Intense kettlebell workout.

After this workout, I feel ready to take on the second half of the day, feeling energized and sharp. There is no after-lunch dip or whatsoever. After lunch, we dive into a programming mob session again and finish up the day.

After my workday, I go downstairs to have dinner with the family. After dinner, we play around for a bit, some roughhousing and goofing around. Very important to keep in mind here is that I completely focus on them. There is no phone, no laptops, no work! After playtime, we make the kids ready for bed and read them a story.

Getting ready for the evening and close the day

When the kids are in bed, I meditate for 10 minutes. And get ready for the third thing of the day I look up to: And that is a 30-minute run. As soon as I’m running, I find it really relaxing and clear up brain fog. When I get back from the run, I planned one hour for power list tasks. For example, these extra tasks include:

• Writing for the blog
• Working on side projects
• Learning new programming languages and skills
• Doing some extra study
• Preparing something for work

Read more about the powerlist this article: My six takeaways from Andy Frisella’s power list. This activity has a max timeslot. After the timeslot has passed, I spend the rest of the evening relaxing with my wife.

Before going to bed, I write in my journal and look back on the day. When in bed, I make sure I read at least 10 minutes before the lights go out.

Conclusion

Life is not a given, so make sure you live your day with everything important to you. Fulfillment comes from doing hard things, so challenge yourself every day and do things you don’t like. Don’t get into if this, then that mode. Before you know it, it is too late for the if this. Make sure that when you look back at your day, you know you did all things important to you or at least made the best effort.

The power is in the consistency and executing in small steps. If you move toward your goal one small action at a time, you will get there eventually. Doesn’t matter what it is. Learning that new programming language, working on that product or pet project you want to complete. Five small actions a day equal over 1500 small actions a year. That is not small anymore.

Finally, if you have a bad day, a routine like this will help you stay productive. Now your emotion is not coupled to your productivity anymore. How powerful is that?

Podcast recorded about this subject