My Daily Routines + Habits

I’m on a constant quest to fine tune my daily habits and routines in order to reach optimal life for myself. 

I spent a lot of my life living for the future, for the possibility of what could happen one day, but I’ve learned to appreciate the time I have (nothing’s guaranteed). 

I’ve been trying out a few new daily habits that I wanted to share with you today. 

Positive Affirmations

This is one of those things that I saw as frou-frou for a long time. But I can’t begin to describe the impact that your thoughts have on your actions and your emotions. 

Some may scoff at me, but I’m a big believer in you get what you put out into the Universe (not always obviously, but I’ve noticed a trend). 

If I’m in a super negative, everything sucks, life sucks, sort of mood, guess what I’m going to get? More negative things. This could be partially because when you’re in a bad mood you only notice the bad things, but I think there’s something else at play. 

So, something I’ve started doing is writing down a daily positive affirmation and putting it somewhere in my line of sight for the day. Every time I catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye I stop what I’m doing and say it out loud to myself, letting it sink in. 

Recently, I have been focusing on positive money affirmations because it’s amazing how many subconscious beliefs I have about money (and I just read a book about this). Mostly surrounding the thought that money isn’t bad, or greedy. It’s a tool. If you have negative beliefs about money you might be saying no to opportunities without even recognizing them. 

Writing Down my Goals

I’m a big supporter of goal setting. 

Dr. Gail Matthews, psychology professor at the Dominican University in California found that people are 42% more likely to achieve their goals when they write them down. 

And my thoughts about it are this: 

If you take the time to sit down and write out your goals, first you have to actually decide what it is you’re striving for. You’d be amazed to realize that you don’t even know what it is that you want. And how are you supposed to achieve something you didn’t know you wanted in the first place? 

Goals help guide me in my day to day actions. I’ve learned to break bigger, long term goals down into small, tangible steps. 

Take money for example. Almost everyone wants to “make more money”, but how many have taken the time to sit down and write out what we individually need to survive, what we need to buy a house or a car, what we need to actually go on that dream vacation? 

We look at these things as far off, some day goals, when in reality we could start working towards them today. 

Setting My Intentions

If you’ve ever been to a yoga class there a chance the instructor has asked everyone to take a moment to set an intention for the class before beginning. 

This is kind of in the realm of “goal setting”, but it’s slightly different. 

For me an intention is more like a theme to guide me through the day rather than a task to complete. 

Common intentions are to “be more present in the moment”, “to find gratitude in the small stuff” and usually something to do with being “positive”. 

Reading

It’s something I’ve loved to do since the age of four when my mom first taught me how to. 

But actually making the time to sit down and read can be a bit tricky. We get sucked into doing other things like scrolling through social media, watching Netflix or waiting until right before bed to read, only to fall asleep after a few minutes. 

Travel is a time that I make it a clear goal for more time to read. I don’t like working on the plane and much prefer to curl into a good book. And when you’re traveling you have plenty of down time, or moments of waiting where a reading is a perfect activity. 

I’ve also allowed myself to read more on the weekends or after work. It’s something that brings me so much joy so I’ve been making more of conscious effort to create space for it. 

Running

If you’ve been following along for the past few months you may have noticed that I have started talking about running. 

And this is was not something I did. It was something I avoided. But it’s the perfect combination of achieving two goals: get outside more, and move my body each day. 

And as I’ve found my stride, conditioned my lungs and strengthened my legs I’ve been able to find a certain meditative quality to running. 

I don’t always want to go out and run, but I’ve never once regretted going for a run when it’s done. No matter how bad I hurt after. 

Gratitude Journal

It’s something I’ve been keeping up with for almost a year now.

Each month I dedicate two pages in my bullet journal to my “Sparkly Bits” and each day I will take the time to write out a few things, or just one thing, that I was grateful for that day. 

Keeping a gratitude journal, like most types of journals, help separate the days. Without journaling my days can seem to slip into each other, and when that happens it’s always a shame. It’s like I’m losing time, experiences and memories. 

And if you can get consistent with your gratitudes you’ll start to notice more moments in your days where something will catch your eye (or mind) and you’ll kind of step back and say “Wow, that could be my sparkly bit for the day.”

Limit Social Media

Finally, one of the hardest habits to break. 

There is a time and a place for social media, especially in my line of work being all online. 

But there is a big difference between constructive social media use and mindless scrolling. 

And it’s the mindless scrolling I’m working to cut back on. I’ve been trying to limit myself to only scrolling through social media during different times of the day. Like when I’m going to the bathroom. (Weird? Gross? Who cares. It’s a limited amount of time where I’m aware of the time rather than losing myself in it). 

I’ve tried to cut my social media before bed as well as when I wake up. We’ve all been guilty of scrolling till our eyes burn before bed, and reaching for our phone as soon as we wake up in the morning. 

I’ve also noticed that I use it as a social crutch when I’m out in public for uncomfortable situations. 

On the elevator with a stranger?

Pull out your phone. 

Waiting for someone at a restaurant?

Pull out your phone. 

The list could go on and on, but you get the point. 

In the end these are a few of the things I’ve been trying to add, or subtract, from my life in order to be the happiest, best version of myself. 

Now, I’m curious to hear, what are some daily habits you’ve found to be beneficial? 

Creating Routine In a New Place | Working In Bali

Everyone craves the lifestyle of the freedom to work from anywhere. I’ve traveled and work plenty of times before, but coming to Bali with the sole purpose of transplanting myself to a warmer climate and continue working was a bit of a challenge at first. 

I’m sure it all depends on who you’re traveling with, and where you’re going, but I really struggled during the first week with creating a new routine here. 

I had a pretty rock solid schedule back home. But I realized that I couldn’t keep up with the exact one I had in Iowa, obviously, and therefore needed to create a new one while I’m here. 

At first when it was just four of us, I found it hard to say no to activities and adventure to stay back and work. Because of this I found myself maybe working an hour at first each day. 

I’m sure if you were surrounded by a group of other online entreprenuers it would be a different story. But everyone I’m traveling with is in their “off season” of work so they don’t have to do anything work related while they’re here. Because of this they are much more in vacation mode than I want to be. Which is fine. We don’t always have to be doing the same thing as the person next to us. 

I just needed to learn to say no. It was a good lesson for me. And a good challenge to find the balance between work and fun. 

My first breakthrough came when the group wanted to go to Monkey Forest in Ubud, and I had zero interest in that activity. So, I looked up a cool little spot, Clear Cafe, mopeded my way over there, and fell in love. The atmosphere, the food, the juice, the coffee, the music….everything was perfect. I was finally able to sit for more than an hour and really focus on work without distractions. 

I only made it to Clear Cafe once more, but I’m really finding my groove now that we’re on the North coast. 

The pace is much slower up here. The setting is serene and calm — perfect for sitting down and pounding out some work. 

The first day here I decided to start my day with a cup of coffee on our balcony, my stack of journals and plenty of inspiration to surround myself with.

I sat there and wrote my morning pages, in my two other journals, and planned out my day in my bullet journal. I then continued to work until around 3:30 p.m. and do you know what? It felt great. 

I missed out on a pretty awesome looking waterfall, but everyone in our group is eager to get back again so I might get my chance to do some cliff jumping still! 

Today, was much the same. I started my day out on the balcony and realized that my simple habit of journaling in the morning really set me up to feel much better about my days. We went to the only Buddhist Temple in Bali, came back, jumped in the pool, started working, got a massage, continued working, and I’m feeling great about the pace of the days here. 

So, if you’re flailing a bit, outside of your normal routine, first you need to take a step back. Everything is going to be ok. The world is going to continue to spin. Realize that you may not be able to keep up with everything you were doing at home. Take the time to really look at those habits you miss and know make a difference in your day. Where can you fit those into your new schedule? Mornings work best for me. And learn to say no to activities you don’t want to do, even if the rest of the group is participating. 

While I don’t plan to be a digital nomad with FemmeHead, I do desire the ability to continue working while traveling at the same time, because if I can continue to master this skill I can say yes to spur of the moment trips. For example, Michael has a race in California right when we get back. Because I have the freedom to work from anywhere, not to mention the fact he has companion pass on Southwest, I was able to say, “Mind if I come with?” and now I get to skip out on Iowa’s winter for a few more days. 

Share your tips for working while traveling, creating a new routine and finding time for your favorite habits. 

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Today I want to talk about things I do that are part of the process of getting shit done and going places in my life. I look back to just a few years ago when I had no direction in life and how I started and spent my days then vs. how I do now, and it’s a pretty staggering difference.

So I wanted to share my top 10 tips for setting yourself up for success. 

Stay organized — this has been a game changer. I always kept a planner throughout school to keep track of my due dates, activities and work schedule, but just in the past year and really actually the past few months I’ve taken it to the next level. I am a visual person so I like writing it all down where I can have it laid out in front of me. I do that in a few ways. On my computer I use Evernote to house all of my notes for blog posts, videos etc. Everything you see online comes from Evernote. I have created different notebooks for my YouTube channel, my website and my different courses. From here it is all easily searchable and accessible in one place. The other powerhouse to my organization operation is my bullet journal, which is a recent upgrade from a standard planner. I have a simple monthly spread complete with my five goals for that month, my content calendar for FemmeHead, a financial page to make my five money goals for the month as well as track all of my money coming in and going out each day. I have a brain dump where I put all of my ideas, things that need to get done, etc. I have a gratitude page because I think finding your sparkly bits each day is important. And then from there I have weekly spreads were I have a little weekly overview calendar for work, events, etc. a place for my five goals of the week and then I go into Monday with my tasks, etc. Having this bullet journal has been a life changer. I have been so much more productive and focused, it’s incredible. 

Keep your home tidy — Take time every single day to do a quick tidy. For me that is 15-30 minutes each morning where I make my bed, and then put any dishes, clothes, etc away from the day before. My mind functions so much better when I know there isn’t clutter sitting around my house. Right now we are going through some of Michael’s storage so there’s stuff out in the living room that can’t go back quite yet because we’re sorting through it and I’m really trying to not focus on it. I also like to take one day a week and do a deeper clean including vacuuming, wiping things down and doing laundry which can take like two or three hours, but it’s worth it. Just stay on top of it. 

Practice Minimalism — The above task is so much easier when you start with minimalism. Get rid of the crap you don’t want or need, and believe me there’s a lot of it when you’re first starting off. From there make sure every single item in your home has it’s dedicated spot, which makes cleaning easier. This isn’t about living in an empty white box with no belongings. I still have quite a bit of stuff, but it all has a purpose. I don’t keep things just to keep things. I only have stuff I love or need. And I’m not perfect at it, no one is. Don’t be hard on yourself because it’s process and often times it’s more about the journey. And minimalism has carried over into so many other aspects of my life — how I choose to spend my time, who I have kept in my life (friend wise), what I spend my money on, etc. Having less and doing less has allowed me to accomplish so much more in my life. 

Meditate — It’s something that I’ve wanted to add to my daily routine for years, but was unsuccessful for the longest time. It wasn’t until I discovered the guided meditation app, Headspace, that I was able to do it daily. [Not a sponsored post, I just really love the app]. It worked out so well in those first, free 10 days that I went ahead and got the yearly subscription. Doing this in my morning routine is one of those things that really sets me up for a productive, focused day. I feel much more level headed and open minded after I have done this in the morning. For others it may fit better into another time in their day but it works best for me in the morning. My routine is very important to me, and controls how the rest of my day goes. If I wait until bedtime to meditate it almost holds no power over anything, and I often fall asleep during it. 

Journal — I have been doing it for seven years, ever since I studied abroad in Thailand. It’s like therapy to me. And it’s a great way to document experiences, trips, and your life in general. I am able to read the thoughts and emotions of 19-year old Victoria and it’s such a weird, cool experience. And it helps remind me how far I have come if I’ve ever having a bad day. I journal in a few ways. I have a journal that is a bit more sacred than the rest which important thoughts, events and experiences go into. It’s not a daily thing. Something I do do every morning is write in my morning pages journal. It’s always just a random old notebook (I got a stack of them from my mom’s house) and it’s just three pages of streaming conscious thoughts. It’s a way for me to clear out all of the gunk from the day before, and it really allows me to be more clear and focused throughout the day when I don’t have those random thoughts floating around. And the final way I journal, is with my camera — filming trips, adventures and events that I want to remember or share. 

Lifestyle [diet, activities, sleep] — I used to eat cupcakes for meals, for days at a time. You can probably imagine the effect that had on me. Now, I keep a vegan diet and try and pack as many nutritious, unprocessed foods as possible into it. I’m not perfect and I do allow some wiggle room for the occasional junk food or dessert, but I focus on keeping it clean. I only partake in activities that will benefit and enrich my life. I have no issue with saying no. I don’t go out an party on the weekends, I don’t go out to eat frequently, those sort of things. And finally I keep a regular sleep schedule because I know how much sleep impacts my days. Some people can function off of four hours, I need eight. All of these things effect my energy, my body, my focus, motivation, everything. You have to respect your body and your mind, and make sure you are taking care of it through your lifestyle. 

Practice Gratitude — It was something that Michael introduced to me. I think even on our first date he was like, Ok let’s take a few moments to breathe and reflect on the day and then we’ll take turns sharing what moment we’re grateful for. And we still do this every now and then, but I do it on my own too. I have two pages every month in my bullet journal dedicated to my sparkly bits and every night I take a few moments to reflect on the day and find that moment I am thankful for. Doing this regularly just makes you a more optimistic, happy rainbows and unicorns sort of person. You start noticing moments throughout your days, and you’re like Oh, that could be my moment today. I don’t know it’s just a really cool process. 

Stay curious [never stop learning] — This may sound silly, but it’s something I live by. I think of everything I have taught myself and learned since leaving school and it’s astounding. If you have a question, find yourself the answer. If there’s something you’re interested in, go get a book from the library, research it online, watch videos, read blog posts and watch documentaries. I’m always searching to better myself. Not because I don’t like who I am or that I’m not proud of where I’m at in life, but just because I know there is so much that I still don’t know. And along these lines, don’t be afraid to reach out to someone. Even if you think there’s absolutely no way they would ever respond back, take the plunge and write them. I have connected to so many amazing people this way. 

Allow yourself to slow down during your period — Discovering the difference between the menstrual phases, emotionally and physically was a game changer. It all finally made so much more sense. When you listen to your body it’s amazing how much smoother it all goes. When I allow myself to slow down during my period and really just take it easy I am greeted with a happier period, less irritability, cramps, PMS, fatigue, etc. And when I take that time during my period to just kind of hermit myself off from the world I am rewarded throughout the rest of my cycle with more energy. You can only push yourself so far for so long before you’re going to crash and burn. Take the time to slow down, reflect on the past month, and think about what you want to accomplish in the coming month. 

Make time for friends + things outside of “work” — Especially when you start working for yourself, allowing yourself to stop working is a lesson that needs to be learned right away. I could waste away day after day tinkering around with “work” related tasks that really don’t need to be done and have no real impact on it all. Each day I pick out the top five things that I need to do that day to succeed and I tick those off first thing after my morning routine. Then depending where I am at in the day I will head to my brain dump page and see what else I can accomplish, but if I have to stop after those five tasks I will feel satisfied with my day. I allow my afternoons, and sometimes early mornings for friends and family. Whether that’s meeting up for a coffee or drinks and a movie, I try to meet up with people at least once a week. Because if not I would stay in my apartment and never leave. 

Phew, that was quite a bit wasn’t it, but these are some of the most important things in my life that I swear by. What are yours? 

Cleaning | Clutter Drives Me Bonkers

It’s true. It drives me nuts. I can’t think clearly. I have a really hard time focusing, and I am about half as productive as normal when I can see things out of place, or know that something is messy. 

And this is nuts considering I was once the girl who couldn’t see her bedroom floor because there was a layer of clothing covering the tile. I would dig through my “faux” carpet to find outfits and things I had lost. 

But I have started to become a bit anal when it comes to things being clean. Like right now, I have the dishes and such still out from making myself some coffee, and I keep looking over at it. I know in the back of my head that our bed isn’t made and that there are dirty clothes sitting at the bottom of my closet (I’m waiting on my new laundry basket to come in the mail). 

I have discovered that my brain just functions SO MUCH better when things are neat and tidy around me. 

It’s like writing my morning pages. I pull all of the gunk out of my head and put it onto the paper. And something about this process tidies up my mind, which then prepares me to stay focused and on task during the day. 

I also have noticed that if I’m stressed or having an uncomfortable conversation I start tidying up. It’s like a nervous, soothing tick I’ve developed. 

But it’s crazy to me, because I used to be the most unorganized, cluttered person. 

By no means am I at the level of going on the show "Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners”, but this has just been a big flip flop on my end. And I know OCD is not a laughing/joking matter, I would never dream of diminishing what those with OCD go through. 

I guess part of me is starting to feel like my mother, which is always a weird thing to notice. 

And I’m not mad about any of this.

No, quite the contrary. Becoming a tidy, organized person has revolutionized how I think, how productive I am — focused, creative, etc. I’m actually quite thankful that I have made this small habit change because it has helped me immensely with how much I am able to accomplish in a day’s time. 

This fits into my daily/weekly routine a few different ways. Firstly, I have found that I like taking 15-20 minutes every morning to do a quick tidy, which includes making the bed, putting away any clothes, and cleaning up anything in the kitchen that I missed from the night before. I also really enjoy a weekly deeper clean where I vacuum, dust and wipe things down. 

How do you tidy? 

Using Jet Lag to Your Advantage | Creating a Better Routine

If you keep up with me on Instagram or Youtube you know that I recently got back from my trip to France (a.k.a. my honeymoon). 

And do you know what? I’ve been doing a really killer job at coming back and reseting my routine and schedule for maximum productivity and mindfulness.

Today, I wanted to share with you how I’ve learned to use jet lag to my advantage. 

The first and most important step is looking at your flight schedule — what time are you leaving (A) and what time will it be when you get to (B). We woke up at 7:30 a.m. in Toulouse and we would be getting back to Des Moines around 10:00 p.m. (it ended up being more like 11:55 p.m. — thanks a lot American Airlines). 

So we could see that when we got home to Des Moines we needed to be ready to go to bed. 

Now, in between those two time slots was nearly 24 hours. When we finally got home to Des Moines it was nearly 7 a.m. in Toulouse. That my friends, is a lot of staying up, with maybe a short little nap, but only if you could restrain yourself from sleeping too long. 

So, that’s the first step. Plan out your flight so you’ll arrive in whatever location as close to the level of awake or tiredness that you need to be at. 

For me there is about a week of wiggle room after an international flight to reset my sleep schedule. You have to fight the urges to sleep (quick cat naps are OK), but I have no self-restraint when it comes to jet lag and napping so I avoid it. 

I’ve been putting myself to bed around 9:30 - 10:00 p.m and setting my alarm for 7:00 a.m. but I’ve been naturally waking up around 6:00 - 6:30 a.m. My golden sleep slot is 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. so that’s what I’m working towards. 

Now, a few things that I do in the morning when I get up earlier than 8:00 a.m. — I sit and write in my morning pages journal, which takes 20 - 30 minutes. I spend 15 - 30 minutes tidying up around the apartment because my brain functions incredibly better when there’s not a bunch of clutter around. I have been consistently meditating for 10 minutes every morning around 8:00 a.m. using the HeadSpace app. I then make myself a cup of coffee or tea, create my to-do list for that day, and then get to it. 

My days go unbelievable smoother when I am allowed this hour and a half to two hour routine I have for myself in the morning. 

Then each night I’ve tried to spend the first few minutes in bed just writing a little bit in my actual journal. 

These are a few of the things that get me excited to wake up in the morning, get out of bed and get moving o