Nicole & Kate Can Relate

[00:00:00] Kate: Hey friends, it's Nicole and Kate, your girls from across the globe, Sydney, Australia, and Puerto Rico to be exact. And we're so excited to be sharing this time with you.

[00:00:10] Nicole: Get ready for a candid convo with us, Nicole and Kate throughout this podcast, we'll be sharing our own experiences and thoughts in the hopes that you realize that one, you're not alone.

[00:00:20] Nicole: And two, that open and honest convos can lead to awesome discoveries shifts in perspectives and energy to move ahead with confidence.

[00:00:27] Kate: Because that's what real friends do they provide love, support and space for one another to share without judgment, speak, without hesitation, and to learn from each other, even when we don't agree.

[00:00:39] Kate: And with that, let's dive in. All right. Friends, daily routines might kind of seem like a bit of a buzz phrase or even. Creating a daily routine, sticking to it, excelling in every area of your life, except when you don't. So what happens when your daily routine doesn't go as planned? What if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or what if the thing that you thought you were.

[00:01:08] Kate: Absolutely crush turns out to be the biggest mess you've ever seen. And what do you do when you know, you're next to do is to work out, but you just don't feel like it. That's what we're going to be talking about today. Nicole, let's start out with this question. What is it your daily routine look like, give us a little day in the life of Nicole.

[00:01:34] Nicole: Oh, I love this topic. Cause I'm obsessed with my daily routine. I wasn't always. Ditto. You too Hey, I wasn't always though. Um, but my daily routine consists of the first thing I do in the morning is lemon water, warm lemon water.. So I have to have that. Uh, and then I actually do a meditation, um, very short meditation, 5, 10 minutes.

[00:02:02] Nicole: I do my affirmations. I never thought I'd be one of those people that do affirmations. Not that I'm judging anyone that, you know, I think I was judgmental at one point, um, and thought it was a little bit too. Woo, woo. But affirmations are actually really helpful. So do affirmations. I do some visualization.

[00:02:20] Nicole: I make sure I read in the morning and I have to have breakfast. So I do all of that just before I have. Coffee and definitely have a coffee every morning and, uh, while I'm having breakfast, I read. So that is what I get done that before I look at any work stuff,

[00:02:43] Kate: Okay. So what time are we talking about? Oh, do you think, like you kind of, that's basically your morning routine, right?

[00:02:50] Kate: Is that a correct assumption?

[00:02:52] Nicole: Yeah. That's my morning routine. And I'm up between 4:30 or 5:00 AM. Oh my gosh. I know. Okay.

[00:03:01] Kate: So is it like, are we talking. 8:00 9:00 AM. By the time you finished that.

[00:03:08] Nicole: Ah, yeah, so I finished by around 7:30 - 8:00, so I know 4:30 is early but 4:30 is for the mornings that I have a 6:00 AM start.

[00:03:18] Nicole: So on our recording day start. I know which I love. I love morning routines. I am very excited to wake up in the morning. I know that sounds really like corny. Like why would you be excited to wake up at 4:30 or five?

[00:03:31] Kate: I am so excited to wake up in the morning. That does not sound corny.

[00:03:35] Kate: Props!

[00:03:36] Nicole: Yeah. Well, it never used to be this way so we can talk about like how that I think having a very clear morning routine, a very specific morning routine actually makes you more excited to get up.

[00:03:47] Nicole: in the morning.

[00:03:48] Nicole: Um, but yeah, so the 4:30 is for a 6:00 AM start, um, five, 5:00 AM is the later the later start if I have sleeping in, is my sleeping in. Right.

[00:04:00] Kate: Did you mention, did you say workout is a workout, a part of that

[00:04:04] Kate: or no? Yeah.

[00:04:04] Nicole: Oh yeah. So exercise is definitely a part of a daily routine, but it won't be in the morning.

[00:04:10] Nicole: It will be, I mean, it can be in the morning. It depends on meetings, so it will be any okay. Um, all right.

[00:04:17] Kate: Yeah. And then your morning routine, and then you're diving into work straight away?

[00:04:22] Nicole: Yeah, after like, after my whole shower, bathroom ritual, that's a whole ritual in itself. Um, there'll be a work block.

[00:04:32] Kate: As it should be.

[00:04:33] Nicole: Right.

[00:04:33] Nicole: Yeah. Um, I spend way too long in the bathroom, but anyway, that's a whole other story.

[00:04:41] Nicole: Self care, self care, um, work block, um, work out maybe somewhere in between there, uh, lunch then another work block in the afternoon. And that can work, can end anytime between I can go up to seven on some days, but we're really, really trying to be more diligent about finishing like around 5, 5 30 and then yeah.

[00:05:06] Nicole: Dinner time and

[00:05:07] Kate: Seven seems quite late

[00:05:08] Nicole: when you've been up since 4:30 it is like those days

[00:05:12] Kate: be turned on. I feel like I have an off switch that is automatic on my brain. Um, well, I guess it's all about like, um, You know, if, if that's what you're used to, right. You kind of train yourself to be able to go for longer stretches and

[00:05:31] Nicole: yeah.

[00:05:32] Nicole: But you know, as we talked about in the other episode of getting older, I do think that on some days I do have my limits were, yeah, my brain will definitely start to shut down. Like if, especially if it's been, a four 30 start four 30, wake up then. Yeah. By the time it's four o'clock, I've been up for 12 hours.

[00:05:51] Nicole: So it's like, I'm not doing, I'm not doing my best work after four 30 in the afternoon

[00:05:55] Kate: on since that time. I mean, it's not like. Your morning routine sounds really incredible by the way. I mean, it sounds, you know, very like focused on filling you up before the day starts, which I think is so great. Um, but still like having the work blocks and stuff and working out during the day, which kudos to you, um, And okay.

[00:06:18] Kate: So you said like around seven, you're kind of shutting it down work-wise and then what happens after that?

[00:06:23] Nicole: Well, then it's like dinner time. Um, and then yeah, in the evenings we'll, I mean, you know, right now it's like, you know, we're still pandemic time. So the, you know, our outings and excursions outside the house are a bit more limited.

[00:06:40] Nicole: So, um, yeah, so we'll be yeah. A home dinner and then we'll watch something. Um, and before we wind down for the evening, but what I was going to say to that is that the it's really important. And I want to hear your morning routine and your daily routine, but my morning routine, the thing that I've really focused on is starting in a very kind of calm and peaceful way.

[00:07:06] Kate: so I feel like you mentioned before setting the tone for your day and part of it being like being excited to wake up, but I also feel like that the energy that you go into the day with makes such a huge difference.

[00:07:22] Nicole: Huge. Yeah. Well, how do you start your day?

[00:07:25] Kate: Um, okay. So I wake up around six, some mornings I have, so I work, I work out with a personal trainer.

[00:07:34] Nicole: I'm laughing

[00:07:34] Nicole: because I'm sorry, I'm laughing. Just because I feel like I set the precedent or something that

[00:07:44] Nicole: looking at your face, like six o'clock feels really late. It's probably really early for some. No judgment, whatever works. Okay. Sorry.

[00:07:52] Kate: I am. I do consider myself a morning person. I love being up early when I sleep in. Sometimes it's totally necessary. I'm all about listening to my body. But typically speaking, if I wake up later than 7:30 , I do feel like it automatically gives me not the start that I want, because I immediately wake up feeling like I've just lost a lot of time in which yeah.

[00:08:20] Kate: So, so I'm typically up about 6:00, um, two days a week. I. I work out the very first thing that I do when I wake up is I work out. So I give you such big props for, um, working out in the middle of the afternoon, because that has just never worked for me. I can't do it. Like, I feel like I want to do that. Crush it, get it out of the way and not have to think about it.

[00:08:44] Kate: And when I say get it out of the way, it kind of makes it sound like I don't enjoy working out. It's honestly one of my favorite parts of the day I love working out. Um, but I know that for a lot of people, like it is a little bit too intense for right in the morning. Like you said, you like to kind of get that very relaxing start.

[00:09:03] Kate: You talked about meditating and affirmations and reading your book and it all sounds so calm and serene and but I think that some people like that start to their day and for whatever reason for me. I just want to get up and work out.

[00:09:19] Nicole: Well, you forget that I like to have my breakfast. I need to eat in the morning.

[00:09:24] Nicole: Yeah. It's so kudos kudos to me for getting up so that I can eat first thing in the morning.

[00:09:30] Kate: Hey, it's working for you.

[00:09:33] Nicole: No, but that's cool that you would that, I mean, a lot of people I know exercise in the morning. I think it's great. And you're right. Like. You do enjoy it, but even people who enjoy exercising that motivation, you always need to kind of give yourself a bit of a, like, alright, come on.

[00:09:49] Nicole: Let's go. Let's do it. So the fact that you get it done in the morning, I think is super, super helpful. Okay. So you work out first thing.

[00:09:56] Kate: Yeah. Yeah. No. And I just feel like by doing that, it doesn't leave any room for a debate. Like I'm going to wake up and I'm going to go work out. Yeah. I. I guess I've gotten into intermittent fasting, not necessarily on purpose, but I usually do.

[00:10:15] Kate: Okay. So I'll get into my intermittent fasting, but I wake up, I work out some days, John and I split days of when we walk us so very efficient of us to split days. So some mornings I'm walking, Gus. And then I'm going into kind of like my hygiene routine. And, uh, for some reason, the kitchen is like a really, you know, Zen space for me.

[00:10:40] Kate: So I always clean the kitchen in the morning. Right after I work out, I clean the kitchen, then I can't have it as a distraction. The kitchen seems to be a distraction for me. Um, and so like, if. Dirty dishes or like stuff left over from the night before, or if there's basically just like anything going on in the kitchen, like it needs to be wrapped up before I start my day.

[00:11:00] Kate: Otherwise I'm going to be thinking about it

[00:11:02] Nicole: and that relaxes you? That actually relaxes you.

[00:11:05] Kate: Yes. Yes. I feel like very, it's almost like meditation for me when I'm in the kitchen.

[00:11:10] Nicole: Interesting.

[00:11:12] Nicole: So, I guess that's my meditation is cleaning. I love cleaning. I am. I have some tendencies there where maybe I take it a little bit too far, but hey, I like it.

[00:11:24] Kate: It makes me feel good. It makes me feel very relaxed. Um, I'm usually listening to podcasts too. So getting an, uh, a little education there or, or some entertainment sometimes. Um, and then I'm doing my hygiene, you know, taking my shower, making the bed, all that kind of stuff. And, um, then I'm usually diving into whatever work I have for the day.

[00:11:45] Kate: So, um, I'll also then go into a workflow. And then in the afternoon, I'm usually taking a break, um, to either go out, back, hang out by the pool, just get outside to do something. Whether it's taking Gus for a little walk or going out to the pool and hanging out for a bit, get them vitamin D and then it really is.

[00:12:07] Kate: Really, uh, weekday dependent because like some mornings I go play tennis. And so those days I get into my work blocks later then on the mornings that I don't play tennis, some evenings, I play beach volleyball. Um, I have a networking group that I meet up with once every other week. So like those, you know, those days are, I feel like I do have a routine, but.

[00:12:31] Kate: Always exactly the same every single day, depending on like these other little things that I have. And then around four or five is when I'm kind of shutting it down. I'll do a workbook in the afternoon as well. If I don't have like anything work blocky for the afternoon, I'm usually like hanging out with friends, going for a walk, um, hiking, something active.

[00:12:52] Kate: Um, and then I shut it down around four or five. I love cooking dinner again, back in the kitchen. I love it. And then John and I are having a evening together doing dinner together, maybe watching a show catching up from the day and, um, yeah, my golden doodle right now is eating his blankets. Oh gosh. Um, Gus.

[00:13:18] Kate: Yeah. So then I'm, I'm shutting it down and I'm usually I'm really big on sleep. Like I know we're talking about. Daily routines, which I think sleep is such an important part of because it's all a cycle, right. And waking up in the morning and how you feel and the routine that you get into in the morning and how that sets your day up and then going to sleep at night.

[00:13:39] Kate: I feel like my circadian rhythm is like very on point. Usually around 9, 9: 15. I'm getting ready for bed. I am thankfully, I'm so grateful that I'm a good sleeper. 9:30 9:45. I read before I go to bed, quote, quote, unquote, read because I maybe make it a page before I'm out. Um, and then, so I get like really good solid sleep, which I'm so grateful for.

[00:14:04] Nicole: How, how many hours sleep do you need?

[00:14:07] Kate: I mean, I thrive on eight. Um, so I don't know what, uh, let's say 10 to 6. Yeah. Eight hours now is wait, six hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eight hours. I had to do my math again. Yeah. What about you? Do you get how much sleep do you get?

[00:14:28] Nicole: Yeah, so obviously is, I mean, if you get up early, you have to go to bed early.

[00:14:32] Nicole: That's just, that's just the, you know, the cons, you know? Right. So I would be in bed by like 9, 9 30 at the latest. And like you sleep reading before bed.

[00:14:46] Nicole: Sorry, Nicole. Sorry. I just Skyped John to see if he could come get Gus. Cause he's just kind of falling apart, right?

[00:14:53] Nicole: No, no, no. That's okay. We can pause.

[00:14:57] Kate: Sorry, one second. I take time... hey friends, minor interruption. I know I very easily could have edited this part out, but I decided to keep it in because perhaps in our last episode you heard gusset. Cute little puppy wines in the background. And, uh, those, I was not able to take out today. I very easily could have edited this out, but I think Nicole and I both agree that, Hey, this is life.

[00:15:24] Kate: Sometimes we are not in a super ideal scenario. Sometimes things happen when we don't expect it. And it just so happened that on recording day, Also John's recording day. And so Gus was a little bit restless after being in my office for a couple of hours. So wanted to leave that in there so that, you know, you are not alone when it comes to finding sometimes unexpected solutions to life's little curve balls.

[00:15:57] Kate: Okay. Let's dive back in.

[00:15:59] Nicole: And yeah, I only get through like a page or two before I'm like out like a light. So I've started tracking my sleep too. That's another thing. I now wear my watch to bed and I track how many hours and my sleep quality. That's super. Yeah. That's interesting.

[00:16:15] Kate: What are, what are kind of some scores that you get? Cause John has an aura ring and I'm always curious. I don't use any sleep tracking apps, so I'm always curious what mine would look like. What are some of your stats?

[00:16:25] Nicole: Is interesting because I also think I'm a good sleeper, but then when you look at your, um, your tracking. It, it would actually vary. Like, there'll be some days where my sleep quality is like 71%.

[00:16:37] Nicole: And then other days it's like 91%. I'm trying to get more REM sleep in. I heard that's really good for you, but I don't know why. I think it helps you process or like what you've learned in the day. But my deep sleep is usually pretty good. Um, yeah. Normally

[00:16:54] Kate: you find that there's like a direct correlation? Like when you wake up with a 71 sleep scored, does. Do you think about like, do I feel really well rested before you look at your score or do you look at your score and then that would potentially influence how you feel about the sleep that you got?

[00:17:11] Nicole: It's funny. Cause I always feel like I wake up with a lot of energy.

[00:17:15] Nicole: That my sleep score doesn't um, you know, whatever, but it, I do realize that the days where I have like a sleep score in the nineties, it's like, oh yeah, I actually do feel a lot better. Um, so it can make you a little bit more aware, but you know, generally I feel like I've got a dialed in like how I wake up, how I feel in the morning.

[00:17:36] Nicole: Um, Is usually an indicator of how, how well I've slept. Um, but yeah, the, the kind of the backup of the, of the app is, is, is good to have. But what I was going to say is that it's, it's funny that w w we're opposites in the sense that your kit, the kitchen is your, like your happy place in the morning. Um, and I, and it made me kind of laugh because I remember when I didn't have this super early morning routine, when I would wake up a little bit later, And just even like up to like three, four years ago that the kitchen in the morning was one of the first things that I was doing, the emptying, the dishwasher tidying up.

[00:18:14] Nicole: And I would be like, really, it would actually put me in a bad mood. Like I would be really annoyed that I'm in the kitchen. Like, why am I here? Why am I doing this? And it's not like Omar's not helpful. Cause he's super helpful. He wouldn't, you know, we were very, very good about the dividing chores and all of that.

[00:18:30] Nicole: But I would just be in this really crappy mood because I'm in the kitchen, I'm emptying the dishwasher and what I realized it was, was that it was because I felt the urgency to start work. And I felt like the morning was getting away from me. Just kind of like when you said, what, if you wake up later, you feel like, oh my God, I've wasted all this time.

[00:18:51] Nicole: I've just, you know, the morning's gone and that would set me, that will put me in a really bad mood. And that is why I'm so passionate now about the early start, because I've. I can do all that stuff in the morning. It's I'm well up before everybody else. And I feel I don't have that guilt and that urgency to rush, to get to work because of allowed myself that early start.

[00:19:17] Nicole: And, and, and so starting in that kind of peaceful, calm, You know, cursing out the dishwasher and getting literally that's what would happen would just set me up for like, oh quick, I've got to keep going. I've got to get to my desk. Whereas now I'm like, Take care of me first, do the things I need to do. And it just clears my mind.

[00:19:38] Nicole: And honestly, it's impacted, I think the level of work, decision-making the quality of work because my mind is so much clearer. That's why I love this topic. So I feel like it's super important to dial in your morning routine because it's how it's how it sets you up for the day. Yeah.

[00:19:55] Kate: So I know that. You've talked about Hal Elrod and his Miracle Morning, was that like a big influence on your morning routine?

[00:20:05] Nicole: Yeah, I think that's where I finally help, yeah, that book. And I, and I'd heard about this book of its existence for years before I actually read it. So I'm kind of annoyed at myself that it took me so long to read it, but Hal Elrod's- the Miracle Morning pretty much shaped my morning and not like he invented meditation or affirmations and all of that stuff, but the way he distills it and he just lays it out was so easy to, for me to implement.

[00:20:32] Nicole: So as soon as I did decide, like, okay, cool, I'm just gonna do this. I'm just gonna wake up 5:00 AM. And I'm just going to do these, what he calls the S.A.V.E.R.S- so S stands for silence. So it's kind of meditation. A is for affirmations. V is for visualizations, E is for exercise. That's the one I do later. I mean, sometimes I'll work out in the morning, but otherwise I'll do it later in the day.

[00:20:54] Nicole: R is for reading. That's when I do my reading, um, over breakfast and then S stands for scribing so journaling. Oh, that's what I forgot to. I journal every day too.

[00:21:05] Kate: You journal.

[00:21:05] Nicole: Yeah.

[00:21:06] Kate: Just in like a open notebook or do you have a

[00:21:09] Nicole: Can't believe, I forgot to talk about journaling. Oh my God. I love that part of my morning.

[00:21:14] Nicole: So, yeah. And it's funny cause I never used to be like a teenager who'd write in a diary. That was never my thing. I always wanted to. Ever since I'm doing this, like "SAVERS" is the miracle morning. Um, I, in an open notebook, I'll just, yeah write a couple of pages and I have like music playing in the background and it's just, I love starting my day that way.

[00:21:36] Nicole: And I realized that if I don't start my day, that way, everything else will take over everything else will swallow me up and that will be work. And that will be things the fires to put out at work. Or even if there's no fires to put out, it's like what we talked about. Um, other things people's agendas.

[00:21:57] Nicole: And I feel like I'm not doing my best work. I can't be my best self if I haven't taken care of myself first and it might sound selfish, but I honestly have seen it. I've seen when I haven't given myself that priority. I haven't shown up in the best way for everybody else.

[00:22:15] Kate: I don't think it's selfish at all.

[00:22:16] Kate: I think it is like so intuitive and, you know, strong of you to know that, you know, that's a, that's like a next level of awareness that I feel, uh, many people don't have is they don't realize that you can't serve other people. If you're not serving yourself. Um, and I think that that's so important and I've heard, I'm really glad that you talked about Hal Elrold and Miracle Morning, because I've heard from so many people, what a game-changer that has been for them.

[00:22:47] Kate: And I've read miracle morning. I love it so much. I love Hal he's just such a smart guy and so genuine and authentic, and I just love everything that he does. Um, so I'm really glad that you talked about that. Um, but you know, I, like, I think it's easy to. To talk about our daily routines in our morning routines.

[00:23:07] Kate: And, and those are like straight up what both of us experience on a day in and day out, what do, what happens when like the morning does get thrown off or like something happens throughout the day that is unexpected or, um, you know, you just, what if your daily routine, isn't your daily routine?

[00:23:27] Nicole: Yeah,

[00:23:28] Nicole: I think in the beginning, when I started my daily routine and I just became so in love with it, and I felt like it was so good for me.

[00:23:36] Nicole: I think the first times that it didn't go according to plan, whatever happened that morning or even my own, self-sabotage like not...

[00:23:48] Nicole: Checking my phone or going into email right away or checking those notifications on my phone, on that threw me off. I remember being. ... Like I could feel it. I could feel like it, my, my state of mind was, was different.

[00:24:02] Nicole: I could feel that stress. And I think in the beginning it was like, ah, this is really crappy. And it kind of carried throughout the day. And then I think a couple of times I kind of caught myself and I was like, it's okay. It's just one of those mornings where things haven't gone according to. Just reset and you just, and you can just, you know, a little pep talk, give yourself a little reset and just realize that it's going to happen.

[00:24:25] Nicole: Um, and not to beat yourself up, not to focus, not to stay in that kind of negative thought. And just to let it go, um, and keep moving forward. Like one of my favorite things is just to say onwards, just keep moving forward, you know, next. Um, yeah, I kinda kind of helped, but. Oh, I mean, I remember like getting really into my morning routine for like over a year now.

[00:24:51] Nicole: And then at the start of this year having one of the worst times in our business, which we're not going to talk about. We can talk about that another time, just their episode, another episode, having just a majorly bumpy, bumpy, bumpy is a nice way to put it. It was like a small version of hell. Um, you remember those days?

[00:25:10] Nicole: I remember we were talking about those days. Yeah. Yeah. It was really hard. And I remember just the business just completely swallowing up any, like just taking full precedence, full priority. And I let that go for about a couple of months, because it was just, we were just in the thick of it. We just had to keep putting out fires, just keep making things happen, just keeping there.

[00:25:36] Nicole: And, you know, fortunately everything turned around and we turned a corner, you know, you know, by March of this year, And then I realized at one point I was talking to a friend, I realized and he said, oh, you know, we were talking about morning routines and he shared his morning routine. And he's like, yeah, I wake up at like four and I'm like, oh wow.

[00:25:55] Nicole: That's so cool. And I do this in the morning. That's so cool. And I was like, I was doing that last year. What happened? Why did I stop?

[00:26:03] Nicole: I was also one of those..

[00:26:05] Kate: Like the,

[00:26:06] Kate: the business became like, so all consuming, you didn't even realize that you had dropped your routine. Yeah. Wow.

[00:26:14] Nicole: I was such...

[00:26:15] Kate: I remember some of those calls that we had and like, I, I literally.

[00:26:20] Kate: Could feel your pain like coming out of my computer screen of just, uh, man. Uh, and I, I felt awful, awful that you were going through that, but it is kind of crazy to think that sometimes when we're in like that emergency mode, you know, sometimes it is necessary. Obviously you had to redirect your attention, but to think that we could

[00:26:46] Kate: completely disregard the care for ourselves is a little bit it's kind of scary. Yeah. Yeah. Because how long would it, I mean, thankfully, you know, you guys got everything in check, but it took a few months. And then, so was it that conversation with your friend to where you were like, that's it? My, my routines are back starting tomorrow.

[00:27:08] Nicole: Literally.

[00:27:08] Nicole: That's what it was. I realized, hang on. I've let that go. That was so helpful. It's served me well. Um, you know, the year before, when I started doing, you know, getting into that routine and literally was cold turkey the next morning, I was like, I know there's going to be fires. I know there's going to be, you know, things aren't perfect.

[00:27:28] Nicole: But before I do anything else, I'm going to go back to my "miracle morning." And it was incredible because I was then able to provide, I mean, Omar is leading the company. He needs all the support that he can, he can get from me and from everyone else. I was then able to be then there for my team, I showed up in a different way and I could see that.

[00:27:52] Nicole: I was making better decisions. My head was clearer. Like it's like the fog clears and, and I realized you can't be making the best decisions when you're just in that fight or flight emergency mode and just constantly reacting. So I was like, if this takes, you know, half an hour, an hour out of the day, out of the morning before I get to everything else, but it can set me up to help everybody else and be there for everybody.

[00:28:22] Nicole: And then this is so worth it. And so literally I was just like, I'm never compromising, never, I'm not going to compromise on this again because yeah. And then, and then it was amazing. Like, I really do feel like things turned around, obviously, not just because I went back to my miracle morning, but things turned around and

[00:28:42] Nicole: I was just able to deal with the stress. I was able to deal with what was going on in such a better way, because I gave myself that space in the morning and I've got friends, who've got kids. Um, and you know, I was sharing this story and I was sharing this with her and she's like, oh, I'm not a morning person.

[00:29:02] Nicole: I can't, you know, I got to get up, you know, my son's up. And literally she just started getting up a half hour before him and I remember one morning she texted me. She's like, oh, I'm up! And it was like, it was like 5:30- 6:00 AM when she What's App'd me and she's like, I can hear the birds. It's nice and quiet.

[00:29:20] Nicole: Um, you know, the house is quiet and she just, I could just tell that she was so happy and excited that morning that she just gave herself that extra space just before her kids got up her son got up and I was like, yeah, You know it, yeah. It makes a difference, but you have to be intentional about it. And if you think you're not a morning person, um, just try

[00:29:43] Nicole: it.

[00:29:45] Kate: If you think you're not a morning person, it's because you think you're not a morning person is the way I like to say it. Anyone can be a morning person if they decide to be a morning person, I believe. Um, but I think that's really powerful. I mean, I think that it really does show that. There, like you said, there has to be intention behind it.

[00:30:06] Kate: Um, and it's not going to hurt to try. I mean, I've iterated on my daily routines, hundreds of times to find the right mix of the right things and the right timing and all of that and just because you start with something doesn't mean, it always has to be that way. You can change it. And obviously we recognize that everyone's daily routine is going to look different based on responsibilities.

[00:30:30] Kate: Um, maybe you have a nine to five job. Maybe you're taking care of a family. Maybe you're taking care of parents. Maybe you have multiple jobs. Um, you know, so there are certainly endless scenarios where a daily routine will look different, but don't feel like it has to fit in a box. Like it. Have to look any one certain way.

[00:30:50] Kate: It should look the way that makes you feel great to where you're excited to wake up in the morning and that your morning routine gives you energy. And doesn't start off the day you feeling mad at your dishwasher or whatever it might be. Right. Um,

[00:31:06] Nicole: Do you get annoyed if, if you, if it's something sets you off in the morning?

[00:31:11] Kate: Yeah, I do tend to get frustrated. Um, things don't go the way that I plan them because I am such a planner. And so when I have expectations for things to go a certain way and they don't, um, I do, yeah, I do get frustrated. However, I feel like you were mentioning before my perspective on this has changed a lot and I.

[00:31:36] Kate: I have been able to start taking a step back and realize that things that I used to think were so critical and no, this has to happen. Like it actually doesn't have to happen. I mean, it would be really nice if it did, but. The value of my life and what I'm here doing and our business and our family and all of that, like an interruption during the day is not caused to expend all this emotional.

[00:32:14] Kate: Um, you know, distress and anxiety and frustrations, like it's honestly just not worth it. And certainly there are emergencies that come up that can be filled with anxiety and stress and all of that. I'm not saying that emergencies don't come up that are like that, but I have. Really stepped into the idea that I'm in control of my reaction to those things and that, yes, I might feel stress, anxiety or any one of those things, but the things that I'm not getting done as a result of paying attention to something that is clearly much more important, I don't need to feel bad about that or beat myself up for that because something's happened that are

[00:32:56] Kate: purely out of our control. And so getting mad at ourselves, getting down on ourselves, feeling like, ah, my morn my routine didn't like go, like it was supposed to do today. It's just not always going to and that's okay. And so for me, it's like, I I've really stepped into this reprioritizing, uh, routine, I guess, since we're talking about routines, um, to where.

[00:33:21] Kate: If I get knocked off track, or if a day doesn't go exactly as planned, or if I had four things on my list that I was really hoping to get done, and I only got three of them done. I just make it a point at the end of the day to reprioritize. If something came up that I didn't expect, and it prevented me from doing something that I thought I was going to do, I just need to figure out what I'm gonna do.

[00:33:41] Kate: Thing and maybe it's tomorrow. And maybe I realized that it really isn't that critical and I'm glad I do it next week, or, I mean, it's kind of going back to our episode on overwhelm, right. Maybe I decide that it's really not important at all. And I just never do it. Um, but I think that it's important to, as important as having a daily routine is also.

[00:34:03] Kate: Thinking about what type of routines going to work best for you and the instances when your daily routine doesn't go as planned. So what type of like routine or process can you have in place that is just really saved me so much frustration, stress and anxiety to have kind of like a go-to like. When you take a step back and you say, okay, onwards.

[00:34:24] Kate: Yeah, whatever that word or phrase or step back or pause or whatever, whatever it is that you need five deep breaths say the ABC is, I don't know, whatever you want to do to indicate to yourself I'm resetting right now. And I understand that this is happening. I accept it. I acknowledge it. I understand that I'm going to move on from this and, you know, kind of figure out what your next steps are.

[00:34:50] Nicole: Yeah.

[00:34:50] Nicole: It's and it takes practice because you get, you know, you get, you get caught up in that emotion, but that's why it is actually one of my. Affirmations it's on my list to not sit in any negative emotion, to not sit in anything that is frustrating or anger inducing for like, as soon as you become aware of it, just move on from it, because it just doesn't serve you.

[00:35:18] Nicole: And it just stops you from making the next best decision or just moving forward. And it's just one of those things that has really, really helped me because, you know. Life is tough. Life is hard. Like we gonna of say it. I mean, whatever way it looks for everyone, there's always challenges. Um, so what, you know, whatever you can do to kind of train your mind, to just get out of that negativity as quickly as possible...

[00:35:47] Nicole: I think can serve you really, really well.

[00:35:49] Kate: Yeah. And, and that's the thing that I think about a lot of the times, like I have, I've had people reach out to me and they're just like stuck in such a negative mindset around life in general. And I just want to like shake them and be like, you are healthy and alive right now.

[00:36:07] Kate: Get over it. Not get, not get over it, but like, you have to understand that when you continue to you get back, what you put out, I guess, is what it really comes down to. If you're going to reflect a negative attitude and always be down about how tough life is, life is going to be tough. Just the same as like, if you think you're not a morning person, you're not a morning person.

[00:36:35] Kate: If you think that you don't sleep well, you're never gonna sleep well. Like you have to start changing the, that's been my experiences that when I've changed my mindset around these things, it really has had a powerful impact on like, if I don't want to feel stressed out and frustrated all the time, I have to be able to get myself out of feeling stressed and frustrated and you can do that. That's the beautiful thing.

[00:36:59] Nicole: Yeah. And I think that's why, like Hal's book is so important and why he's so passionate and he wants to tell the world about it and why I feel like I want to tell the world about the you know, miracle morning and a morning routine because

[00:37:13] Nicole: it's everything too. It's I think it's the optimal time to give yourself that, that space and that time to, to set up for the day and to just have those reminders, because life takes over. People's demands take over. And so even if it is a few minutes, so I love in the book, he actually reduces it. You know, ideally it's an hour, but he actually reduces it to a minute.

[00:37:39] Nicole: If you've only got a minute for each of those things, a minute of breathing meditation a minute, and there's a minute of that, you can do that in six minutes. It works because I've seen, there are some mornings where it's like, okay, I don't have time, but I'll just commit to the sh a short mini version of my morning routine.

[00:37:56] Nicole: Um, yeah. I love that because I just know,

[00:38:02] Kate: well, we both love our morning routines.

[00:38:06] Nicole: Was it different for you when you were in a nine to five? Because I know as a teacher like my whole routine was just dictated by a work schedule. I mean as a teacher, the calendar, the time the timetable has so much influence on what I do in the day, obviously, because I'm bound by a timetable.

[00:38:26] Nicole: I had the bell goes, I gotta be in class. Like I don't have the luxury to sit here and meditate for a minute if I want to.

[00:38:33] Kate: Right ,right, but then I guess I think it all depends on the job too, because I had jobs where, you know, I was in banking for a long time, Monday through Friday nine to five, like banking hours, don't change.

[00:38:47] Kate: Um, and, uh, the banks that I worked for luckily were pretty like attached to that. Like you're not staying until six 30. There's really no reason to do that because the bank closes at five and you have your procedures to close out and then you leave. Um, but then when I got into like marketing and advertising, like agencies, don't don't clients don't care.

[00:39:08] Kate: If your hours are nine to five, if they have something due, that's about to run on television or on the radio or in a magazine, like you're staying as long as it takes to make sure that that happens. And so I do a daily routine didn't really exist at that. Well, I will say. I've always had for as long as I can remember, I've had a morning routine.

[00:39:33] Kate: And I think that that speaks to the importance that we talk about of our morning routine, because even in the days when I was working in advertising, I knew that no matter what happened once I got to work, that I had done the things that I felt I needed to do for myself already. So I never let that change.

[00:39:54] Kate: Of course there were days that it didn't happen for one reason or another, but for the most part, I always had that morning routine. But yeah, I like the evening routine got kind of sketchy because sometimes I was there late or anything.

[00:40:06] Nicole: That's really great that you had that discipline. That that's awesome.

[00:40:10] Nicole: I can't. I just, yeah, I never thought about what's important for me in the morning, other than like, you know, showering, eating breakfast, and getting dressed. I was going to say, oh yeah, gosh. Yeah. Breakfast seems to be the constant in my life. Hey, like don't anybody tell me that I have to skip breakfast?

[00:40:30] Nicole: Cause this is not going to happen.

[00:40:35] Kate: That's great though. You know, you know what you need to start the day off right.

[00:40:41] Nicole: Yeah. Being that thing. Self-aware what do you think you could go back to a nine to five routine?

[00:40:47] Kate: No, I don't think I could do it. I feel like I have look when I worked in nine to five, I didn't know that you were actually in charge of creating your daily lifestyle.

[00:41:01] Kate: I just, I thought that it was up to. You know, the job that you were in and climbing the corporate ladder. And not that there's anything wrong with that. Some people thrive in the corporate world. I just did not thrive in the corporate world. And I also did not know that there was another way for a really long time.

[00:41:17] Kate: And so now that I've uncovered that and I've set up this daily routine that I just feel really awesome about, even when it doesn't go as planned, I still feel great about the fact that I'm more I'm in charge of my day. Um, I don't think I could go back. I don't think I could have, I couldn't go up the chains of command to like get approvals and stuff.

[00:41:43] Kate: I just, that might be the end of me. What about you? Could you go back?

[00:41:49] Nicole: It's funny. Cause I think, um, I know, like you said, there are people that thrive in a nine to five. That is the routine that gives them that structure. And I distinctly remember. When I decided that I wanted to leave teaching, I felt like teaching so dictated time, because as I said, schedules, timetables, you just, there's just no way around it.

[00:42:11] Nicole: There's no messing with that. I mean, I cannot control that. It's dictated to me. And so the choice to just leave, you know, leave teaching and do something completely the opposite to that. I feel in many ways when I went to film, um, and you know, freelancing which was a real rebellion against like, no, I'm not doing the nine to five anymore.

[00:42:36] Nicole: I'm going to take control. I want to be in charge of my time. And then I ironically like now with a distributed team, it's like everyone's on 24 7 really? Cause people say, well, do you ever switch off because you've got people, you know, that you can be communicating with, you know, someone on your team all throughout the day.

[00:42:56] Nicole: And it's true that there would be those times where I'm just before I'm going to bed, it's 10 o'clock or whatever, whatever time it is, I could be answering someone on Basecamp or Slack but yeah to answer the question, no. And you have to obviously put those boundaries as to, you know, what's your me time and what's everyone else's time.

[00:43:19] Nicole: And I feel like I can do that more now. Ironically, I can do that more now than like, yeah. Then I would have been able to in a nine to five. So no,

[00:43:30] Kate: Yeah that it is, it is really interesting to think about the responsibility and the ownership that you take when you start a business and. You know, when I left banking at 5:00 PM, I was like, peace out.

[00:43:43] Kate: I don't really care what happens at the bank until I come back tomorrow at 8:00 AM. But yeah, 5:00 PM. When I close my computer, I do still care what happens in our business. But I also think that the huge shift there is that I'm passionate about what we're doing and I care about the impact that we're making.

[00:44:02] Kate: And I feel like we're making a difference. Where like, counting people's money. I mean, I know that it is important if you really dig deep into it, but it didn't always feel that way.

[00:44:15] Nicole: Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:44:16] Kate: So I guess that's a, that's a great point though. As like you, you almost, you take on a different type of responsibility running your own business and, and your hours that you're on, so to speak.

[00:44:30] Nicole: Yeah.

[00:44:31] Kate: Well, Nicole, as we close out, today's chat on daily routines. We certainly hope that you've picked up a thing or two that you can carry with you today. And moving forward to give you that extra boost of confidence and support when you need it.

[00:44:48] Nicole: And friends. Thank you so much for leaving us a rating and review on whatever podcast app you're listening to us on.

[00:44:57] Nicole: It would mean the world to us, and we just love hearing everyone's thoughts and feedback on, um, on our conversations. Keep them coming.

[00:45:06] Kate: Yeah. Thank you guys so much. It has been really awesome reading through the ratings and reviews, Nicole and I were just saying today that we feel like we are able to share exactly what we had intended when we started this podcast.

[00:45:20] Kate: So thanks so much for taking the time to leave a rating and review. We really appreciate that. All right, friends, until next time.