From The Archives: Self-Respect and Empowerment Through Routine

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All right, here we go.
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So, part of my job with this podcast, and with all my work really, is that I help people get paid to do what they love.
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And part of that is I've got to tell them things they don't want to hear.
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In a way, they want to hear them.
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And that's what I want to talk to you about.
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One of the ideas that I often have to bring up with my coaching clients is a word that most creatives hate.
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And that word is discipline.
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If you want to get things done, you need discipline.
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Discipline creates consistency.
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And consistency is where most of us fall off the wagon.
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Most people don't care for the word.
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Most creatives hate the word.
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And the reason is it sounds like it comes from the military.
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You know, it's like shoulders back, chin up, suck in your gut, private.
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Right?
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But discipline is freedom.
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Discipline makes things happen.
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Especially, especially in the form of scheduling and organization.
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And that's what I want to talk to you about today.
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Scheduling is how you get things done.
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The way to ensure a beautiful future is to create it now.
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Start creating it now.
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Have a schedule for it, be organized about it.
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Having a schedule and being organized will beat talent every time.
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And don't worry if you think you're not talented, because you are.
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If you're listening here, you are.
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You were quite frankly, you were born with multiple talents.
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And scheduling will help build that for you.
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So let's work on the discipline aspect, which you are probably not.
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Talented, sure.
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Disciplined, I don't know about that.
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Hell, it's even hard for me sometimes to be disciplined.
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So let's do this.
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Okay?
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So tell me what does your day look like?
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Literally, I mean what does your day look like?
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Can you see it on a schedule?
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Do you have a to-do list for the day?
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When does your day start?
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Have you scheduled personal time for yourself?
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This is the right question.
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How do you get shit done and not leave yourself stressed all the time?
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I am not the most efficient mofo on the planet, but I have a tendency to get a lot of things done.
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And more than that, when I come up with ideas or projects, when I think of something, think, ooh, that'd be cool, that should be out in the world, they generally become real.
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So I'd like to share my thoughts on scheduling with you.
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Okay?
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Here we go.
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Uh a good day starts the night before.
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Meaning you should plan out what is going to happen.
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So when you wake up, you know what to do.
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And you're not fumbling around looking for something to do or overwhelmed by options.
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You don't know where to start.
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The first thing on my schedule is usually time for the gym.
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Because the gym and exercise is my therapy.
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It makes me happy.
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It moves all those chemicals through my body and replaces old oxygen with new oxygen.
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The gym and exercise gives my brain new blood and new air and new energy.
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So I always schedule the gym.
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And I know when I'm going to go during the day.
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Preferably in the middle of the day to break up my working periods.
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And if I can't get there in the middle of the day, maybe I can schedule an evening session.
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Everything else gets scheduled around my personal time.
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This is called self-respect.
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Write that shit down.
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Write that shit down.
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Self-respect.
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Right about now, you're thinking, oh man, this James Victoria is one cool dude.
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I wish he was my dad.
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I wish he was my mentor.
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I wish he was my guru.
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Hell, I wish he was my coach.
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Well, you can make that happen.
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Go to your workisa gift.com.
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Click on coaching and let's talk.
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Let's build your business.
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Let's help you get paid to do what you love.
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That's what I do for people.
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Let's talk.
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Okay, so a good day starts the night before.
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Before you go to bed, create a rough schedule of the things you need to do to make your life move forward.
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And then get those things done.
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Do not avoid them.
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Do not carry things to the next day.
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Honestly, most items don't take as long as we think they will.
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And if something will take a long time, break it up into pieces if that helps.
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Listen, you make the rules here.
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Now here's a good question.
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When does your day start?
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My day begins very early.
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And by very early I mean 4 30 in the morning.
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Because that's when I have most energy, and that's when I can be left alone, quite frankly.
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Hey, I won't lie, it is difficult to get up early in the morning.
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Most times I'm up before my alarm goes off.
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I don't even set an alarm, right?
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Most times I'm up a little bit earlier than that.
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Because I have things to look forward to, because I enjoy my day, because I've made a schedule, because I look forward to getting shit done.
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And for you, I suggest moving your clock back another 15 minutes or half an hour for a start.
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For me, I plan a nice morning, right?
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Scheduling.
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I schedule a nice morning.
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No one wants to get up, put their boots on, and grab a shovel, right?
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So I prepare for an early morning.
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I make the coffee the night before, I prepare it the night before.
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I have my list of things I want to do.
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I prepare to make my mornings great.
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I have a nice coffee ritual.
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I have a nice spot where I sit outside in the dark and I can look up at the stars and my dog comes out with me to roam around in the dark.
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I take pride in waking up before the birds, and it's one of the rare times in the day that I'm actually left alone.
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My children get up at 6 30, so I have at least an hour to an hour and a half to get a lot done.
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I tend to spend this time not answering emails, but tending to whatever writing I have, whatever real thinkwork I have.
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You'll find that if you wake early, you can get a lot done before the actual day starts.
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When my day starts, it's usually disrupted by a lot of to-dos, right?
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A lot of things I need to respond to.
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It really breaks up the uh the creative flow.
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So I try to break my day into three creative working periods.
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They're not particularly long, but they are efficient.
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So I have my early morning session, and then I have to take care of kids and get them breakfast and get them off to school and usually run an errand, and then make breakfast for myself and feed the dog and do all that stuff.
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And then from about 9 30 or 10, I can work until noon.
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Right?
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That's another that's my second creative session.
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And then noon is for me.
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Noon is when I'll go to the gym.
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And again, it's important to take time for yourself, even if it feels indulgent.
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Getting to the gym or sh even just showing up there is just as hard as showing up to work, right?
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We resist the things that are good for us.
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It's really crazy.
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Then after the gym, when my body's all energized and have had all the chemicals changed in me, I have another chunk of the day where I can sit down and concentrate and make things.
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This is where I can play.
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This is where I can feel free to create physically with my hands.
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For this period, I usually work out until it's dinner time or until the energy runs out, quite frankly.
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I've got to be super conscious of my energy.
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And if it's not there, I don't work.
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And if it's not there for a full day, I choose not to work.
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And I'll find something fun to do or turn to a hobby, right?
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For me, I like woodworking, so I always have a project going.
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My current project is a coffee table that I'm making.
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Seriously, sexy fucking coffee table, you gotta see this thing.
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But if my mind and energy aren't into creative work or writing for my business, I just let it go.
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I don't complain, I don't whine, and I don't beat myself up.
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I let it go because I know that the energy will be back.
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If not tomorrow, then the next day.
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And that's a super important element of scheduling and getting things done is knowing when to stop, knowing when not to feel like you're forcing meat through a grinder, right?
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It's knowing that your energy comes and your energy goes.
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Now I understand there are a lot of apps available.
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And that you're probably thinking, well, what's what app should I use?
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And how should I well see now you're now what you're doing is you're procrastinating by research.
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You're gonna research and find all the perfect apps instead of spending time making a schedule for yourself.
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There are a lot of apps.
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I don't care for those.
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I want to stay off my phone or computer as much as possible.
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I prefer a piece of paper and a pen.
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I do have a Google Calendar that I work off of that has all my year laid out, but I also have a calendar on the wall that I find much more efficient and even visually accessible.
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I can see it and go, okay, that's coming up next week.
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Awesome.
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We all have our own particular way of keeping track of work and staying on target.
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And that's important.
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Now, since I get up early, it's usually early to bed, right?
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The old Ben Franklin adage.
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And 10 o'clock is late for me, honestly.
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But again, before I go to bed, I sit and I think about what needs to happen the next day.
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How can I make it a beautiful day?
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How can I make it efficient?
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And I try not to overbook myself with tasks, although sometimes that becomes unavoidable.
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Sometimes my schedule just gets filled up from eight o'clock until three o'clock with appointments or with speaking to people.
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That's okay.
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That's okay.
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I don't get much time for myself, but I try to invest myself in that time.
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I try to be there and understand it's all creative and how can I have fun at this time.
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One of the most important things to think about is to not be ruled by your schedule and to be kind and gentle on yourself and know that somehow things get done.
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And here's another thing to think about your schedule, and that's about being creative on demand.
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You know, like I said, sometimes my schedule is so full of um duties with other people that I can't have any time for myself to start any future projects or make art, quite frankly.
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And being creative on demand is necessary when you have client work and they want something done within a certain period of time.
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And some people have a problem with the creativity on demand.
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They're like, wait a minute, you know, this is creativity.
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It can't just be conjured up and but here's the thing.
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It can feel like you're forcing it, but that's because your attitude is wrong.
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You have to you have to change your attitude, change your perspective, change how you see it, right?
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If you feel like, oh, I gotta make this thing, then you're not doing it right.
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You know, and the right question here is how can I have fun?
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How can I have fun here?
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How can I make this for me?
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What can I do to be a little disruptive is if necessary?
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Being creative on demand is about allowing ourselves to be creative, not forcing it by saying, This is for me as well.
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How can I invest myself here?
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How can I have fun?
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And the only way to do that is through play.
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Okay?
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So as I see it, this idea of discipline and scheduling an organization is actually a question of self-love.
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Do you care about yourself enough to schedule time for yourself and schedule realistic time for you to be creative?
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I love ya and I believe in ya.
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I'm James Victoria.
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Hey, do you have questions?
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How can you not?
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I want to hear from you.
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I want to hear from you.
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A lot of the times uh these questions come directly from you, and without you, there is no me, and there is no right questions.
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I'm James Victoria, I love ya, and I'll catch you later.
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Adios.