When I first set out as an entrepreneur, I didn’t have any real schedule or routine. After ten years  as a Court Advocate, more rigid routine was the last thing I wanted. I wanted freedom. 

Freedom to breath. Freedom to be me. And Freedom to go to a Yoga class whenever I wanted.

But sometimes that Freedom can be false lived. After my initial ‘rebellion’ from routine, I began to feel my freedom disappear when I felt like I should be working on my business every day, night and at weekends.

Maybe that sounds familiar to you?

Whilst that may work for a short while, it’s not sustainable in the long term and if you’re like me – I wanted to escape the shackles of never having any time for anything else but work. I love what I do but when freedom is a core value, it has to be at the heart of everything I do.

What I soon began to realise is that routine is crucial for success on my terms. It’s crucial for self care. And it is crucial for a high level service based business such as coaching.

So here are my top ten tips of how you can get stuck in with a malleable routine in your business :

1. Colour code your diary – I have different colours for different sectors of my life : blue for self care/me time, yellow for loved ones, purple for coaching, green for writing and so on.
2. Take half an hour on a Sunday, Monday or Friday to schedule your week ahead.
3. Top and Tail your day : social media, emails and mindset when you start and finish.
4. Different Focus for different days : Tuesdays to Thursdays I focus on appointments with clients, potential clients and collaborators. Mondays I focus on visibility within my business and Fridays on writing/creating content.
5. Create Mantras for example ‘everyday I create more time’ and my personal favourite ‘no-one messes with my yoga schedule’.
6. Take on only one big business project at a time – ie. writing an ebook, re-doing your website, designing a new programme etc. Too many will overwhelm you.
7. Schedule in a regular Digital Detox – if you run an online business this is crucial.
8. Outsource tasks that you are not so good at and/or are of low value
9. If you are a woman in business, know your power weeks and schedule in more during that time (first two weeks of your cycle)
10. Tune in with your beliefs around money and success – what are the negative ones you hold?

The key I’ve found is to have a routine or schedule which is malleable to allow intuition, flow and creation to kick in. These top ten tips collected by me over time from coaches, conversations and collaborations will allow you to have the freedom in your life and business.