The CPSP Certification process thus far has been anything but expected. As I mentioned in my previous CPSP blog, I have been through a ton of sales trainings over my 20+ year career and always have found that those that focus to the entire person, and not just the “sales person,” are the most effective.

The CPSP certainly falls into the former category.

While each day of week two was impressive, the most powerful day for me was day 14.

Routines

I’ve never been one to stick to a schedule. I wake up when I have to, go to be when I am tired and, besides scheduled appointments, my day is filled with doing “stuff” that I want (or need) to accomplish. I guess you could say that my “routine” is to wake up and tackle things as they come.

While I’ve known that my “routine” is probably not the most empowering, it works for me. In fact, it has worked for me for quite a while. But since this CPSP training is about giving me strategies to take my career (and my life) to the next level, I decided to take this week’s focus seriously and consider implementing intelligent routines.

From Wake up to Lunch

Having lived hour by hour for most of my life, I didn’t think it was reasonable for me to try to design a routine that structured my entire day. So I developed a morning routine and packed my hours from waking up through lunch with tasks that either I do everyday or know I should do everyday.

I started with deciding to wake up at the same time (5:30 am) everyday. By 5:45, I built in 30 minutes of exercise into my morning routine. (Something that I haven’t been doing but REALLY need to do on a consistent basis.) By 6:45, after showering and dressing, I catch up on Industry Specific news for 10 minutes. By 7 am, I start working.

My routine is set for me to tackle my MIO’s (Most Important Objectives) before doing any other work. While my MIO’s change everyday, they usually involve prospecting, returning emails from clients and getting articles finished whose deadline is approaching.

By lunch time, I am back on my old, non-structured schedule.

Five Days

It took only 2 days before I realized that I was getting a heck of a lot more done in the morning than ever before. In fact, I was getting more done in 5 and a half hours than I used to get done in 12 hours when following no routine. By day 5, I will admit that I am hooked. I am trying to resist the urge to add afternoon and evening routines as I don’t want to lose my “perceived” freedom.

I say perceived because I am quickly realizing that following an intelligent routine is actually giving me a lot more freedom. After 5 days, I have less stress, more quality time to spend with my family and my work quality and quantity have improved.

While I still have moments during my mornings that I am tempted to “delay things” or to jump to something that seems, at the moment to be more enjoyable, I am resolute to stick to my routine for at least 30 days. After 30 days, I will re-evaluate, make changes and improvements and decide if I want to scrap the whole “routine” thing or to expand it to structure more of my hours.

At this point, I don’t think I’ll be scrapping anything!