We’re almost a month into 2019 and one of my goals for this year is to finally get back into a regular schedule and routine. I realized that I spent all of 2018 in a reactionary state of being due to working on my Daily 365 project. And now that its over, I feel a sense of freedom I haven’t felt in more than a year.

Mentally, I feel born again. I now have the option of working and planning larger and more longer-term projects like I did in 2017. I realized that by punting my entire 2018 and my ability to work on big projects was something I would come to appreciate now that I don’t have any self-imposed restrictions.

Luckily, I was self-aware of my mental limitations and didn’t take on more than I could handle. The feeling of being restricted by my own brain and an unwillingness to add anymore stress to myself is something I hated at the time. But now it makes me feel a lot more appreciative and aware of my time and my ability to self manage my personal work-load.

My goals going forward are a bit more defined. I known what my end goals are and I have a rough idea of what paths I need to take to get there. I’m making sure to allow some deviations and detours along the way but the first step to getting anywhere remotely close to where I want to be is to get my ideal daily routine down.

So far the routine I’m trying to adapt now is going pretty well. My mornings usually consist of waking up at 5am everyday and heading out the door by 6:30. Then hang out at a coffee shop until 8am and then head to work but 10am. Currently I’m trying to figure out how to add some sort of fitness routine in there, whether its going to the gym or hiking or even just a regular walk.

Evenings are a bit more free form in that I usually try to relax a little. Usually that never happens and I end up working on stuff way past my self imposed bed-time of 10pm. I still need to become more disciplined in that regard. But its all a work-in-progress and I’m feeling really good about having my mental freedom back.