The 3 G’s
Goal, grief, gratitude and how to clear your mind of clutter & anxiety!
What we’re getting into today…
This is part one of a two part series on morning routines, where I’ll be taking you through the benefits of having a strong morning routine, what is included included in ours, and the fact that it actually starts the evening before.
In this part we’re talking about that last piece - the evening before.
Framework: The 3 G's journaling exercise and how I use it to clear my mind before I get ready for bed!
Before we had a dog and a child, the evenings felt wide open and were very much absent of any purpose. Get a workout in if you hadn’t already, catch up on our shows, have an extra glass of wine if we felt like it.
It took us having a couple of dependents to see how important routines (both evening and morning) were to feeling good mentally and physically throughout the day. But really this thought process could (and should) have started long ago.
By leaving less for the end of the day, evenings can be spent relaxing your mind, unwinding your body, and getting ready to have an amazing morning.
The Goal of My Evening Routine
From what we already know about good routines and great habits, reducing friction greatly increases your ability to stick with them. Therefore, the goal of my evening routine is to make my morning as easy and straight forward as possible. This way there are no excuses when the time comes to get up and get going!
Reducing friction the night before starts with the obvious steps…
Laying out your workout clothes
Cleaning up the dog’s (and kid’s) toys
Planning your meals for the day
Organizing your to-do list
But the most important step I have found in setting myself up for success the following day is to make sure I am clearing my mind before I wind down my body for bed.
The 3 G’s - Goal, Grief, and Gratitude
I know I’m not alone in finding myself with what seems like peak mental energy as soon as my head hits the pillow. It's a rapid and uncontrollable rundown of what I forgot to do that day, everything I need to do tomorrow, things I’ve been putting off, or follow up on, etc.
Forget about falling asleep… this mental meltdown has me pulling out my phone and starting another list. Anxiety all of a sudden through the roof!
Rather than hope this doesn’t happen (it keeps happening), I’ve made it a point to get ahead of it. Performing this rundown well ahead of crawling into bed. Creating a habit that beats anxiety to the punch.
As soon as I am done with my last task for the day I sit down and take a look at what I accomplished and what I need to get done the next day.
It always starts with what I call the 3 G’s —
1 goal I accomplished
1 thing causing me grief
1 point of gratitude
This exercise, which takes no more that 5 minutes most nights, has given me so much peace. It allows me to close out the day by reflecting on what I’ve accomplish, what I still have to do, while keeping everything in perspective.
1 goal you accomplished allows you to reflect on the progress you are making.
E.g. Accomplished my morning routine! Got Graham to the park for the 4th time this week! Called my family member and wished them a happy birthday!
1 thing causing grief allows you to get a point of stress out of your head and on to paper.
E.g. I’m not making progress in Graham’s training. I have not been finding the time to read before bed. I was not able to follow up with my friend who reached out to me today.
1 point of gratitude allows you to appreciate the things that really matter and celebrate the most important things in your life.
This space is usually reserved for my family, friends, and of course for Graham. Even if we didn’t have a great day listening to commands or ate and then threw up a sock, I’m able to remind myself just how much joy he brings to all of us and will always be a GOOD BOY no matter what!
Some nights the list is short - everything went as planned and I had a great day. Other days the exercise takes some time, but its well worth the effort. There is no rule that you have to stick to ONLY one answer for each step, but my rule is that I need at least one.
Try it out!
If you are like me and have struggled with winding down your mind at night - give The 3 G’s exercise a shot and let me know what you think!
The simple act of putting them on paper really does help get them out of your head and allow for a calm mind as the head hits the pillow and your eyes close.
Next week we talk about how to hit the ground running once those eyes open up!
Until next time,
Sam & Graham