10 Empowering Habits to Cultivate Mindfulness In Your Busy Day

Feb 14

Every work-from-home entrepreneur wants to have that “perfect” day. The one where all your top priorities get done, you make some money, you have time for yourself, time with your family, you eat right, and you even get to bed on time. Glorious right? It’s the dream and one we strive for every day.

But when was the last time your day went as planned? Between a poor night’s sleep to client emergencies (or kids being home sick) and everything in between — it’s rare that we actually have that “perfect” day, where we crawl into bed with a satisfied sigh and fall asleep with a clear head, feeling like a total boss.

Somewhere along my online entrepreneur path, maybe between kiddo #1 and #2, I realized I was (almost) never going to have the day I planned. And although I could come pretty close quite often, I had to develop tools and strategies for slowing down the chaos, taking a beat to gather myself, and knowing how to move forward.

If I didn’t, I would end my day feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and anxious — like a failure as a business owner and mom.

💡Mindfulness is a way to focus your awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.

It is a form of meditation that can help to reduce stress, improve mental well-being, and increase overall happiness.

Practicing mindfulness involves paying attention to your thoughts and emotions without judgment, and cultivating a sense of awareness and presence in the present moment.

Use the 10 ideas I outline in this article to build a mindfulness habit throughout your day.

You can draw on one or several the next time your day takes a sharp turn into chaos land.

01. Deep Breaths

Don’t just take one deep breath and try to regroup — that’s not going to cut it.

I find a simple 4-count box breath exercise for 5 mins to really slow down the momentum of panic and feeling anxious.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, the video below shows you exactly how to do it and you can follow along. Or you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

02. Go Outside

Don’t just wait for a beautiful day to go for a walk, or simply sit outside for 10-15 minutes. Go outside now.

Raining, snowing, city-dweller — it doesn’t matter.

The act of stopping what you’re doing to breathe in fresh air and be outside can work like magic to slow down your monkey mind chatter and help you to calm your inner nerves.

Don’t go for a walk a listen to a podcast. Just be with yourself.

By the way, don’t go outside if it’s actually dangerous like there’s a hurricane or crazy thunderstorm…be smart.

03. Hydrate

Almost every day around 2 PM for several years, my day and mindset would devolve into feeling sluggish and depressing, with lots of catastrophic thinking.

Thinking things like, “my business is never going to work”.

I’d get tired to the point of feeling like I was walking through water, and the harder I tried to work or push through my to-do list, the worse I felt.

Turns out, I really — like, really — needed to hydrate.

Drinking water (and eating right) are easy to forget when you’re head down working at a desk.

The amount of water you need based on your gender and weight can vary (you can google it), but I aim to drink at least 100oz of water a day.

I have an awesome water bottle that is 25oz, so I know if I get through 4 of them a day I’m good.

💧When I need a minute to regroup or think, sipping on water feels like my whole body and brain light up like a Christmas tree.

04. Stretch

Blood flow will instantly help you regroup and slow down.

I suffer from “tech neck” and terrible posture due to sitting at a computer desk for work.

Whether or not you need to regroup when your day goes off track, making time for regular stretching breaks will help your body AND clear your head.

If you sit at your desk, try this quick routine to stretch while sitting.

And check out this video for the 5-minute yoga routine I do every morning before I sit down to work.

05. One Thing At A Time

When you feel like you’re buried in several to-do’s at once and being pulled in a bunch of different directions, the best thing you can do is make a purposeful effort to only do one thing at a time.

Close all the open tabs.
Clear off your desk.
Focus on completing one single task.

06. The Next Right Thing

But what should that one single task be?

That’s another way we can get lost in our swirly thoughts — by having so much to do that we can’t decide which one to do first, or at any given moment.

And so we end up with a bunch of half-done tasks at the end of the day, which leaves open loops in our heads and sabotages the forward momentum of our business.

When I get to this place (and we all do), I stop what I’m doing and take a minute to consider what is the best thing I can do in this moment to move my business forward.

Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month.

Right now.

07. Observe Your Thoughts

I used to think that the meditation practice of observing your thoughts like passing clouds didn’t make sense. I didn’t really get it.

Then I realized that the concept means you (we) are a whole big soul that is existing in this time and place, and our being is separate from our thoughts.

We are not our thoughts.

When you get lost in thoughts of “no time”, or “not good enough”, just sit for a minute or two and observe that voice and do your best not to judge.

If you can practice this for more than a few minutes, you’ll get better and better at letting those thoughts go.

One of the books that helps explain this concept is The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer — it was deeply impactful for me and you might love it too.

08. Journal

Writing isn’t for everyone, but it can be a fantastic tool for giving your thoughts and actions more clarity.

I often find that when I start my day with journaling (even a few sentences), I have so much more precision and ease with how my day goes.

You might find you need to experiment with handwriting in a physical journal vs. typing on a keyboard into a document, but you’ll figure it out.

When I really need to brain dump and I’m way out in left field with my productivity and plan for the week, I have to sit away from my computer with a notebook and pen.

When I’m in “maintenance mode” with journaling, typing in my Notion journal at the start of the day works just fine.

09. Stare Out The Window

I am fond of saying, “Staring out the window is highly underrated.”

Just do nothing for a few minutes but really look at the outside world.

🌅When you just focus on observing what’s around you, you let your brain rest and you never know what your subconscious will solve or come up with.

Staring out the window is also one of my favorite habits to combine with many of the mindfulness habits listed, particularly journaling.

10. Body Scan

Finally, getting in touch with your senses and your body in the present moment helps slow down the mental chatter.

I like to sit or lay down (usually in front of a window) and think about/observe each area of my body from my head down.

Then I work through my senses. What can I hear, taste, smell, touch, and see?

Yoga Nidra is a great way to be guided through this practice.

This is my favorite YouTube channel for guided Yoga Nidra practices.

Conclusion

It can be so tempting to throw in the towel and curl up on the couch to watch Netflix as a work-from-home entrepreneur.

When your day doesn’t go as planned, or you get completely busy and overwhelmed by your to-do list (and the productivity strategies go out the window), try one or more of these 10 ideas to cultivate more inner peace, focus, and joy — so you can be kind to yourself, wake up tomorrow, and try again.