Ever heard of this term? Those of us in the corporate world are most likely well-versed in the meaning behind these words, but those that haven’t ever read or written a process for doing something need not worry- it’s pretty self-explanatory.
What’s your Standard Operating Procedure (SOP, for short)? I know what mine has always been: wake at the very last possible minute, drink coffee while getting ready for the day, go to work, do said work, go home, eat dinner, drink a cocktail (or three), stay up as late as my eyelids will allow while scrolling through Insta, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Every. Single. Day. Over the last two years I’ve added in keeping my human alive in the middle of all that, but you get the gist.
I’m sure a lot of you are like… dude, what kind of life is that? How boring are you? And there may be some of you that are 100% on board with the above because it mirrors pretty close to what you’re living now. Honestly, I thought nothing of it. Especially in those extremely stressful times where all I wanted to do was get through the day so I could go home and be mindless for a little while before crashing. Life felt like this monotonous day-to-day thing that I just had to survive. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some good times thrown in there with friends, the husband, and our awesome kid, but that everyday grind that is our lives so we can continue to put one foot in front of the other? There’s not a lot of glamour surrounding that.
Fast forward to right now. I mentioned in my intro and previous posts how it has taken me years to get to the point that I am now- blogging. This blog probably has zero readership at the moment, but it’s a huge step in the direction of the life I would like to build for myself and my family. But how did I go from there to here? I have drive and the want to learn as much as I can because I want to be helpful to those around me. So why can’t I be that for myself when it comes to the dream I have for my life? Honestly, I’m a pretty lazy person. I work hard, take care of the kid, and do what I have to do to be a contributing member of society, but I was doing literally nothing to contribute to myself. So, I made a change. I sat down one day and took a hard look at my day-to-day life and compared that to the most awesome version of myself that I could think of. It was ugly. No way could I possibly become this dream version of myself continuing down the path that I was on. With some help, I was able to pin point detailed tasks that I needed to accomplish on the daily to see my true self come to fruition. So let’s break that down…
I have these big, audacious goals that I write down every single morning in my journal. But what’s the point of writing those down everyday if I’m not going to work on the individual tasks that it takes to achieve those? So, let’s back up to my previous SOP and note the changes I had to make:
1. Sleeping until the last possible second and hitting snooze three times.
What the hell were you thinking, Sarah? Does that give you time to work out? No. Does that give you time to prepare a healthy on-the-go breakfast? No. Does that allow you to do more than guzzle your coffee while haphazardly throwing your hair into a semblance of style? Absolutely not. So where was that getting me? You already know the answer to that.
2. The 9-5.
Now, there’s not a lot I can do here to change that. My job is my livelihood and puts food in not only my, but also my kid’s, mouth. What can change during that 9-5? How I approach it: preparing the day before for any big meetings I have on my calendar, not procrastinating annoying tasks that are a nuisance more than anything else, not allowing a coworker’s behavior to affect my attitude towards my work, and not checking my email before I arrive to the office.
3. Dinner and (three) Cocktails
I try my best to feed my kid pretty healthy. Lots of free-range organic chicken and turkey, lots of organic vegetables and fruit. But myself? I’ll just pop a Morning Star Farm’s faux corn dog in the microwave and call it good. Don’t get me wrong, those things are awesome, but in moderation. And why don’t I add several vodka sprites to that order while I’m at it, along with drinking zero water throughout the day. And I wondered why I was so tired every morning…
4. The Forever Scroll
Seriously? What are we doing to ourselves? The never-ending Insta scroll with all the perfect people in their perfect houses and perfectly styled outfits. Now I can see these people and their posts for what they truly are, and that’s a positive thing. But two months ago? I was drowning in the jealousy pool and doing nothing to save myself.
Now, with all that said, my SOP has changed DRAMATICALLY. What I used to live no longer exists for me. Instead, it looks more like this: wake at 5:00am, work-out for 30 minutes, down a glass of water, drink coffee while writing my morning pages journal with the goals for my day and for my life, get ready for work, go and do said work, go home and cook dinner, eat said dinner, clean and meal-prep for the following day, spend at least an hour contributing to this blog, go to bed no later than 10:00pm. THAT, my friends, is a HUGE difference! And you know what? I struggle with it almost on the daily. I LOVE to sleep. I LOVE to eat crap food. I STRONGLY DISLIKE drinking water. But none of those things (minus healthy amounts of sleep) get me to where I want to be 5 years/1 year/1 month from now. My Standard Operating Procedure had to change.
Now, if you’re still with me (gold star for you), you may be asking how do I keep going despite not being totally in love with all the new things in my life? I don’t have an easy answer for that. Our motivation comes in about a billion different forms for a billion different people, but we all have to find what that is for us. Mine is in personal development books written by boss ass women (and a few men), podcasts, and the insane amount of truth behind the words: “I can’t gift to my child what I don’t already have for myself.” BOOM! If there’s only one thing that you walk away with from reading this post, I hope it’s that.
So, I encourage you to take a look at your Standard Operating Procedure. Yes, our lives can be impacted in big ways by big things, all depending on what your goals look like. But what about our daily lives? Not everyday is an epiphany of magic that spurs us on to be the best versions of ourselves, whereas each day I take an active approach to my life and alter my tasks that grow me as a person? Slow and steady wins the race, my friends.
Until next time…
