week 2: the building blocks of a beautiful life

this week on the little dream farm

When I was a teenager, I swore to myself my life would never be routine.

Routine is boring! I’d declare.

My perspective back then was that routines equaled drudgery—the mundane—a life void of mystery and spontaneity.

How’d that mindset work out for me?

Well, then I joined the military.

The hallmark of regimen. The place where my free spirit constantly clashed with order and discipline.

The place where I also met Chris…who happens to be the most disciplined, organized, structured, routine-driven person I’d ever come across.

In those days, he was up at 4:00 AM to head to the gym for his workout. At the time, he was dedicated to the SEALFIT workouts—a program designed to mimic the intensity of Navy SEAL training with the mindset and discipline SEALs are so widely regarded for, too.

At the office, he kept a very simple “To Do” list on a Word document. Every single week, he created a blank document, listed plainly what needed to be done each day, and ran a strikethrough line through each item he accomplished.

He still uses that same planning tool in his role at the marketing firm he works for today.

Not surprisingly, we butted heads virtually all the time when we first met. Back then, we were both young (me 24, Chris 26), independent, hard-charging military officers who had to work together.

I told him he was too rigid.

He told me my head was in the clouds.

We became the deepest of friends.

In January of 2013 I asked Chris to be my coach. I decided to enter a bodybuilding competition on Guam where we were stationed at the time, and while he had no bodybuilding experience and had never trained a woman for any sport, it wasn’t the experience I needed Chris’ help with—it was his discipline.

Together, we found a coach who helped with the strategy, and every single day for about nine months we took care of the tactics. Chris happens to make a phenomenal coach.

I didn’t win that competition—in fact—I didn’t even place in the top 3. But what I gained was the foundation of what has become my personal health and fitness routine and has formed the basis for what I teach my personal training and nutrition clients today about building lifelong habits. In that regard, I’ve won way more than just a medal.

Now a decade later, Chris and I still get up at 4:00 AM here on the farm and head to the gym together most days in the early morning.

As the daily tasks and chores on the farm began piling up, we found ourselves clashing again. Me, haphazardly jumping from one project to the next and Chris confused by where all these random bursts of energy to tackle random tasks was leading us.

Things also kept getting missed. One of us would forget to collect the eggs or the other would forget to shut a gate. The animals were getting fed at separate times and random amounts depending on who was doing the chore.

So out of our constant bickering (we like to call it talking at each other) about how the chores were getting done and who was doing them, came the “Weekly Schedule” the “To Do” and the “House Expenses” spreadsheets.

We sat down together on a Sunday morning and Chris pulled up a Google spreadsheet. We wrote down all the tasks that needed to get done each day of the week and assigned roles of who’d be responsible for doing what. The list has the task, the time it gets completed, who completes the task, and any notes needed. For the first week, we did the tasks together so that we agreed upon how each one got done and so that the chores were being accomplished consistently. As a bonus, we discovered it helped us form habits for knowing if something was off or out of place with any of the animals.

Every day is a little bit different depending on what we have going on, but here’s an example of this past Monday on the LDF. We created a little color code system, highlights for things like meds or special foods, and we include the meals we sit down for together (it helps us remember what to take out of the freezer and also find time to sit down to a meal together each day), as well as our “Clean Plan” chores - the little cleaning tasks we do each day to keep up with the house.

After the Weekly Schedule was created, we built the “To Do” list that’s made up of monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks that have to get done on the farm, and then “House Expenses” sheet tracks our farm expenses, personal finances, and plans for things like a truck, a tractor, a greenhouse, etc. Of note, nothing is cheap for a farm!

We started this system back in August at the height of the growing season when it felt like there were never enough hours in the day and Chris and I were each trying to balance our full-time jobs with caring for the animals, the gardens, mowing, and all the random projects that need to be done while the weather is on our side. Plus…having some time for date nights, weekend adventures, and rest!

Every Sunday since then, one of us builds the list for the week ahead and we can each access it from our phones as we go about our day. The tasks get done, they get checked off the list, and with ongoing refinement of this process, the farm is running like a well-oiled machine.

Friends, we have a routine!

I’m not too proud at all to admit that I’ve come to appreciate how it improves our lifestyle.

Today, I teach my clients the habits and routines we build are the means by which we get to our goals. That when we’re focused on the inputs…on showing up and doing the work consistently over time…the results come as a byproduct of that commitment to the journey…not by being obsessed with the destination without direction or action.

I applaud my sixteen-year-old self for wanting to live a life of wonder and spontaneity. I still want that, and I keep that mindset very close to my heart even today. The difference being, that the habits we create, the routines we practice…they don’t just help us check off the boxes of the little day-to-day stuff…

They’re also the same means by which we realize even our most wild and whimsical dreams because we’ve created the space and built a framework to be able to go after them.

I think teenage me would be proud that it’s not either/or, but rather it’s both/and…and that when you make your routine something you love and have fun doing it, that it’s not mundane in the least!

Thought this note was just all about us? Not a chance! Now we’d love to hear from you!

In the comments section, share some of your best planning practices. Do you keep a written planner? A digital calendar? Do you make daily To Do lists? Tell us your secrets for planning success!

Not a planner? Like to wing it?! Tell us about that, too! How do you go about getting things done?

Wishing you had a better routine in place? What do you find you struggle with the most? What kinds of questions do you have for getting started? I bet there are plenty of readers here who have great answers and awesome suggestions!

Your Weekly Farm Note is edited with great purring curiosity by Micro. Any and all misspellings or grammatical errors are likely due to all his extra toes!