Let’s dive right into it, friend —

In a recent session with my dietician, we were discussing my lowkey obsession with structure and habits. If you’ve even gotten close to discussing these topics with me, it quickly spirals into conversations about morning and evening routines, 75 Hard, habit tracking, time blocking, and so on.

Now, to be clear, I am not saying any of those things are good and bad! But as I previously wrote, these intense structures do not fit well (or healthily) into my life. In an effort to not stress myself out with these challenges I’ve been floating in a world of zero structure for the past few months. It hasn’t been great.

Although I struggle to see it sometimes, there is a beautiful middle ground! This is when my dietician shared a thought that has been running through my head since:

“Structure gives us the opportunity to fly through life because we treat our future selves better than our present selves.”

To be honest, when I first heard this, I didn’t know how I felt about it. But as we discussed it further and I took the time to reflect, it clicked.

Having some sort of structure and routine of habits that *actually* make you feel good removes the decision paralysis that can plague our day-to-day and adds some comforting predictability to life.

Together, this allows us to spend our excess energy on the fun parts of life, rather than:

• Spending so much time debating on what to do for dinner you just end up DoorDashing, even though you’re trying to get your budget under control;

• Stressing so much about trying to fit a workout into your schedule that you end up too tired to actually work out;

• Or scrolling mindlessly after work because trying to think of your hobbies and interests just feels like more work.

As we talked through these scenarios, I realized it was happening to me every. single. day.

So my dietician and I talked through some ideas on how to create a pleasant and helpful structure, which I’ve shared below.

I hope you find it as helpful as I did! And if you have thoughts or ideas about structure and decision paralysis, please reply and let me know!

Emily

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The Recipe Breakdown

Ingredient #1: Scheduled Emails

This idea blew my mind, folks — scheduling emails to yourself throughout the day reminding you to either complete a task or to make a decision for your future self. The specific instance we discussed was around emailing myself in the early afternoon to think about and plan what I would have for dinner, because, again, we treat our future selves better than our present selves. Although this specifically came up around food, it could really be used for anything: sending a workout routine to do after work, affirmations before bed you want to say in the morning, or even a reminder not to online shop during the workday. Maybe I love this so much because I love email, but I’m really excited to try this out.

Ingredient #2: Time Blocking.

Oh time blocking, my old friend. We are so back. As someone who can’t commit to anything without checking my Outlook and Google Calendars, adding lunch breaks, walk breaks, and, yes, even screen breaks to my day is always so helpful. But we’re getting more specific this time! Instead of generic “walk,” we’re putting down “walk to 50th St. and back while listening to TTPD.” Instead of “lunch", we’re labeling it “eat Factor chicken taco bowl meal.” Get it? If we’re already taking the time to time block our days, let’s make it as easy for our future selves as possible.

Ingredient #3: Testing Habits.

I used to religiously track my daily, weekly, and monthly habits. It felt so good to check off the boxes and know I accomplished X, Y, and Z. But that was as far as my habit tracking went — it never got deeper or reflective. So now, we’re tracking our habits, but also tracking how they make us feel. Is reading 10 pages of a book a day more stressful than it is relaxing? Then why stick with it? If habits are supposed to bring comfortable predictability and make it easier to fly through life, then why stick with a habit you don’t enjoy just so you can check a box at the end of the day?

I always love hearing from you all if you have anything to share — just reply to this email!

🍋 Lemon Zest 🍋

The Little Things that help make my days a bit brighter 💕

🎵 I just started listening to The Year of Less, which has a length and narration style practically made for an audiobook.

📝 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I love the Goal Getter Planners from Talking Out Of Turn. Getting to set it up at the start of every month brings me joy.

💜 As part of my progress to become a hormones/menstruation coach, I’ll soon be looking for menstruators who are willing to have a FREE 20 minute chat + consultation with me. Keep an eye out, but feel free to email me if you know you’re interested!

💭 I would be lost without my Factor meals. Here’s my discount code if you want to try it out!

💪 I’ve been trying to focus on mobility more and this basic guide is a great place to start.

☕ If you’d like to support my work and Making Lemonade, consider buying me a coffee or sending a few dollars my way via Venmo: @emmyfromminny ☕