How to Put Productivity on Autopilot with Ashley Brown

Jaclyn Mellone

Welcome to Go-To Gal episode number 188. As always, I’m your host, Jaclyn Mellone. And today’s episode, I feel like I put a really click the baby title on this episode because I wanted you to listen. Don’t blame me for this. Listen, I know that people are obsessed with productivity, and we’re going to put the word productivity in that title because I know that you want help with productivity. Today’s episode is about productivity. This is not a bait and switch situation. Don’t get nervous. Hang in there with me. 

Today’s guest has a whole way of approaching productivity through using routines which are simple yet creative and just solution-oriented and really had me. I don’t know, it was like, okay. I’m thinking creatively about this, but I really see how this can be a plug-and-play solution for us for both home and business. And listen, as personal brands, home and business are always going to be intertwined for us. But especially the last year and a half during this whole panini press situation that we’re in. Home and business are all really intertwined more than we ever thought possible. Bringing routines into our life and business is one of the ways that we can really clear out some of the chaos, make things easier on ourselves. And as Ashley puts it, routines are a form of wellness and I’m like, okay, I’m listening closer. So this is something that, actually we mentioned this in the interview, but Ashley and I spoke twice. I was really just so fascinated at chatting with her, and our first conversation was more focused on the life side of things. Our second was more focused on business, and I feel that I’ve evolved during our time between recording one and two, which is really interesting. But this is the stuff that I’m continuing to work on, and as I’m on this journey, I know you likely are too.

So I’m excited to share this conversation with you. I also feel like September is the new year. I was going to say that September is the new January, but honestly, it’s not new. Growing up, we were like, September is a fresh start, a new year. And with September coming up, it feels like we’re getting into new routines. I feel that my kids are the last, this is not me being dramatic. I actually think that this is a factual statement. Sometimes I’ll see things being dramatic and this, I actually think it’s natural. I think that my kids are the latest school start in the country, I really do, and here in the United.

We go back on September 9th. Does anybody go back after September 9th? If your kids start school after September 9th? I want to know because I really think that we’re the latest. I don’t know anybody later. Thursday after labor day, what are we thinking here? Oh, so that’s sad. Some of you are like, oh my kids have been back already for a few weeks, or maybe you don’t have kids but you still have that, it’s September. I need a new notebook kind of feeling. I think that’s all ingrained in us. I always say that those people that are like, don’t wait till Monday or don’t wait to the new year. Okay, you don’t have to. There’s nothing wrong with that. But also there’s a certain energy that comes with a Monday, that comes with a new year, that comes with a fresh start. And if we can ride the wave of that energy, it makes things easy. 

So if you have that September feels like a new year vibe going on already, embrace it. Go, go get that new journal. Go order some new pens. Whatever it is to really embrace that and start to look at what are your routines and your life and your business, what are your goals? Now is such a good time to refresh all of that. 

So let’s lean into that seasonal vibe and embrace it. Okay, so that said, I want to formally introduce you to our guest today, and then we’ll dive in. I do want to do a quick plug, a quick reminder that if you haven’t already taken our brand new, hot off the press quiz: Which movie villain is sabotaging your success? You’re missing out. So you can take the quiz for free at jaclynmellone.com/quiz, and essentially this quiz is a fun spin. It is fun. I promise that it is fun. If someone was like, you want me to take a quiz on self-sabotage? Well, one, we don’t call it self-sabotage because it’s not self-sabotage, it’s your inner villain that is sabotaging the success, not you. But we’re taking something that can feel heavy, and we’re having fun with it. 

This quiz isn’t just going to help you identify what your inner villains favorite sabotage style is, which is crucial to know in order for you to stop that cycle. If you feel that you’re stuck where you are, or maybe you’ve plateaued, or I’m ready for that next level, but you just can’t seem to break through it, it’s something to do with this sabotage cycle. So you want to know what it is. You can start to identify those places, and I also give you a full conquer plan that’s customized for each of the types depending on what your villains go to sabotage style is. We have a different conquer plan for you to help you really work through that. So definitely go get, take the quiz for free. Can’t wait to hear who your inner villain is, it’s at jaclynmellone.com/quiz. Okay, let me formally introduce you to Ashley. 

Ashley Brown is a wife, a mama of two, and a founder of Routine and Things which equips women to consistently live their happiest life using routines. Ashley strongly believes that routines are a form of wellness and can be a beautiful springboard for improving your home, yourself, and your life. And in this conversation, we dive into your business too. She’s on a mission to see as many women as possible to live life with ease by starting, maintaining, and enjoying routines.

All right, let’s get to it. Here’s my conversation with Ashley.

Jaclyn Mellone

Ashley. I’m so excited to have you here today.

Ashley Brown

Thank you for having me. I’m super excited to check with you. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Yes. I have a million questions for you, but before we go into you and everything you do and your area of expertise, let’s go back in time to when you were growing up. What were your to go-to gal for back then? 

Ashley Brown

This is such a good question. Back in the day, I’m only 30. Back in the day, I would say I was the go-to gal for learning. That’s really what I would have to say. I wouldn’t say that I was the nerd, even though I had glasses embraces which is embarrassing. I felt like I was the only one, I knew I wasn’t, but I felt like I was. 

Jaclyn Mellone

I was right there with you. There was that awkward time where I was like, oh I can’t wear my glasses because they don’t look good, but I was too young for my parents so they can’t give me contacts. I was just blind for a couple of years, but I digress. 

Ashley Brown

So I would say for me, I love learning. I still love learning today, but I was one to want to try different things. So I was in the choir, I was in dance, I love to draw, I love to paint. I would try to go to as many fields trip-type things that I could dwell my entire years in school. I was just that type, I did a pageant one time. I was the type that I love to learn, I love to try out new things and I’m still that way now. But definitely back in the day, I know my sister was like, this girl is always in something because she was never really into things. She’s always into something. And so I would definitely say that learning was my go-to back in the day, for sure.

Jaclyn Mellone

Okay. Well, this definitely seeks some curiosity with me. We’re going to come back to this, but first, let’s fast forward to now. Tell us what you do and who do you help? 

Ashley Brown

Yes. So I am the owner and founder of Routine and Things, which is all about helping women consistently live their happiest life, one routine at a time. And so I’m all about a good routine, a healthy routine, and helping women start, maintain, and enjoy their routines. Enjoy being the keyword here, because I want for you to be able to enjoy your routine. That is what I’m all about over. I have Routine and Things, and I’ve really felt like routines are a form of wellness. And I think that many people don’t see them that way, but they are because if you can start a routine and especially maintain it, it will bring so much beauty to your life, so much freedom, joy, and all of the good things that you want to feel in life, for sure. 

Jaclyn Mellone

As you’re talking, I can’t help but smile of joy in routines. That’s part of the reason why I brought you on because I feel this, I really do. And I think I’m at that point around like, I know I need to eat the vegetables to be healthy. At some point in life, you’re like, yes I know I got to do it but I still don’t like them, and you’re trying to figure out how to cook the veggies the way you like them. That’s where I am with routines like, okay I see the value. I know this is good for me. The things that I do have routines with, I feel the ease., I feel the, dare I say, joy. But I still have just massive resistance in other areas, and that is part of the reason why you’re here because I’m like, I need this in my life.

I know our Go-To Gal community needs these too. So, I’m so excited to dive in and ask you all those questions. But just a little curious, where did this business come from? Where did Routine and Things come from? Did you just one day decide this was going to be a business? Did it start off with something else then evolved there? How did you get to where your business is now? 

Ashley Brown

That’s such a good question. I wish that it did evolve into this. Oh my gosh, this business started because of a really rough patch in my life. So I am a nurse educator, but at that time I was a stay-at-home mom. I stayed at home with my girls even though I had my second daughter while I was staying at home. But I stayed at home with my two girls for about two years, and that was a really crazy time in my life because I came home super excited. As I feel like many moms are when they get home, super excited. A few weeks after, I was like, what the freak did I just do with my life? What is this? It’s like an identity crisis. 

Then I was like, how do I keep this stuff together? Because I usually want to have my stuff together, I’m going to say. I am usually that type, and when I came home and that wasn’t the case, I was like, what’s going on here? I was losing sight of myself. I was super annoyed and cranky all the time. And it’s because I could not keep things together. I was all focused. It was just a crazy time. And so I got to a point where it really affected my mental health. I was depressed for a couple of months and then I woke up one day and was like, I’m not doing this anymore. Wake up, Ashley, you have a lot to be grateful for.

You need to put on your big girl panties and figure out what’s going on here. And so I am a huge God-girl, so I prayed to God. I was like, please help me with this at this time. And I felt that God said lean in who you are. I’ve always been a routine-type person, not as intentional as I am now, but I’ve always thrived off of routine. So that’s what I did. I started to create routines little by little, one by one, until some months later I woke up and I feel good. And what helped me get here, and it was honestly routine. That’s what I pinpointed back to, and I was like, you know what? I got to help mamas. I got to help women. I got to help us to feel good in life because we do a lot in life as women. We are always here serving everybody else. Can we do this in a way that feels good, where we feel at ease grounded and in control? And so that’s why I started the business, Routine, and Things.

Jaclyn Mellone

Oh my goodness. I had no idea that was the story that you were going to share, and it’s so powerful. And it’s interesting, you sharing your story even though it’s so different than my first experience with motherhood, it actually helped me just make a connection that I’ve never had before. So my daughter. I became a mom. Had this baby, she was eight weeks early so we were in the NICU for 25 days. With everything that was scary and whatnot at that time, and the stressor under and praying that we could bring her home. And when we finally did it, she was so little. I didn’t think they were going to let us take her home because the car seat was five pounds and up, and she was 4lbs 10oz after a month.

I was like, are they going to let us leave in this car seat? But the interesting thing is, at the NICU, everything was so routine-based and I’m not routine-based at all, and with anything. Even when you give me a recipe, I say I can’t bake because I can’t follow a recipe. I can cook but I improvise because I’m too creative to bake.

So in routines, I just always feel constructive or whatever. I never went there as default, but because my introduction to motherhood was through this very regimented routine in the NICU where every three hours, we were taking her temperature. Everything was, I’m changing her diaper and feeding her in this very regimented schedule, and all that. When we came home, that was all we knew without a parent. And so we really kept her on that same routine of everything, every three hours, 24 hours a day when we brought her home. But I think that there was so much comfort with that routine of with all of the chaos and with everything that was out of our control, then in such a scary time. That routine was like, okay but we know what to do. We have that down. And I never made that connection before until you shared your story of the opposite of not having the routine. And I’m like, I feel that that was the one thing maybe that kept us together that I never was able to really recognize until just hearing you share your story, so thank you for that. And I’m like, wow. Now, I’m even more sold on those routine things. 

Ashley Brown

Yes, and you said something really stood out to me. Comfort, that’s what I always say is like routines help you to feel comfortable. They’re like your favorite fuzzy blanket or fuzzy socks or something. The comfort routines can bring you is absolutely amazing. But sometimes we can’t see that when we are in chaos. Life is crazy. I’m stressed out. All I can see is what I need to do next, and what I need to do next might not even be that important, but it’s about to get done. And so routines help to give you that structure, that predictability that really allows you to feel like, I have some type of control here even though it may be minimal. I have something that I control in this situation, and I know what’s coming down the line. And so it does help us to feel more at ease and more peace because when we have a process and then some steps that we’re doing that take us to a certain outcome that we want to see happen, then it’s just so beautiful. And that’s what I love. I’m so glad that that was something that came to mind for you. 

For me, not being a routine person by nature, but typically there are just certain routines that we have whether we want to or not, just by being a functioning member of society. But then, this year when society literally shut down, all routines went out the window. And so I know even some of my friends and clients and people in my community who have been very routine and regimented, a lot of their routines just went out the window this year too, and maybe things have shifted. I know in the fall, my kids started back at school and all of that. So thankful they’re still in school. Every day, I’m thankful because I don’t know how long it’s going to last.. I’m just going to appreciate one day at a time here, but with this new year and this fresh start, I think it’s such a great time to re-examine, where are we now and how can we reassess our situation? 

Jaclyn Mellone

I think with, for those of us go-to gals, it’s a personal brand. We’re talking about business but we can’t disconnect life from business. So where do you start? Do we start with business? Do we start with life? Where do we even begin with routines? 

Ashley Brown

That is such a good question. I would say that when you’re thinking about whether to start with business or life, first of all, which one is causing you the most frustration, anxiety, chaos, confusion, which one of those? And then you can go from there. But I truly feel that if you have things down pat in your home, it makes it easier for you to do things in your business. I know that that’s what I found in my life is that when I am good and have a sound foundation set in my home, I can focus on my business in a better way. And so I would say, maybe start with the home unless the business is really a strong pain point for you.

And when you’re thinking about home, I’m going to share with you that- one, you can think about it from the point of what about your home life. What are the things that are causing you the most frustration in your home? What are the things that you feel could be going better? Or the things that you could be doing in an easier way? These are things that you’re doing on a consistent basis, so you can go with that route. But I love to give you a starting point which is thinking about five routine categories. These are routine categories that I feel that can serve you, especially if they apply to you and your life.

The five are cooking, cleaning, children- if you’re a mom, planning, and self-care. Those are five routine categories that you can start with, and these are overarching categories. If you think about these categories, which one stands out to you where you’re like, you know what? I probably could do better with cooking because I’m always trying to figure out what to cook last minute, or maybe I could get better with planning because I plan for my business but I never planned for a home. 

So maybe you can think about which one of those categories stands out for you? And when you come to realize the category that you want to work on, then I want you to get more specific. What in that category is important for you to focus on? So I was saying, in terms of cooking, you’re like, I keep trying to figure out what to cook at the last minute. Maybe a meal planning routine is something you can start. To meal plan on a consistent basis, so you’re not scrambling to figure out what to cook for dinner. Or maybe when it comes to planning, you’re like, well maybe I should focus on a weekly planning routine because I plan day-to-day. But maybe I need to see the overview for the week. 

So once you know the category you’re focused on, then get more specific because there is a range of routines that you can create and you can even make up your own. I gave you some suggestions, but I’m always like, do you own your routine? If you feel that all you hear is morning routine, nighttime routines, skincare routine, make up your own routine. Call it a mid-day rest routine, I don’t care. Whatever you feel like you need and be creative for yourself, and that’s what you can start. Those are just two ways that I put out there for you to start, which are what the categories or what’s the hugest pain point in your home or life.

Jaclyn Mellone

I love how you broke that down into five categories. And that immediately allowed me to see too of like, I feel like I have decent routines and systems, let’s say, for cooking, cleaning and children. But I’m like, when you said planning and self-care, I’m like, what would I be planning? What kind of stuff? I don’t even know what I would put in those categories. And so that for me, it was immediate, I need to be thinking about this. And at one point during quarantine when we just had no childcare at all and we were both working. My husband and I were both working from home, and the kids were home all the time and all of this stuff. We were having weekly meetings to really like, what calls do you have? Can they not be in the house? When is it okay if we’re in that and trying to really blackout those slots and align our schedules, and we really had to be so closely planning on a week-to-week basis. But now, we don’t. I think we’ve done that maybe once since the kids started school.

We really haven’t done that as much now. So is that something that you recommend on a weekly basis that we’re either doing with ourselves or with our partner to just get like, what is the planning for the week look like if we were to make a routine out of that? 

Ashley Brown

So I definitely recommend planning for sure, and it’s really going to depend on what really vibes with you. I plan monthly. I plan monthly, I plan weekly and I plan daily. So that’s my thing, except on the weekends, I don’t plan daily unless I have things to do. But that’s what I recommend, and let’s say you are wanting to plan weekly because I think that can be a good starting point, is a weekly plan. And so I have a three-part plan and routine, and I will share it with you briefly. It’s to dump, decide and do. Dump just means the brain dump. I bring them everything out because when our brain, right, we have a lot on our minds, let’s be honest. If we’re running a business and we have children and we’re just trying to manage our own life which can be a lot in itself, we have a long run of our minds. So brains up it all out, I don’t care what it is. Just whatever’s on your mind, your boyfriend got on your nerves, your children are not doing the best at school and that’s causing you some anxiety. You aren’t getting a lot of time to yourself, just brain dump it all out and also write down the things that you might want to get done throughout the week too. Brain dump it.

Then after you brain dump, decide on your top three priorities for the day. What are the top three things that you need to get done this week or that you want to get done? And you can pull these things from the brain dump, they can come from another place. Three questions that I like to ask myself to decide on my top three priorities are: what’s coming up that I need to prepare for, what have I been putting off that must be done, and then what would make me extremely happy to do? And that last one is really important because we will forget about ourselves when it comes to planning which, I think, is a no-no. We have to put ourselves on their list as well. And then once you decide on your top three priorities, then go ahead and schedule in, when are you going to actually do these things? When are you going to actually do your priorities? And those things need to go down first in your schedule. At what time, it doesn’t have to be a specific time. It can be morning, noon, or night. When are you getting these priorities done? And then after your priorities are there, then you can start to fill in more things that you may want to get done on your day. But be sure to keep your planning simple and don’t crowd your to-do list because that’s not the best thing for you. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Okay. Will you elaborate on that? Because I am guilty as charged here with the, I just always think I can do more in a period of time. I have no concept of how long things take, and I also blame this on my optimism. Of course, I’m going to do all of these things. But you’re right, because then it’s like, oh my God, I have all this stuff to do. So how do we know, how can we self-audit if we’re crowding that to-do list? 

Ashley Brown

If you’re crowding the to-do list, I would say self-audit by one, take inventory. I would say weekly. Plan every week for an entire month. Go back and see, take out the sheets, and see what did you do versus what didn’t you do? And then you might get an estimated bullet point of the things that you can actually do. It’s basically assessing your to-do list to see, okay I did have 15 things on here. I only got five done. I got a range between five to seven things done in a day. So maybe, moving forward, I need to just put five to seven things on my list instead of 10 things. Basically, time track your day to see how much time does it take for you to do something.

I know I’ve done that before, especially in my business like pile cases, editing. How much time does it take for me? I’m trying to tell you right now, if I could sit up here in the house with his podcast editing, it would take a long time. I’ve sat in and written out how much time does it take me to extra-record a podcast and to actually edit it, to actually upload it? How much time does it take so that I know when I go to do this, I’m not doing anything else in my day because that’s going to take me most of my day. So those are some ways that you can actually think about not proud in your to-do list. If you see you’re not getting a lot done because you’re putting so much on it, just start with a few things. You can even start with five things on your to-do list and add as you go. 

Once those five things are done, add some more things. Or just chill out because I’m going to tell you right now, many times we will sit up here and just want to go, go, go. Trust me, I am a do-er, I am an overachiever, I’m recovering from that. I’m trying to get better. And I will go, and actually sit your butt down just because you have some time to do something, just relax, because you’re going to burn yourself out. That’s just some advice for you. 

Jaclyn Mellone

That’s some truth bomb right there. Just chill out, I’m like, oh yes. You sound like my husband right now which is a good thing. But now, I’ve been on this major organizing cake. But for me, that’s just my personality, it’s all or nothing sometimes. And so once I get dialed in, and I’m like, now I want to organize the whole house. So I went really hard over break and just did a lot, and now I’m like, okay how are we going to do the basement? Because I really want this place-based for the kids down there, but we prioritize organizing the rest of the house first. And he’s like, no sit-down, you just sit all of this stuff. We made all this progress or redoing our bedroom and I’m like, I know but I want the basement done. I’m either not motivated at all, or I’m like, we’re going to do a million things in a weekend. So this is definitely speaking to me, that I really just need to chill out. 

But I love how you said to go back and look because I think a lot of us, whether consciously or unconsciously do that, but the conversation in our head is different. I didn’t get anything done last week or I’m being so unproductive, and instead of saying, wow I was really unrealistic with my timeframe. We make it feel that we messed up or we’re not good enough, or we aren’t trying hard enough for being productive in that. I think just changing that conversation instead of judging ourselves and our productivity saying, I was maybe a little bit too ambitious that week. Let’s dial it back a little bit and what are the things that just have to get done and start there. So that’s a really good reframe that I know I will implement myself. 

Ashley Brown

Yes, yes. We have to. Just you bringing that up, it just went off in my head about how we can beat ourselves up when it comes to just not giving ourselves credit for what we do. We do a lot in our day and we do a lot in our weeks, and so it’s really important that we acknowledge that. Acknowledge the wins, acknowledge the things like the lessons that we’ve learned. It’s okay for us to not get everything done, we’re human and that’s going to happen. And this is one of the things that I always share also when it comes to maintaining routines is you can’t beat up yourself. If you miss a day of your routine, don’t go beating up on yourself. Just be like, you know what? It’s understandable that I missed today. I was exhausted. You should have gotten you some rest. It’s fine. So, I’m glad that you brought that up because we have to be kinder and more compassionate to ourselves.

Jaclyn Mellone

Okay. I want to just go back to these five categories for a minute because one, I want to make sure everyone got this and is going to implement at least something. As we’re talking about this, I’m like, this is going to happen with the five categories. Someone’s going to be like, okay I need these five cooking routines and these 20 cleaning routines, and going to try to do too much with their teams out of the bat and then get discouraged and be like, routines aren’t for me. I’m just totally hypothetically speaking here, it’s not that I would know any of this for personal experience. So how many routines should we do, one routine at a time, five routines at a time? How should we get started with this? And can you just give a couple, I know you mentioned the meal planning, and then we mentioned the weekly planning. But I’d love for you to give a couple more examples of each of the categories, just so people can see what a routine looks like. Because we might be making routines bigger than maybe they could be, or should be. 

Ashley Brown

Yes, I’ll go through each category and give you some examples. So for cooking, I said meal planning. You can also have a meal prep routine. You can have a grocery shopping routine. So those are just a few from cooking. For cleaning, it could be a laundry routine, it could be a kitchen routine, it could be a nighttime tidy routine. That could be for cleaning.

Jaclyn Mellone

For meal prep, right now, we typically go grocery shopping on Sunday and we typically make. Two to three meals on Sunday, and then we do a lot of leftovers and repurposing of those meals throughout the week. I usually cook one night during the week, maybe two if I’m really adventurous. So that would be a meal plan or a meal prep routine? 

Ashley Brown

Meal prep.

Jaclyn Mellone

Does that count? 

Ashley Brown

Yes, that does count. So you have a meal prep routine.

Jaclyn Mellone

So going to cleaning and you say kitchen routine, what does that mean? 

Ashley Brown

That means how do you clean your kitchen? What is the process look like for cleaning your kitchen? So, for example, for my kitchen, I do ours is used to be in the morning but I’m about to go back to work actually in the classroom, so I’ve switched it to nighttime. Anytime that I clean my kitchen at night, I do a few things. I will unload the dishwasher because that’s where I dry dishes and I will put the dishes away, then I wash the dishes. Then after I wash the dishes, I will wipe off our counters and then I’ll sweep. That’s my kitchen routine for the night, that is what I do. And so that’s how simple it can be: unload, wash, wipe-off counters and then sweep. That’s it.

Jaclyn Mellone

I feel like there are two different components of the audience right now. So someone’s listening and they’re like, oh my God, I totally do that. That’s the routine I didn’t even like. They’re like, okay, I get it. That is a routine, and then it happens. Now, I can apply that to other things. And then I think there’s probably someone else listening that’s like, this episode is adulting 101. 

Ashley Brown

Oh yeah. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Some of us miss that. I love that you were putting the pieces together there. 

Ashley Brown

This is so interesting because I just recently did a workshop and that’s what came out of one of my workshop attendees. She was like,  I’ve just resisted routines because I just didn’t want to be an adult. And I’m like, I had never thought that was even a mindset. It gave me so much insight. I was like, thank you for saying that because I would have never thought people weren’t thinking like this sounds. I love that you mentioned that because it’s real. Some people are like, they hear routines and they’re like, oh no, you’re trying to make me a grown-up. No, not today. I don’t know about this. But it’s just an easier way for you to live life. You can think about it as an easier way for you to live a life that is not going to take you outside of who you are. Lean into routine because as you’re noticing, or as you may not have noticed, when I’m talking about these routines, it’s really up to you. You do routines how you do routines, and so they don’t have to feel that they are so outside of who you are. They can really align with who you are. So I’m glad you brought that up though.

Jaclyn Mellone

Okay. So that was cooking and cleaning. Let’s go to children, if someone has children.

Ashley Brown

If you have children or if you have pets, I would say for children, it’s morning routine for them. Bedtime routine for them. You can even do a learning routine for them if that’s something. Especially if you have younger kids and they haven’t gone to school yet, or even if you homeschool. I know that homeschool moms always have a routine and what they do with their kids. And so those are types of routines you can have for your children, for sure. Or you could even have one that people don’t think about is that a net routine, that’s something too. Or even a hair care routine for your kids, that’s something. 

So those are a few for children. And then moving to plan, so when you’re thinking about this planning routine category, as I said, you can do monthly planning, daily planning, weekly planning. You can do home planning, it could be business planning, it could be yearly planning. What are you planning? What do you want to make sure that you are proactive about, and you can break that down? You can move. This is how flexible routines can be. You can even move the meal planning down to this one too if you don’t want to put in the cooking. So those are a few for planning.

And then lastly, self-care, this is a major one. Have some self-care, please. Do some self-care. Those are things, one routine which we always hear about, morning routine, bedtime routine. You can have a skincare routine, a hair care routine, exercise routine. You can make up your own name for your own self-care routine. It can be whatever you want. I’m telling you. That’s what I love about routines, be creative, get creative. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Alright. Now, you’re speaking my love language here. So okay, I can make the rules of my routine. Now, it’s more interesting. This is a really basic question, but I don’t know if there’s a definition here, but what makes it a routine?

Ashley Brown

First of all, the standard definition is a series of actions done regularly. And I like to say that it’s an intentional flow of actions done consistently. It’s the same thing, but that intentional is a keyword. Getting really intentional about the actions that you are doing to meet a certain outcome, that’s really what a routine is and you do that on a consistent basis. And when I say consistent, that does not equate to every single day. A lot of people think when you hear consistently like, I have to do this every day. No, you can do this however, often you want to do it as long as you are consistently doing it that same amount. If you want to do your laundry routine one day a week, you can do it every week. If you want to do your morning routine three times a week, you can do it three times a week. That depends on what you need for your life, so that’s the definition that I have. An intentional flow of actions is done consistently. 

Jaclyn Mellone

I love that definition. Okay, so then bringing it back to how many routines do we start with? Do we do one at a time? Do we do one in each category at a time? 

Ashley Brown

So one at a time, I know for some people they’re going to be like, huh? One at a time? Yes. One routine at a time, because when you go to assess your routines, trust me, you are like me. When I first started really being intentional about routines, I did start with a whole bunch and I quickly was like, this is not working. And then I went back and I started one at a time, it took me a lot of patience because I do have that all-or-nothing type of mentality at times where I’m like, no, let’s just get it done. Let’s just start. But it burnt me out and I started to feel super overwhelmed. So if you can stick with one routine, you will feel a lot better. Once you get that one going, especially if you’re like, I know the flow of this, we’re doing the flow. It feels pretty good. It’s working. Then add on another one, but do not overwhelm yourself with trying to start a bunch at one time. No, just one routine at a time. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Okay. And then at what point do we take on the second one? Is it in a week, or is it a month, or 21 days? Is there a method to the madness here? 

Ashley Brown

No, it really is depending on how you feel. If you are getting to the point of one, knowing your routine without, first of all, if you have to try to memorize your routine is probably too complicated. If you can’t keep it in your head, it’s probably really too complicated. So keep your routine simple, but if you get to the point where you know what this routine is, you’re flowing and you’re like, okay this actually works and I’m good with this. I don’t have to think about it so much. I’m not sitting here trying to scramble to figure out what I’m doing. It’s flowing. I know what to do, the actions that I’m doing and they feel good, then you can add on another one. Just if you feel that it’s working for you and it’s flowing. That’s trusting your intuition to know that routines are really based on intuition, a lot of the time, which we don’t really hear about much. But if you feel that something is working for you, imbibe them with you and the energy is good around it, then be like, okay let me start the next one. I’m good to go. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Okay, so you mentioned early on that as a child, you were so curious and learning and trying all these new things. And I feel that you have this multi-passionate nature, but then you also said you are a routine person. So it sounds like this maybe was somewhere you had this natural instinct. What are your secrets to sticking to routines? Have you ever had trouble like, do you get a routine, and have you had trouble sticking to it? Have you found any hacks to help keep us more on track with actually sticking to the routine as good as our intentions maybe? 

Ashley Brown

Yes. Yes. So definitely I’ve had trouble sticking to routines, for sure. I think we all do because light shows up at times where either we’re tired or maybe we have a time conflict that then drives us away from our routine. Maybe we start to get routine fatigue, so definitely you know that struggle is real to stay consistent but it is definitely possible. And so some things I’ll share with you that have really helped me and that I like to share with other women and just people, in general, is one, making sure that you one have a why to what’s the purpose of this routine? 

That is super important, knowing you’re why what is the purpose of this? And I know you probably have heard this before but I’m telling you it again because it’s true. When you have something that can anchor you back to doing this routine, it’s going to be really helpful for you and not just having this fluffy why. No, you need to get deep. Something that makes you be like, oh shoot, yes, I need to do this routine. So for example, when I was doing an exercise program and I was like, I need to stick to this routine because I’m trying to lose some weight here and get my stomach flat. That was my why, this belly is too big, Ashley.

Honestly, I had babies straight solely out. I don’t think it will ever get there, but it’s okay. I’m learning to love my body as it is. But yes, that was something that in my head, that’s like, no, you need to keep with this routine because of that. So it doesn’t have to be super powerful, it can be vain why, if you need it to be. But whatever is going to drive you back and anchor you back to your routine is going to be super important for you to think about. So knowing your why and making it something that is substantial for you is really important.

Another thing I will share and is something that I actually shared on the podcast that I have. It is being able to recognize your self-sabotaging behaviors because when we don’t want to do something, we have ways that we will distract ourselves to not do that thing. I know mine is Netflix. I will binge Netflix and be like, Ashley, you have four podcasts that you need to record. Girl, get your butt up. And so being able to recognize yourself sabotaging behaviors and also just call yourself out. Honestly, you have to be your own coach and be like, call your own self out, stop it. You have organized the pantry five times. It’s no more organizing the pantry because that’s my go-to as well as organizing when I don’t want to do something. 

Another thing I will share is being able to acknowledge the benefit that your routine is adding to your life. Here’s why this is super important. When you do a routine, when you do anything and you don’t acknowledge what it did for you, you will quickly do away with it because you have not registered in your mind that this thing is important. It’s the same with your routines. If you go to do a morning routine you just started, you do it and then you go on with your day. Your mind doesn’t understand that this is actually important to you. It’s like, I just did something now. Now, I’m off to the next thing. Stop after you do your routine, actually acknowledge like, wow I actually feel calmer. I actually feel that I have a plan for the day. I actually feel less stressed.

Whatever that is for you after you do your routine, acknowledge it. It can be verbal, it can be in your head. It doesn’t matter. Acknowledge your routine on a consistent basis, and this will help you to continue with that routine and maintain it. I promise you, this is a really good one because your mind just registers that this is super important for you, and here’s why. 

Jaclyn Mellone

And you know, it’s interesting because as you were talking about yourself sabotage, you know over the holidays, I got really gung ho about organizing. I just got this high from organizing now and I am a little addicted. But my self-sabotage is, if I’m really being honest here, how we work. I need to do this work, and the work is more important than the dishes. The dishes can wait, the client can’t wait. The launch isn’t going to wait. So that is definitely my default, and interestingly enough, that’s probably why I was more like, okay let’s talk about the life stuff because I’m more likely to have those routines and boundaries and structures in my business, but not in my life. And I feel that, especially in this past year of how it impacts my business. But there are likely a lot of people that are the opposite, maybe have more of these routines in their home, but they haven’t infused them in their business. They are the ones that I would hear about these people like, I can’t work if there’s laundry.

I could prop my laptop upon the mount of laundry and do all of the work. It’s so funny that we all have those things. But I will admit that with organizing, I do and you feel the energy shift, but I can really compartmentalize for the most part.

So we’ve been talking a lot about routines for home and life, but I know that business routines are important too. And I’m going to ask you about business routines in a second, but before we get into that, do you think we should focus on home routines or business routines first? Is there one that’s more important than the other, or does it not matter?

Ashley Brown

No, it totally matters, for sure. I think that home is super important, and I’m always saying to honor your home, especially as an entrepreneur when you’re running a business because when a home goes many times, our business is secondary and it’s going to start to get affected by not being able to successfully manage your home. So definitely home is really important, that’s why I focus so much there when it comes to my business in general because home is the basis for where everything else flows. And so I think if you can focus on home, that’s really going to help you in your business. But of course, business routines are so important for you. I have them in my business, I do multiple routines for my business specifically. I know that home has definitely helped me to be able to keep those business routines consistent and to be able to continue to have a thriving business. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Alright, I’m excited to jam with you about business routines. I think you’re right, having the home gives you that foundation but we are so much a part of our business that when things are chaotic at a home, of course, that energy is going to leak into business. But I know that the vice versa can happen too. If things are feeling chaotic in the business or if the business isn’t growing in the way that we want, that’s going to lead into our home life. So having the synergy with both I can see is really important. Even just thinking about my own business, the places where we have routines, we’re not only the most consistent but were the most effective. So this is really important and can just be such a great way to simplify. I know you have, I love your categories for home. Do you have categories for business?

Ashley Brown

Yes. So I do have categories for business. I talked about five specifically, and I want to be very clear that these are categories for the routines. But I want you to know that once I announce these five categories, you have to get a little bit more specific within each of those categories. Specificity is really important when it comes to routine building. So the five categories are social, which is social media, how we’re interacting with our people. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, whatever that social media is for your business, do you have routines that support this? 

The second one is sales. It’s not a business that we are not having money come in, that’s just the fact of the matter. And so focusing on sales is super important, and having routines that help support this. This is direct selling, not the indirect which is social media, or maybe it’s DM conversations on how you sell, maybe it’s through email how you sell, or maybe it’s through phone calls how you sell. Do you have routines that help support that? 

The third routine category is service, because once you have the sales come in, then that means you have your clients or your customers. And so, how are you serving them? Do you need to have an email marketing routine where you do actually stay in contact with your clients? You do stay in contact with your customers, so service is really important as well to think about.

The fourth one is the squad, which is your team. So if you’re at the stage of business where you do have a team, I know many of us are solopreneurs, we’re a team of one. But some of us also have started to grow our teams. And so thinking about, do you have routines that support your team? Can your meetings be more structured? Can you have team outings where maybe you have an expert come in and talk to your team on a regular basis? Some type of routine in that effect. So the squad is super important as well. 

And then the last one with this is hands down the most important out of all of them personally, do you have routines that focus on you as the CEO, as the business owner, the founder? Because that is going to be without a doubt, really important to make sure everything else holds up. If you are struggling, your business is going to struggle. So can you create a routine that really helps you? That could be a morning routine, of course, that gets you focused, gets you productive, gets you active in the morning, or that could be maybe a bedtime routine. If you struggle working up until the nighttime, maybe you’re like, I need a bedtime routine to transition me from work to base so I’d get some good rest. So I’m ready to go. So those are the five routine categories for business. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Love that. And yes, there’s definitely a lot that can go under all of those and depending on someone’s business model. If they want to add, or if they don’t have a team yet. This is flexible, but I love that you give us these categories to start with. You can start brainstorming, it’s that jumping-off point of like, here are the main ones, the most important ones. What can I start pulling from this? The first thing that comes to mind for me, because we could probably spend another hour going into all of the different things underneath these. So the first thing that comes to mind for me is, how do we create routines for something that is unpredictable and or asynchronous?

So you gave one of the examples of first sales is DM conversation. That might feel like, okay. But those DM conversations could happen at any point in time, and it’s also asynchronous communication where maybe I have it on my schedule that today, this is my routine time and I’m going to answer someone but they may not be there then so, does that derail it? How do we handle routines that when we don’t have full control over, because some of these are, I’m going to post this every day at this time, or I’m going to take this morning routine for myself or evening routine. But that type of thing, we don’t have that full control over.

Ashley Brown

Yes. So for this, I always like to make sure that, to understand that routines are just what steps are you doing in order to make an outcome happen? So you brought up the conversation about DM conversations and selling through DM or just having a conversation, and then if they can lead to the sale. So I would saying that with that one, how I think about that routine would be. Someone pops into my DM, they’re asking about something. They come to me or I either go to him. See, that’s the thing. Let me back up because you could do these multiple ways. You can either be the person going to the people in the DMs or they could be coming to you. So let’s say they come to us and ask about one of our programs or something we’re offering, your routine could be okay, let me respond. That could be the first step. I’m going to respond to them. Okay, they could go away. Your next step of the routine could be, make sure I follow up with them. I’m going to follow up, that’s a second step, making sure that I follow up.

The third step could close out the conversation by following up again. It could just be those three simple steps. So even though it’s asynchronous, even though it’s unpredictable, you have that outline there that says, when I get to this point, if I didn’t meet this step, this is my next step. And so that’s how I like to think about routines is that flexibility and broadening some so that you don’t feel that you’re so restricted or that you can’t have any unpredictability with your routines. There will be certain routines and businesses where they just are what they are, and that just has to be. But certain routines can make you a little bit more flexible. So that’s just an example of that. That’s off the top of my head, but just make it resemble an outline versus a script, and that can really be helpful. But that’s just what came off the top of that question. 

Jaclyn Mellone

No, that makes a lot of sense. That’s, I think, where it differs from being, oh this isn’t just about putting a time block on your calendar. It’s really breaking down that process of how you’re doing it. So you get the benefit of being consistent each time you’re doing it, and getting better at it that way and being able to just plug into that routine, it’s not giving as much mental bandwidth. You’re prepared for it. I know you have a few other examples just to get the creative energy flowing here, what are some other really good routines that you have or you’ve seen people do in their business? 

Ashley Brown

So I’ll share what I do in my business, specifically. I have a podcast routine because I do have a podcast, and that routine is over a span of three days. It’s a super consistent routine. I usually do it at a certain time of the month if I can. It’s usually at the last week of the month that I do this podcast routine. But it looks like creating podcasts outlines on day one, then I record on day two, record the podcast. And then I edit on day three. That keeps me consistent. I know the flow. I know what I’m doing before the next step, which is really helpful for me. So that’s when I do, I just went on the routine that I have.

Another routine that I have is I do this CEO routine every week. It is always on Friday, and so this CEO routine is really to make sure that I know what’s happening in business and to track and have evidence of what’s taking place in my business. Because I will go and look at all of the things that I do in this routine at the end of the year, and so it’ll make more sense when I say what the routine is. So my CEO routine every week is to one, fill out this CEO report. So I have a report that I have through type form. I created it. It asks me some really good questions like, what did you accomplish this week? Who supported you this week?

Revenue, it asks about where your podcasts download right now. It asks really tangible things, but also intangible like, how are you feeling? Are you on track with your goals? Things like that. So that I have that and I can look back and see the progress that I’m making. So I do that report, and then after I do that report, I look at my finances because that’s super important in my business to keep track of that. Just in business overall, and so I look at my finances and I have this whole spreadsheet that I look at and I look over my numbers, and see what’s coming in and what’s going out and all of that. And that’s what a CEO routine is every single week. That’s what I do. And as I said, I look at this often. I go back to look at this at the end of the year to see the growth. And I’ve been doing that for almost two years. It’s a really solid routine, and that’s one. 

I also have a social plan and routine, which is really simple. This is a very flexible routine that I have, to create content, write captions, and schedule content. That is it. And so I do that every week. I always like to pre-plant every week and I do my week-by-week because it’s just easier for me and it flows better in my business. And so that just looks like creating the content, whatever that is. In that video, I need to pull together some photos, I need to make some templates on Canva, whatever that is for me, I’ll create that content. And then I write the captions for it because I use UNUM for scheduling out my content. And so I will create the captions in there, and then I will then schedule it and put it on certain days that I want it to come out. And of course, that’s even flexible. Some days I’m like, nope, ain’t coming out today and I’ll just move it around. But at least I have it there. So those are some routines that I personally have, so hopefully, it gives someone inspiration. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Yes. I love seeing these routines come to life. When thinking about our business routines, they’re inspired by your conversation and they’re like, I want to take action. They write down these categories, they start to brainstorm. Maybe they come up with a lot of ideas. Thinking that’s probably going to be, but that happens. Maybe there’s someone that’s like, I have a couple of ideas but I feel that it’s easy to be like, oh my God, I need a hundred routines. Do you start where there’s the most chaos? Do you start where there are gaps? Do you start where there’s maybe you’re already halfway there and round that out just to really give some progress? Do you have any advice for somebody who has a lot of ideas trying to do them all at once, we know is not going to set them up for success. So how do you prioritize? 

Ashley Brown

Definitely don’t do all at once, please. Just choose one routine at a time. That is so beneficial. But what I would say is you can do this in a lot of different ways. The first thing I would say is to think about what’s going well in your business? Start there. We always want to jump to what’s not going so well, but I find by thinking about what’s going well when you can eliminate focusing on those things. But also it gives you motivation because you’re like, oh well at least everything isn’t crappy in my business. Some things are going well. I just need to fix these other things. So start there. What’s going well for your business? After you think about that, then I want you to, you can do one of two things. Of course, you want to think about where you are struggling in business, where are things chaotic? But I like to think about business routines and what are my goals for my business? And specifically for the quarter that I’m in. 

I like to think about quarterly goals. What are my goals? And I like to build routines based around many times the goals that I have in my business. So that can be one path that you go down, because if your goal is to increase your revenue by 25%, can you build a routine that helps support that goal that you have? You can do it that way. It’s really important to also look at the evidence in your business. So if you are going to go down a path of saying, oh things are super chaotic in this area. I want you to also attach evidence to that chaos because sometimes we’ll go based upon feeling and maybe the evidence doesn’t show that this is really hindering our business, and maybe another thing is really hindering our business. So look at your analytics like Google Analytics, you can look at Instagram analytics. This is something that you’re paying attention to, and looking at your revenue is evidence for you. Looking at the evidence is really important, and then maybe that can steer you in the right direction as well.

Jaclyn Mellone

You’ve inspired me so much with all of these different things. I’ll give a little, so we actually are recording this interview in two parts, and it’s important for me to share because just to give some context. So when we first connected, you really got me thinking more about what routines can I do at home and in business, and what I’ve found and have been doing and I’m trying to do more of is seeing where I struggle with something in terms of not necessarily with seeing where I struggle with implementing. So for me, two of the things are getting into the zone to do certain activities, as well as winding down at the end of the day or something like that. So what I’ve been trying to do is, okay, I know when I connect with people or when I work out, then I’m much more inspired and feeling more creative to do some writing or some creative work than when I wake up and pack lunches and get the kids out the door and then get home. Try to eat something and get coffee and force myself to sit at the computer and have that blinking cursor and it’s like, okay it’s hard to get my brain up and going. 

What I was getting frustrated with myself is that I’ll be like, let me go. And sometimes it would be conscious, sometimes it would be unconscious like scrolling or just going down a rabbit hole, researching something. Not like I’ve seen something in the news and then like, I have to read 12 articles to really understand it, and then I would lose all this time. I’d be frustrated because I’m being unproductive. I wasn’t really channeling that, it was like my brain was looking for some inspiration, but just an extrovert and being home alone. I was missing that, and it was creating a lot of friction.

Now, I’ve been more intentional on those days where I have those big open spaces to create, but I was struggling with really making good use of the time. I’m taking that time to go to the gym. On other days, I’m scheduling coffee in person, now that we can do that or a walk with a friend, or if I don’t have something in a person taking a walk and calling a friend or calling my mom or my grandma or someone, and being able to have that connection time that helps give me that creative spark that I really need. And so this is something that I noticed I was just casually doing, but now I’ve been able to actually build it into a routine of, okay I’m going to the gym these days. Afterward, I’m going to take that time to write and really start to build that into my calendar as a routine has made such a big difference.

Ashley Brown

That’s beautiful. I love that you share that because just the intentionality in it is what is gold for me. And that’s the thing about routines, they need to be very intentional and you knowing yourself and knowing that you get energy from talking to people, which is for me too, but I’m introverted. So it’s just like, come on y’all. But we know ourselves, so you get energy from people and you get energy from exercise. That’s me too. And so knowing that in order for this creativity to come and spark, we need some movement. Sometimes, motivation and momentum come with movement, and what way do you need to move that energy, get that energy ramped up and then that’s when that will flow into you doing the certain routine and you accomplishing what it is that you have set to accomplish at whatever time of day. 

I love that you share that so much, and you also pointed out something where you were talking as far as what can stop people from being consistent with their routines, and that is self-sabotaging behaviors. I talk about this so much because you called out yours. Oh my gosh. You called out yours so beautifully. And you were like, I’m sometimes aware, sometimes I’m not. And that’s for all of us. But you knew what chores were, which is beautiful because I know mine. Mine is anytime I have a page or something I need to do and I started going into Google drive, organizing files, it’s already. I already know. The organization is a self-sabotaging behavior for me. I do it at home. I do it in my business. It just makes me feel that I’m doing something, but actually, it’s not what you’re set to do. It wasn’t what you intended to do today.

And so knowing how to call out your self-sabotaging behaviors, first, you need to recognize what they are. Then call yourself out on it to get back on track with your routines. Getting back on track with your plan for today is so important. Another sabotage behavior, as you said, scrolling Instagram, searching for information, listening to podcasts, searching for information. That information overload makes me feel like, oh I’m learning something here. But if it’s to avoid whatever other things you need to do, that is a form of sabotage. Even if you do feel that you’re productive.

Jaclyn Mellone

A hundred percent. So we actually have a quiz coming out, that’s which movie villain is your inner villain voice but is sabotaging your success, and it’s really breaking down into the three biggest categories of how people self-sabotage. I am totally the avoider. When it feels harder, I feel that block or whenever those things come up, it’s the total avoidance of that thing. Yes, building awareness around it is so powerful, and I love that you immediately recognize it like, yep the voiding. But getting into your body, because as the avoider, I get into my thoughts and being able to get out of my head and into my body, and that’s where moving my body, working out, taking the walk is helping me be able to actually take action on that thing. 

Ashley Brown

Love this, because I’m the same way. I’m a heavy person, so I always have to remind myself to get out there. Get in your body because you will just overthink every little thing. 

Jaclyn Mellone

I absolutely despise working out. I absolutely hate it, and when I realized that this is really what I need, I needed to make it a routine, or else I’m never going to do it. I needed to have built-in accountability that it’s happening. And I joined a gym that is really nice. I like the feeling there, the people there, I make time to chat with the instructors and try to make some friends there. Because of that little extra energy of me, I’m not just leaving the house. I’m not just forcing myself to put on some video on the TV and try to work out while avoiding kicking the dog or knocking it over. The bowl of Cheerios that my son left on the coffee table, but I’m actually getting out of the house and interacting with people which gives me energy and moves my body, which is so essential for me as such a head type like that. 

Ashley Brown

Oh yes, so essential. I totally agree. And you just hit at something that I always say about routines and even in business, make them enjoyable for you. So you have learned how to make the exercise enjoyable for you, and I’m the same way. I need accountability. Yes, I can work out at home but it’s only going to last for a certain amount of time. So I need that accountability either in a group format, group class but make it fun. Whatever that is for you, think about yourself. What is it going to be to make your routines fun for you? Because you don’t want to skip that and don’t want to miss out on really building more structure and ease into your life because you’ve created a really boring routine. So make it fun and spice it up.

Jaclyn Mellone

Yes. For me, it has to be fun or I won’t do it. But it’s funny because other people like my husband do CrossFit and he’s so competitive with it. He doesn’t think he’s competitive because the people he works out with are 10 times more competitive than him. It’s like, I’m not competitive. I’m like, oh no, you’re very competitive. The fact that you even know what other people are doing there and you’re comparing, I’m like, no there’s no way. I could never work out in that environment. It’s funny though because for him he’s motivated by getting when he sets a personal record. He’s really proud. He’s excited. He’s something to work towards new fields, that accomplishment where, for me, I’m more motivated by the fun. 

So I joined this gym called Spanga. I believe it’s national. It’s a franchise, I think it’s a franchise here. I don’t know. I know they have a lot of locations. It stands for a spin, strength training, and yoga. It’s 20 minutes each, which is great for me with my ADHD. Just when you start to get bored, you’re on to the next thing, which really helps in terms of keeping me engaged for the whole thing. But it’s funny because here I describe it, and it’s about the people and the fun music. They actually have a scent. I don’t even know if they put something into the air or know what that is, but apparently, that’s the thing. It does smell nice, so I’m not complaining. But I was texting with a friend of mine who used to go there. She doesn’t go there anymore, and she started telling me that she holds the record for like, I don’t even know. Something with the spin. I didn’t even know what it meant. I was like, what? That number is way higher than any number I’ve ever seen, and I’m not even a hundred percent sure what you’re saying. Something like the sweet spot, I’m like, I have no idea any of this. 

So clearly she was there probably like my husband would be, working towards hitting the biggest goal of what, and for her, that’s where she got the satisfaction out of it, and she’s just different for me. So, I think as they’re implementing these routines, it’s figuring out what makes us tech and leaning into that instead of going against it. I think for me, and it sounds like for you too where we’re not as maybe motivated by beating other people or the competition or whatever that is, or even the achievement. Being motivated by fun, which I think everybody can benefit from fun.

But I don’t understand these other people, but everybody wants to have fun. But maybe not, and I think knowing what it is that’s going to motivate you and building it around that is a key piece to the puzzle to actually doing it. Because these strategies work, you just have to get yourself to be able to do them.

Ashley Brown

Exactly, and that’s the thing. So lean into it, lean into who you are. Really build routines that support who you are naturally. Don’t try to be like someone else because you see them, crushing their business and you’re like, I need to be like them. That already strikes number one, no comparison. We’re all unique individuals. And if you build routines that support who you are and support your unique business, that’s going to be the best for you. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Mic drop on that. Okay, before we wrap up, any final thoughts on routines for life, for business, for all the things. Any final thoughts on routines for us?

Ashley Brown

Make them yours. Honestly, like I just said, you make the rules for your routines. I want you to stamp that in your brain. You make the rules for your routines. However you feel like you need to create them so that they work for your life, for your business to do so, but what someone else has to say, what someone else does, you can get inspiration from others, but you really need to stick with you and really make them your own. That’s going to be the most beneficial for you. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Amazing. Alright. Thank you so, so much. You inspired me in our first conversation and you inspire me even more now. How can we stay in touch with you? 

Ashley Brown

Yes, so you can follow along with me on Instagram, @routineandthings, and you can also check out the website routineandthings.com. We have a lot of goodies there for you as well. 

Jaclyn Mellone

Alright, great. Thanks so much. 

Ashley Brown

Thank you.