I’ve talked about Setting Up before – for projects and wins.

Usually we aren’t setting up for ourselves. Usually we are cleaning up after ourselves. "Oh, I see we had snacks in the living room last night. I can tell by the wrappers." " I didn’t get to bed on time last night and now I am wiped out." "I didn’t put away that last project and now I don’t even know where to start."

What would it be like if you set yourself up.

This morning, I reaped the benefits of setting myself up.  I had a video interview at 9 a.m. with Mohamed Tohami of Midway Simplicity. During my weekly planning I saw this was coming up and asked what I could set up ahead of time to make this easier.

So on my to do list the night before I typed in actions like set out clothes for interview, polish the piano that shows in the video, look over the link he sent over about the topic and check the video from my camera on Skype.

On my to do list this morning I had put in contacts, put on makeup, check teeth, turn off the phone and get into a good head space.

I also set out my Bible study materials the night before because I was leaving for church right after the video interview.

The interview went smoothly and I felt relaxed.

In my past, things would have gone differently. I would have waited till morning before checking the video feed and looking over the link. I may or may not have had time for good grooming first. Things would have been thrown off the piano right before video time. Forget about having any time to relax and focus before the interview. Then I would be coming to the interview anxious and worried I was forgetting something (like something stuck in my teeth.)

You are the person that gets to deal with things you left for the last minute, things you left out, things you bought at the spur of the moment. We like to think of that person in the future as someone else when we procrastinate or don’t plan. But, it’s still you.

And you are the person who can enjoy waking up to dishes having been done, a post it note on a project file so you know what is next, or a table that is set for breakfast.

Try that this week. Look over the week ahead to see things coming up and ask yourself, "How can I set this up to make it easier on myself?"