Finding Your Rhythm (Productive Flourishing Pulse #484)

How habits and routines help you — and your team — ease into the new year with clarity.

Jan 09, 2025

This week marks the first full workweek of the new year for many of us. As we ease back into the rhythm of work, routines, and responsibilities, we’re reminded how much our habits and systems help us transition from rest to action.

In our January Tips post, we introduced this month’s theme: readiness — a balance of competency, capacity, and workways (your habits, routines, and systems). Whether you’re picking up where you left off before the holidays or trying to build something new, readiness plays a key role in helping us reengage with clarity and focus.

This week, we’re honing in on that last element: workways — the habits, routines, and systems that provide structure and help us ease back into the flow after a break. For me, this week has been a lesson in leaning on the routines I set before the holiday pause. They’ve helped me find my footing again, even as I adjust to being back at full speed.

Simple things like starting my day with quiet reflection, checking in to see what’s on tap, and dedicating a focused writing block before diving into team communications are small but essential anchors that keep me grounded. They’re not perfect, and I don’t hit every mark every day, but they give me a foundation to build on.

Habits and routines aren’t just personal; they’re also key to effective teamwork. Shared practices like daily check-ins or weekly reviews can bring structure and alignment, ensuring everyone feels connected and clear on what matters most as we move into the new year.

This time of year also offers an opportunity to assess not just what’s supporting you, but what might need to shift. Are your routines — or your team’s — truly helping you thrive? If not, this is the perfect time to refine or rebuild.

And if you’re starting fresh, remember that new habits take time: one month to test, another to adjust, and a third to stick. Start small, stay consistent, and give yourself (and your team) grace in the process.

Refresh Your Habits and Routines

Habits, routines, and the systems and processes we put in place provide the structure that helps us ease back into the rhythm of work — but they also offer an opportunity to reflect, refresh, and realign. Here are some posts to help you assess your habits, refine your processes, and create workways that truly support you:

Is It Time to Rethink Your Routines?
A routines audit can help you identify habits worth keeping, tweaking, or dropping, ensuring your time is aligned with what matters most
How to Be Successful with Your Daily Habit Tracker
A practical tool to help you build and reinforce constructive habits, making it easier to stay consistent and aligned with your goals
Let the Process Be a Process — And Don’t Forget to Play
Focus on effort and intention over rigid outcomes, and rediscover the joy and creativity that come with allowing space to experiment
What’s the Difference Between a System and a Process?
Understand how refining systems and processes can help you work more efficiently while supporting your bigger goals
Did Your Team Consciously Decide How to Work Together?
Reflect on your team’s shared habits and learn how to intentionally refine them for smoother collaboration and greater impact

Take a Moment

A prompt to pause and reflect.

What habits or routines are helping you re-engage this week? Are there any you’re looking to refresh for the year ahead? We’d love to hear what’s working (or not!) for you.

We’d love to hear what’s coming up for you.

Upcoming Events

Still thinking about what to let go of or how to assess your readiness for the year ahead? Join us for these events to get the support and clarity you need:

[Replay Coming Soon!] Leadership Strategy Session (LSS): Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at 11:00 am PST
We discussed how your team’s readiness level directly impacts the level of execution you might expect.
Monthly Momentum Call (MMC): Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at 11:00 am PST
Explore the connection between readiness and success to align your efforts for the year ahead.

And save the dates for our February calls (Zoom details coming soon):

February LSS: Wednesday, February 5, at 11:00 am PST
February MMC: Wednesday, February 19, at 11:00 am PST

Charlie Wrote the Book on Team Habits

If you need some additional support assessing and improving the habits and routines of you and your team, we have some resources that can help:

Team Habits Quiz. Take this free quiz to see where you and your team might want to focus your team habit improvement efforts.
Team Habits, the book. Your guide to understanding and improving the eight team habits. Get your copy here.
NEW in 2025! Team Workshops. Engage Charlie and the PF team to support your team habit change efforts. We’ll have more information about these in the coming weeks, but if you want to start the “work together” conversation now, please fill out this form.

Find Your Business Flow

The start of the year is the perfect time to reflect on the habits, routines, systems, and processes that support your business. Are they helping you navigate challenges and opportunities with clarity and resilience? Find Your Business Flow is designed to help entrepreneurs build flexible, sustainable workways that align with their goals and priorities.

The program kicks off on January 21, and the 2024 pricing ends tomorrow, January 10. If you’ve been considering joining, now is the time to lock in your spot before the price increases.

Learn More & Save Your Spot

Features & Mentions

Charlie recently appeared on the Author Summaries Podcast, chatting with host Dave Streen about fan-favorite Start Finishing.

Share this with someone who’s navigating what to bring into 2025 (and what to leave behind in 2024).