I bought a fall curriculum for my two year old daughter. Before you say she’s too little, keep in mind that I work from home while also taking care of my daughter. This curriculum gives us educational activities to do three times a week for the next three months. And it also gives me a rhythm to our days that I can work with. SIGN ME UP, I thought. Then I received it and stared hard at the circle time component to the day.

It’s literally just me and my daughter. We have one-on-one time all day. WHY DO WE NEED CIRCLE TIME?

I really had no idea, but I started doing it anyway. And I’m ready to eat my words. It’s my favorite part of the day. We both have fun. It has a little learning moment, but in the end, it’s all about giving us a good start to the day. We keep it more fun and less focused on getting certain things done. Because my daughter is two and has the attention span of a gnat.

As I’ve been reflecting on how much we love this time we have together, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can bring what we do during circle time to work to make me more productive. Let’s take a look at the different components and see if it’s translatable. Or if I’m just insane, because that’s always possible.

Opening song

The curriculum has a standard opening song, but I hadn’t learned it yet when I started this. So I started singing, “You Are My Sunshine,” on a whim, and it’s kind of stuck. As soon as I start singing it, my daughter knows exactly what’s coming next and gets ready for circle time. Her getting ready looks a little different every time. Sometimes she gets those extra wiggles out and sometimes she sits down in front of me. But both her body and mind know it’s time to switch gears.

If you’ve decided to take time for yourself every day, it’s not a bad idea to have some kind of signal to your body and mind that this is what you’re going to be doing. Get yourself into the mindset that you’re about to take a moment to start your day on the right foot with a ritual, be it a song or taking out your favorite notepad. Whatever that is, the signal will help your brain and body get into the correct mode to make this moment possible.

Read a beloved book

My daughter has started memorizing her favorite books. I take advantage of that by reading her a book every morning and leaving spaces where she can fill in the blanks. She gets so excited when she can fill in all of those blank spaces.

For this, you might want to look at something you enjoy doing or that is really easy to do that can make you feel accomplished. I know when I always leave my simplest tasks for them morning, even if I could get them done in the afternoon. There is something to getting the ball started. If I can do this, I can do loads more and really gather up lots of checkmarks. It’s also one of the reasons why I break up tasks into their tiniest components.

Sing a movement song

My daughter has a whole slew of songs that get her moving in the most adorable ways. Technically, I’m supposed to pick the song we do every morning, but we’re in a very independent phase right now. So this starts off with me singing the starts of songs and stopping if she has no interest or says, “NO,” very loudly. She says, “NO,” very loudly a lot. I keep going until she finally joins me. Then we giggle and dance around to the song of the morning.

Do I think you should start singing multiple songs until you hit the right one? Absolutely not. But we all have those songs that get us moving, even if it’s just a bit of a bopping of the head. Get one of those songs on to loosen up your body for the day. In fact, you probably should do that several times a day. None of us move enough during the day when we’re doing office jobs. Movement can help you work out puzzles and loosen some ideas (one of the many reasons why I used to go for a run or walk in the middle of my day every day). Introducing it at the beginning of your day should get those ideas out that your mind has been working on while you’ve been doing other things.

Talk about what’s happening today

I then tell her everything we’re planning on doing that day. We talk about anything she needs to do to get ready and what her dad will be able to do with us. She’s a little young to be asking me questions about her day, but when she’s older, this will be when she can do that. It’s basically us preparing to start our day before it really gets going.

This is where you put together your to-do list and plan out your day. Make your day more purposeful to make sure you are more efficient throughout it. Look at your tasks and see if there is anything you have questions on. Send out messages or emails to get those questions answered before you dive in on the tasks. Get it so you can just go instead of having multiple starts and stops. Those starts and stops will really affect your efficiency and eat away the time in your day.

Close your circle

We then close our circle by singing a closing song. It’s just like with the opening song in that it’s a signal to tell our body and mind what is coming next. In this case, it’s more of a predictable signal to my toddler so she knows what to do next. Your song can be whatever you want as long as it’s the same song every time to help your body and mind to know what’s coming.

Clean up

At the end, my daughter takes whatever we got out and she is the one to put things away. We want to start our day with as clean a slate as possible to make our day a little easier.

I think giving your day a clean slate by making your work area is clean and ready for that work you need to get done helps. It gets you into that place where you’re just working without thinking. To me, that’s the mode where I get the most done and can be the most efficient. It sets me up for success and that’s where we all want to be.

Look, not all of circle time is translatable, but a lot of it is. You don’t have to do it in this particular order. It’s just what works for my toddler. Do what works for you and what will make you the most efficient throughout your day.

How are you getting your day started?