Every day, people are doing what they can to survive in this bustling busy world. But the goal is to shift our mindset from an overworked busy life to a thriving productive life. Our lives shouldn’t just be about surviving. It should also be about thriving. Mira Veda sat down with Praise Santos of ComePlum to talk about how she thrives each and every day.

Here are the three main points from that conversation.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Make Your Morning Routine about Planning Your Day

“Every single morning, I set aside 30 minutes to basically make a list of my priorities or what I think is super important for me to accomplish that day. I try to focus on one or two things that I really really need to get done and make a list of the other things that I can pass on to the future. I try not to make any more than five priorities so it has to be maybe between two and five. And I make this list before I open my laptop, before I do anything, and before my son wakes up. I usually sit down with a cup of coffee and write in my notebook.

I then check it throughout the day as I get my priorities done. And at the end of the day, I take it out and cross off what I had gotten done. It feels really good when you’re able to go cross out my priorities and helps you think, “Oh I did so much today!”

The whole physical aspect of it having a pen and paper and putting it down while sitting with a cup of coffee—it becomes kind of a ritual, it’s something I need to do every morning because it makes me feel like I’m starting the day with a plan.”

Consider What You Put in Your Brain

“Make sure what you put in your brain is good! Don’t just go looking through garbage whether it’s on your phone, out in the world, or on your laptop. You (need) to just try to find good information. In regards to politics, that means not always listening to the sensationalized overdramatic news content that you know is being influenced whether it’s good or bad. Focus on how you shift who you are and how you can make yourself a better person. So I’m always looking for information that is going to teach me something or push me to become a better person or a better leader.

I often use this app called Pocket. It’s (also) an add-on to your browser that lets you save articles you might want to read (later). You can kind of read articles later like by archiving it. I sometimes stumble across a great article but I’m right about to meet with someone. I know that the article would be good for me, so Pocket is a way to feed your brain when you have the time and you shouldn’t have to keep scrolling on Instagram if you have five minutes to kill.

Try not to have your phone out all the time. Try to take those five minutes to actually look around you. Our eyes are a muscle that we overuse, especially when it comes to screens. So something tactile and physical like books, manuals, newspapers, and those kind of things are really great for our bodies.”

Make Time For Relationships

“How do you nurture your relationships? Whether it’s at home, in the world, at work, or when you’re with your friends, what are you doing to create relationships with people that will help you achieve your goals or make you happier in life? For me, I really try to spend time with people and really talk to them. I try to make that a real priority. There’s this great book called Never Eat Alone and it inspired me to not eat lunch alone and to focus on how I create time for relationships. Even if I’m super busy, I still have to have lunch, so I’ll invite someone to join me and we’ll catch up. Creating time for your relationships isn’t only for your work life, but also your personal life.”

See the entire interview below:

All photos and videos are by Praise Santos. Be sure to check out Praises’s work at ComePlum! Follow her on Instagram.