Ep. 48 Routines Today That Will Make Tomorrow Easier
Routines. Habits. Is there a difference?
What routines should I incorporate into my day today for a better tomorrow?
What if I don’t stick to my routine? Do I scrap it and start again?
How do I know if my routines are working?
These are all questions I’m sure many of you have. They are certainly ones I had until I created solid routines that allow me to create time for the things that matter most to me.
The difference between a routine and a habit.
A habit is an impulse to do a behavior with little or no conscious thought.
Not doing a habit feels uncomfortable. If you don’t brush your teeth in the morning. you're going to spend the day thinking about how icky your teeth feel. You’re going to feel like you’re missing something.
By forming a habit, we're really freeing our brain up to do other things without much deliberation.
A routine, on the other hand, is a series of behaviors frequently repeated. Therefore, skipping a routine doesn't feel as bad. They can be more easily missed or forgotten because they require some additional effort.
Making ‘working out’ into a habit is hard because there are many steps and decisions that you have to make in order to get that workout done. You have to decide what you're going to wear, where you're going to go, what kind of workout you're going to do, who you are going to go with, and what's the weather like.
Even if you planned out the day before, you still have to wake up and do all of those steps in order to get that workout done.
Where we can get ourselves into trouble is when we expect something that is routine to become a habit. We can be disappointed in ourselves or discouraged because these things are rarely going to be something that we're going to wake up and automatically do. You never wake up and find yourself on the elliptical, right?
My routine recommendations
Overall, I recommend people start with four basic routines.
A morning routine: This is to set ourselves up for a day in which we feel grounded and organized.
An evening routine or how we end our day: This is especially important because sleep hygiene is so important. When I say sleep hygiene, I mean by doing the same thing every night, we start to train our brain that it's bedtime.
A work-start routine: The work-start routine is to just get you in the mind space of work, time of focus.
A work-end routine: This helps you disconnect from work. And this is especially helpful if you are working from home or in an environment where you see your workspace because you don't have the same impact of leaving and driving away or walking away so we have to create an artificial commute.
Steps to creating a routine
Clarify the goal: You can have a variety of goals when it comes to your routine. The goal could be to get healthier, to feel grounded, to feel more at peace, to be more organized, or to learn.
Create second-best-case scenarios for our routines: how can we create the second-best-case scenario for our routines to ensure that we're still meeting the goal again? It’s your mindset. It’s important not to lean into the default of all or nothing. A 15-minute workout is better than no workout. Ask yourself, what is that minimum standard, and what is the best-case scenario to ensure that you are still reaping the benefits of that?
How to know if your routines aren’t working for you
When we miss our routines consistently, then we have to take a second to evaluate if the routine is serving its purpose. You have to figure out what part of the routine you can get excited about. The best tool is going to be the one that you can stick with, the one that works for you.
Find those opportunities to personalize the system and create something that you love and that you're excited about doing every single day. Be creative and pay attention to what is going to work best for you to help you reach your goals.
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