Good routines can help you live a more intentional life. They introduce stability and predictability to your day and can therefore decrease the stress in your life. While routines are certainly beneficial to establish, bad routines can negatively impact your day and can hinder your ability to live an intentional life. Bad routines can be very hard to break.

For the past four years I’ve had the same morning routine. I’ve set my alarm to go off 50 minutes before I’ve needed to leave for work. I would wake up sluggish, resistant to get ready, go to the bathroom, check some email, and then jump in the shower. By the time I would turn on the shower, I had already killed 10 minutes of the 50 minutes I had to get ready. After I got out and was dressed, I would check some more emails, Facebook, or news while putting on my makeup and blow-drying my hair. I would head downstairs just in time to leave for work. My morning routine was far from efficient. The hubs always said that I was a hurricane, in a rush and fixated on getting to work on-time. I was “focused” on being on-time, but my morning time management was far from perfect. I never had enough time to eat breakfast, make coffee (let alone drink it), or make my lunch. I actually relied on my husband to complete all the morning chores like getting up and letting the dogs out, feeding the dogs, letting them out again before we left for the day, and to make my lunch. I always felt kind of bad that he did everything in the morning, but I always told myself that it took him way less time to get ready in the morning. Besides, he decided to get up in the morning when I did, so that’s justifiable right? I knew I should have been contributing more to the household duties, but like I said earlier bad routines are very hard to break.

It wasn’t until I had actually had about 1 month off from my “usual” routine due to differing work schedules that I was able to institute a new morning routine – and it was actually all by chance. I was enough out-of-touch with my “usual” routine that I was convinced I had missed doing something when I finished getting ready with 20 minutes to spare! Since that day I’ve tried to be intentional in sticking to my new routine and I think the hubs appreciates it!

So what changed in my routine? I still get up 50 minutes before I leave for work. I go to the bathroom and immediately get in the shower. I don’t play around on my phone checking emails, Facebook, or news. I get out, get dressed, put on my makeup and blow-dry my hair. Now, it’s 6 am and I have 20 minutes before I have to go to work. I still do the same things and they mostly take the same amount of time! What I’ve gotten rid of is “filler” – aka unnecessary things that don’t need to happen. Now at 6 am I am in the kitchen brewing coffee, making my lunch, and eating my breakfast. I can easily read emails, etc. while sipping my cappuccino and just getting ready for the day. I am able to let the dogs out one last time before leaving work. I’m able to get my podcasts ready for my commute. One little alteration in your routine could be a total game changer and can save so much time. I’m so much more prepared and less stressed before leaving for work. It also saves me money because I’m not buying coffee at work (which we all know is way more expensive than making it at home).

Ever since that day, I’ve been dedicated to keeping my new routine. It takes on average 66 days to form a new habit. By being more self-aware I plan to stay dedicated to my new routine until I am comfortable that it is second nature. There are so many opportunities in your life to create healthy routines that will improve your day. For me, the most significant was my morning routine. For you, it could be your morning, mid-day, or evening routine, your cleaning routine, your children’s routines, or work routines, etc. Basically anything that you do each day is some sort of a routine…even if your routine doesn’t actually feel “routine” (aka it’s a random mess and changes daily). If whatever you are currently doing doesn’t run smoothly and isn’t productive, there’s an opportunity to create an efficient, productive routine. The changes don’t have to be drastic either…mine was simply cutting out a few minutes of phone time.

It’s important to assess all of your day-to-day activities. What routines do you have in place that work well? For the hubs and I we always clean up the dishes after dinner. It’s nice to come down in the morning to clean countertops and an empty kitchen sink. Now assess those that aren’t working. Obviously my morning routine was lacking, but there were parts of it that worked really well. For example, I am never hungry when I first get up, so it never made sense for me to get up and then immediately go downstairs to eat breakfast and drink coffee. I knew I’d also feel pressed for time if I was trying to get ready for work afterwards. The other reason why it made sense for me to get ready first is that we have a small bathroom with a single sink. I knew while the hubs was downstairs eating breakfast and assembling his lunch I would have enough time to get ready before he had to shower. I wouldn’t be trying to dry my hair or put on my makeup while he was brushing his teeth or shaving.

So how do we, as human beings, change our routines?

1. Be mindful of your routines – First off you have to realize there’s a problem. If you are always feeling stressed or anxious or tired just doing “routine” or simple things around the house like cleaning, getting everyone ready for work and school, making lunches, cleaning up dinner, going to bed, etc., then you may have already noticed that some of your routines are far from ideal. Or maybe you haven’t. Maybe you’ve always thought, “Well this sucks, but I guess it is what it is…”. I hope after reading this post you’ll be able to reflect on some of your routines and habits to see what’s working and what’s not.
2. Stop making excuses – If you are always making excuses for why you can’t do something you’ll never be able to implement change and you’ll be doomed to the same inefficient lifestyle. You may not even be aware that you are making excuses. Anytime you find yourself saying why you can’t do something, stop yourself. Assess why you are telling yourself or others you can’t do something. Is it because you really don’t want to do it? Is it because you think it’d be too hard? If making excuses is just part of habit and just rolls off the tongue, try giving an honest answer and think of one reason you CAN do something.
3. Be open-minded – I always thought in order to be “on-time” or to get everything done in the morning I would need to wake up 10-20 minutes earlier. That mean I’d have to go to bed earlier and wake everyone else up in the house when I got up in the morning, etc. You see these excuses? They blinded me and made me narrow-minded! Try brainstorming a bunch of ideas, whether you think they will work or not, no matter how simple the task may be. I never realized how much time I spent checking email in the morning and how switching that around would save me so much time! Something so simple! And I only thought getting up earlier would be the solution…
4. Create an action plan and implement – Take all of the ideas you’ve brainstormed and create actionable steps to establish a new routine. Include timelines as guidance for when certain tasks should be completed to help you stick to your action plan. Pick a day to implement your action plan and write it in your calendar.
5. Commit – Commit to your new action plan on implementation day and try it out for at least a week. Don’t pass judgement on your new routine until you’ve made it for at least a week or a your own pre-specified timeframe.
6. Reassess – You might not be entirely successful the first time. Don’t be discouraged, as you’re just that much closer to succeeding. If you flop the first time, you now know what doesn’t work and are that much closer to finding the combination that does work. Keep what works, tweak what doesn’t, and re-implement! Refer back to your brainstormed ideas for inspiration and don’t be afraid to try the ideas you think will fail.
7. Re-implement – When re-implementing, make sure you’ve created a new action plan with timelines that you can refer back to.
8. Have realistic expectations – One example of this is an inefficient “drop-zone” off the garage or entry into the house just because it doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing. Do you really expect you and the rest of your household to take your keys, wallets, and purses up a flight of stairs every single day to be “out-of-sight” when these items that you use every day will just have to be brought back downstairs the next morning? The longer the distance these items have to travel, the more likely it is that they won’t make it to their intended destination. You might find these items on tables, islands, etc. This problem could be significantly compounded the more members you have in your household. And if these items aren’t kept in a consistent spot daily then they could easily be misplaced! That’s more time you waste by looking for them! There are so many ways to make a space function and aesthetically pleasing. It’ll save you from so much stress!
9. Repeat until you’ve created the most efficient, no-stress routine!
10. Stay committed – The more efficient and stress-free your routine is, the happier you’ll be to keep a good thing going. It can be discouraging if you’ve got to try a few different routines to find a winner though. One slip up and you could find yourself spiraling back into your old habits and bad routines. Find an accountability partner or try and get everyone in your household on-board and committed to creating a healthy routine. Support each other and offer encouragement. When you find a routine that works, remember that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit. So be aware and committed to seeing your best routine through until the end 🙂

What are some of your best routines? What are some routines that you need to work on? What is holding you back from changing them? Have you recently changed a routine? I’d love to hear from you along with your tips and tricks for implementing new routines.