Routine = life.
Routines are what we do over and over again whether we like it or not. They can drive us to ruin or help automate the mundane to create a more manageable life.
I was once having a conversation with a friend who said she didn’t have any routines. “That’s not true”, I said, “You do have them, you’re just not aware of them.”
The truth is we are habitual creatures. We’ll conform to the the lowest common denominator in our lives or to the most immediate need. This is unless we choose to operate outside our default settings.
Creating routines that make life simpler and easier can take years to craft. But the beginnings of solid routines can also be created in a few short weeks. I’d like to share some helpful ideas to get you started.
Know Your Reason To Create Your Rhyme
For what is ostensibly my entire adult life, I’ve struggled to make routines that work for me and to stick to them.
I was the girl that was always scurrying around 10 minutes before work to find water or lunch or whatever. But as soon as I began to pursue this 30 day book project, I saw that I couldn’t really get things done in a way that was working for me unless I allowed myself to sit down and think about my days and my time.
I believe that when you have a project or a goal that means more to you than comfort, you will do almost anything to get it. When you believe what you want is attainable, you begin to see time in a new light. What I mean is that all the goals and plans I have are better accomplished when I look at my time in weeks and months.
I use this planner to block out my weeks and look at the year overall. I’ve tried in the past to look at planning in this way, but it never really clicked until I met my soul project. For you, planning may feel irrelevant until you get in touch with your big why.
What’s in it for you if you begin to create new routines? What’s at stake if you don’t?
Use Autopilot As A Buffer For Life’s Inevitable Struggles
Time is like air. We take it for granted until we’re suffocating.
We suffocate under other people’s needs and agendas, we suffocate under strained health and poor sleep, we suffocate under relationship challenges and financial setbacks. We want to come up for air; we want a break.
But life really doesn’t have to be like this. I believe that there’s a stark difference between living in a cycle of struggle and learning to move through a struggle towards something that’s more manageable, free, and life giving.
Routines are our day in, day out ways and means of living. So the routines and habits we adopt literally dictate what we will become and achieve. Autopilot routines, like going to the grocery store at the same time every week, or going to bed at the same time every night, gives you something to fall back on. It becomes a no-brainer and frees up your mind for more important matters.
Now that I have a weekly routine, I know that if things start to feel hectic again, I just need to go back to the plan. How can you start to automate certain activities in your life? What are the routines that you’re already doing on autopilot? Are they working for you? If not, how can you tweak them to your advantage?
Rigid Plans Break, Flexible Plans Endure
You may be thinking that to have your life revolve around routines sounds rigid and staunch. If you’re a free spirit who goes with the flow, hear me out.
The spirit behind the routine is equally important as the routine itself. Being regimented for the sake of being regimented is arbitrary and you’ll quickly burn out. That’s a kind of legalism or communism. It’s oppressive and serves no purpose but to control all variables to achieve perfection. In theory it works, but it falls to pieces once the realities of life come bursting through the door screaming, “Mommy, I made a mess!”
Consider the artist or the boxer. Neither can achieve new levels of their craft or new insights without adopting routines and habits that produce the results of success. Without structure we’re lost. We never reach our potential in health, self-expression, freedom or career.
But like any great artist or boxer will tell you, flexibility and adaptability are as important as structure. A tree that is not flexible breaks under pressure. A tree that bends, endures.
We want enduring lives. We want to be successful and happy in all areas of life and in all seasons. Yes, that would be ideal. But deep down we know we can’t have everything we want at all times. The good news is that we always have control over our response to life and the habits we adopt or abandon. Our response is that flexibility. Learn to use it.
Have a plan and work to it, but know that it’s ok to think on your feet and respond to life however you need to. Plans actually allow us to have more freedom, not less.
Plan Now, Harvest Later
When working to create routines and habits for yourself, be mindful of your why. Know what you’re working so hard to create. Let autopilot routines become the path to freedom and ease for you and your family. And give yourself permission to become a routined person that knows when to be flexible and have fun.
Although life has unseen variables, by in large, you get out what you put in. It may take years to see the fruit of your effort, but if you do this now, you will never regret it later.
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How about you? Do you run like clockwork or are you a free spirit? How have routines given you life or where are you looking for more sanity in life by creating routines? Let me know in the comments below!
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