Follow these five steps from “GenTwenty” to establish healthy and helpful routines.
Step 1: Figure out what needs to be routinized.
Think of your life in terms of categories, such as health, career, relationships or organization, and list out what’s not working. What needs to be changed in your life?
Your turn: What goals do you have in each area? Write it all down.
Next up? Spend a day writing down everything you do, in fifteen minute increments, for an honest look at how you spend your time. Authenticity is crucial. It’s for your eyes only and will provide invaluable information for step three.
Your turn: Take a journal, piece of paper – whatever works for you – and write down what you’re doing every 15 minutes. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you.
Step 2: Decide what kind of routines are necessary.
When something’s not working, it’s a great use of time to try and figure out why.
Once you have an idea of what’s not working, work backwards: what foundation steps need to be taken on the way to your goal? How can you break those steps into even smaller steps? Keep going until you’ve created the kind of steps that can be taken on a daily basis.
Your turn: Work backwards from your goals. List out the steps you need to take to get into a routine.
Step 3: Schedule and implement your routines.
Now that you know what you need to do, you need to figure out when to do it, and this is where your insight into your daily schedule from step one comes into play. Routines can be daily, weekly or monthly, or all of the above, but ideally you’ll be doing something every day to be consistent.
Your turn: What can you do daily, weekly, and monthly to help you reach your goals?
One more thing when it comes to scheduling your routines: generally speaking, morning routines should rev you up, while those in the evening should settle you down, like a yoga session or a few minutes writing in your journal. I’m not about to start tackling my emails when I’m winding down for sleep – all that precious REM sleep will be spent composing responses in my head!
Step 4: Having the discipline to stay the course.
Thinking about and planning routines is the easy part – some might even say fun! Sticking to them, though, that’s where things start to get a bit iffy. We have to persist with our routines even when we don’t feel like it, even when it’s Monday, even when Krispy Kreme is having a sale. There’s a bit of leeway when we’re ill, but we have to stick to our routines however and whenever possible.
If you need a kick in the butt, reflect on why you wanted to establish these routines in the first place, what was detrimental in your life. Do you really want to go back to that?
Now think of the payoffs of sticking to your routines.
Visualize it, journal it, draw it, whatever you need to do to fix it firmly in your head. That’s what you’re working for. Don’t give up on that.
Part of discipline is not just plodding through the motions but keeping a careful watch on your progress. Regularly reflect on what’s working and what’s not with your routines, and tweak accordingly. Few plans are perfect from the get-go.
Your turn: What method is going to help you stay on track to reach your goal and set your routine?
Step 5: When everything starts to fall apart …
While our routines may get knocked off course, the important thing is to get back to them as soon as possible. !
To get yourself back on track, retrace your steps. Assess how you’re spending your time and see where you can tweak things. Don’t get down on yourself about falling behind but don’t let yourself off the hook, either!
And remember, if it was a relatively lengthy hiatus, you probably can’t jump in right where you left off. Do a quick self-evaluation to see if your goals have shifted in the interim, and adjust your routine accordingly before leaping back into action.
While it can be tempting to channel all our efforts and enthusiasm into the part of our lives that has fallen out of balance, we can very easily overdo this and, in getting one part of our life sorted, knock another off-kilter.
Be moderate in your approach and remember, slow and steady wins the race!
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Contact: Gaby Poliseno at counseling@owu.edu