I’m sure that since you were a little kid you’ve heard about the importance of a good routine. Unfortunately, as we get older and enter adulthood, it can be hard to form new routines and stick to them. When you have a parent or sibling helping you out it’s one thing, but when you’re on your own it becomes much harder. However, there is an intrinsic value of routines, which everyone should take advantage of. If you’re one of the many who let themselves lose their routines as they got older – and failed to make new ones – it’s time for a change of pace!
What Is A Routine?
Let’s not overcomplicate this. A routine is just a set of activities you do regularly. You probably hear about routines most frequently as it relates to morning and evening activities. For example, one of the most popular searches related to routines is “the morning routing for success” or “the best evening routine” – both illustrate the point. People want to use routines to increase their productivity. It’s certainly one way of doing that, but there are many others.
Benefits Of Having A Routine
We’ve gone over what a routine is, and what people are generally looking for with routines. Now, let’s get into the actual benefits of having a routine and sticking to it. Some are obvious, but others may end up surprising you!
Less Stress
Having a routine in place, overall, makes your life a bit easier and less stressful. No, a routine isn’t going to make all of your problems go away. However, a routine helps in ways that can alleviate some issues, and just the fact that you know what your plan is for the morning or evening (or any other period, really) can make your life much less stressful.
For example, if you write a lot of essays for school (or articles for a blog), then having a writing routine can help you do everything on time and maximize your productivity. Having a routine for larger tasks that must be repeated can also help with your time management.
More Stable Sleeping Patterns
If you have an evening routine, you’re far more likely to actually go to sleep at a reasonable hour. So, if part of your routine is turning lights off at 10 PM and getting ready for bed, then your sleep will probably improve because of it. Some people, especially night owls, like to keep busy well into the later hours of the night. I get the allure of that, but be careful and make sure you have a cutoff point. If you don’t, you’ll end up shorting yourself on sleep. The better your sleep, the more productive you can be the next day!
Better Health
Sleep is just one of the potential health impacts related to building a good routine. Let’s go over a couple of the others.
Diet
First up is diet. This may seem weird at first – I mean, how does a routine affect your diet after all? Well, making it part of your routine to cook and do meal planning can ensure you have a much healthier diet. That alone can help you avoid going out to eat and getting junk food. Personally, during my college days, I didn’t stick to my routine when it came to packing meals (well, packing enough food that is), and I would always regret it because I’d have to spend an arm and a leg on crappy snacks or meals while on campus. It’s best to avoid that, whether you’re in college or in an office.
Exercise
How can you stay healthy without a little bit of fresh air? Make it part of your routine to do something active every day. Perhaps you’ll do a workout several times each week, and then on your “off” days you can go for a walk or a run. It doesn’t really matter. Just schedule in some time to exercise – that’s the only way you’ll be able to be consistent with it over the long run.
Fewer Decisions To Be Made Daily
If you already have a routine in place, then that’s at least one less decision you have to make that day. It may not sound like much, but all the little things throughout your day tend to add up. Do yourself a favor and turn as much of the simple tasks into a part of your routine as possible. Save your decision-making energy on more important matters.
It Helps You Break Bad Habits And Build Good Ones
Routines help you form habits. That’s just the way it is. Of course, that means routines can help you form bad or good habits. When you start a new routine, do your best to avoid including bad habits in it. Better yet, focus on building good habits, or starting a routine that will help you eliminate some of the bad ones you have. It can be hard a first, but if you have the discipline to push through and stay with it, then it’ll just become a natural process and part of your life.
Achieving Goals Becomes Easier
Being methodical works. Sticking to your routines, and the good habits it helps build, works. When you have some solid routines in place, then achieving your long-term goals becomes much easier. People tend to overestimate what they can do in the short term, but drastically underestimate what they can do over a long period of time. Those little actions and routines add up – and it’s hard to quantify or understand at first, but you’ll see it as you look back.
Take meal planning as an example again. That routine alone can help you get your diet on the right track and get yourself closer to being in shape. After many months of doing that, or even years, you may look back and realize you’re healthier now than ever before. Things have a funny way of snowballing, without us even realizing it.
How Do I Start A Routine?
There is no easy way to answer that. If it’s a task you do every day, like brushing your teeth, then you can just add it into your routine for the morning and evening. For something like a daily stroll, you could work it into your daily lunch break. Whatever it is, the key is really just figuring out how to fit it into your schedule, or the best process for it, and then sticking to it.
For those who have a hard time sticking through the beginning, trying creating a to-do list for your routines. Having something to check off can give you a little boost, and a physical representation of what you need to do (as a list) can make it easier to actually remind yourself to stick to it.
Conclusion
Whatever routine you’re trying to create or adjust, the most important thing is to stay consistent and keep with it. It’s easy to get deterred, so stay aware of that and push yourself to keep going – even when it’s inconvenient. If you have any tips or comments about your own routine, let us know in the comments.
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