Are you someone who struggles to stick to a routine? Well, you’re not the only one. There are so many people who struggle with sticking to a routine, including me, at some point in life. But not anymore. Setting up a completely new routine with new tasks to achieve can be very difficult to achieve daily. And that is why the key to building a routine that sticks is to make one that is very close to your current one. I understand you have bigger goals to accomplish now, and you think creating a completely different routine to follow is a better idea, but the key here is to take it slow. Here’s how you can build a routine that sticks.
Write down your goals
The actual purpose of routines is to be a way for you to reach your goals. These goals can be something as minor as completing that essay that’s due or even something as big as achieving a long-term goal. Your routine will have a way for you to achieve your goals.
- Think of all your goals: you’re not always aware of your goals at all times. This is why you need to sit down and think about all your goals properly before creating your routine. Take your time and think about everything.
- Write down your goals: as soon as your mind thinks of your goals, you need to write them down one by one. In this way, you won’t forget them. It will also be clear to you as to how you can work toward achieving your goals.
- Write down ways to accomplish those goals: now that you’ve thought and written them down, you need to think of the ways you can accomplish these goals. This refers to the action plan side of following your goals. Once you write down the ways you can accomplish them, you will know what to include in your routine.
Goals are something everyone wants to achieve in their lives. Be it short-term or long-term, working toward them is a gradual and steady process that requires consistency. Creating a routine where you include steps to achieve your goals is a great way to start off.
Make use of applications
Did you know that you can use applications that have specifically been created for people like you and me to manage our daily routines and follow them just the way we want to? There are apps for managers as well, and they can use them to manage their work.
- Better management: if you use an app to manage work schedule, you are more likely to achieve more goals, get things done quicker and better, and get more things done!
- Saves time: the best life organizer app for you is one that suits your specific requirements. You need to look for one until you actually find one that meets every requirement of yours.
- More organized: an application’s view of your routine is definitely going to be more organized compared to the manual mess you might end up making in your journal. Imagine having a book calendar being made for your routine on its own. That’s the beauty of innovation.
- Endless edits: when you’re making a routine and adding to your notes, you tend to run out of space in your journal. However, if you’re using an application, you can feel free to make endless edits. You can add little notes anywhere on your screen, anything you don’t want to forget, any specific highlight on that day, and basically, whatever you want.
Making use of applications is a very seamless and hassle-free idea when it comes to not only creating routines, but adding specific things on them, such as additional notes. Moreover, using apps saves time, helps manage things better, make endless edits, and keeps you organized!
Include everything in your routine
A common reason as to why people are unable to stick to the routines they create, or find it hard to stick to them is that they create such routines where they don’t include everything. They only include the major tasks, or the time-consuming ones, and leave little to no time for those tiny tasks that also require time.
- Look at your current routine: before creating a new routine, you need to take a close look at your current one and take note of every single thing you’re doing that day. If you have a different routine for each day of the week, then you need to look at each individual day on its own before creating a weekly routine.
- Identify the gaps: once you have your daily or weekly routine in front of you, it’s time to identify the gaps. Take a look at how much time you’re spending on a specific task of yours, be it work-related or for leisure time. The next thing you need to do is decide whether the amount of time you’re dedicating toward it is healthy and productive or not. If yes, proceed with the routine. If not, then you need to fix the gap and allow the right amount of time for it.
- Add the missing stuff: this is also the time to add in those little things in your routine that may have been missing before. For example, adding in thirty minutes of meditation or yoga is great not only for your body, but for your mind also. Set some time for self-care as well. This can include doing anything for yourself that makes you feel good.
- Incorporate more things: if there have been certain things that you wished were a part of your routine, now is the time to add them. All those things that you have always wanted to be a part of your routine, all of those things that you wish to include in your routine, and everything you aspire to achieve, add to your routine now. But do remember not to add anything that’s unrealistic or difficult to achieve; only add those things that you know will be manageable for you.
You can always add things to your routine at any point, but the best time is to add them when you’re creating your routine. In this way, you will be more motivated to follow them and take them as a serious part of your routine.
Make the most out of your free time
When you’re making a daily routine for yourself, make sure to leave time for nothing at all. This will make up for your free time that you can utilize for any of your activities or anything at all that you’ve been wanting to do.
- Spend quality time with your family: oftentimes, we get so busy in our professional lives and getting things done that we compromise on our quality time with our families. Having some free time in your routine means you can utilize this time to spend quality time with your loved ones and make the most of each and every second of that free time.
- Do things you love: the things you love doing can be as simple as wanting to try a new fun activity, taking care of yourself, or even watching your favorite movie. Doing things you love will make you feel grateful for that free time and help you be more consistent with your routine.
- Try out new things: those things you have been delaying trying out, now is the time to try them! Whether it’s a new hobby or a new activity, your free time is the best time to try out that new thing. Don’t shy away from experimenting with new stuff; embrace them!
Making the most out of your free time will make you feel like the time was well-deserved and will help you stay productive.
Always keep your routine balanced
A balanced routine is the ultimate way to achieve happiness and satisfaction in everything you do. Being on any end of the two extremes is not good for you in any way. And that is why you need to keep your routine balanced from every end in order to have a healthy routine.
- Your diet: the most important thing to keep balanced is your diet. If you have too much junk food, your body becomes lazy, you gain excessive fat, and you feel like you don’t have any energy to function. On the other hand, if you eat too much healthy food without letting yourself have a cheat day every once in a while, you are likely to fall back into old eating habits. Therefore, the key here is to keep a good balance between eating healthy while also allowing yourself to have your guilty pleasures every once in a while.
- Your sleep: you can’t function on two hours of sleep every day and do your important tasks without feeling exhausted or burnt out. You need an adequate amount of sleep in order to function properly. Make sure that your sleeping hours align with the amount of time you need to put into your daily activities so that you don’t get burnt out.
- Work-life balance: you need to have a good work-life balance if you want to feel productive, accomplished, and successful. If you spend most of your time working, then you probably can’t make enough time for your personal life, and that includes your loved ones. Therefore, have a proper work-life balance through your routine so that you feel accomplished.
- Leisure time: you can’t be all work and no play. That takes out your feeling of being alive and fun. Always make sure that you’re taking out some for leisure time. You can use your leisure time in whatever manner you like best. Some people like to go out and have dinner or a cup of coffee, but spending time indoors watching your favorite series or movie can also be a great way of leisure time.
Whatever you do in life, make sure to keep it balanced. Excess of anything is not good for you, and that is something that having a routine is going to help you fix.
Prioritize yourself
Whether it’s following your routine, getting things done, or just going about your life, you need to remember that you need to prioritize yourself. If you do not prioritize yourself, then that means you are enabling others to do the same. Prioritizing yourself also sounds a whole lot easier being said than done, so here is how you can do so.
- Reward yourself: always celebrate the little achievements you gain in your life. Never take them for granted, and no matter how small the achievement is, if it took you a lot to get there, then you need to celebrate it. This creates a feeling of achievement in your mind and heart and makes you want to achieve even more.
- Be kind to yourself: the person we’re the harshest to is ourselves. Whenever something bad happens, we’re quick to blame ourselves and feel bad about it instantly. However, putting ourselves in such situations again and again lowers our self-esteem and increases insecurities. So don’t be hard on yourself. Allow yourself a window to make mistakes and learn from them.
- Take a break: it’s okay to take a break from your daily routine if you feel overwhelmed or feel like you’re doing a lot. Overworking yourself beyond your limit or pushing yourself to do more and more is not healthy and can result in burnout or exhaustion. Therefore, it’s completely okay to take a break every once in a while. Use this break to reconnect with yourself, gain your sense of achievement again, and live your routine better!
- Adjust as needed: if your routine requires de-prioritizing something in order to prioritize yourself, then go for it. Remember that you created this routine for yourself, and if that’s not happening, then there’s no point in it.
Self-love is important and it starts from taking small steps and being empathetic to yourself. Never feel bad to move around stuff to facilitate yourself better.
Now you know how to build a routine that you can stick to! So get yourself ready to accomplish everything in life.
