5 Routines to Implement ASAP to Help You Reach Your Goals
I feel like when some people hear the word "routine" their chest tightens because they think of a rigid, color-coded schedule. NO GIRL...it doesn’t have to be like that. I mean it totally can, if that’s your jam, but routines are just things that you do to set yourself up for giving your best time and energy to what really matters.
In today’s post, you’re going to learn 3 ways routines benefit you and 5 routines to start implementing ASAP!
Let me start off by telling you something incredibly important: our schedules and routines are tools not chains. As in, they are meant to help you take back ownership of your time and energy so you can get stuff done without sacrificing your mental health and relationships. Routines are not supposed to stress you out. If they do, then you haven’t found ones that work well for you. They are not meant to box you in, but to equip you to put your time and energy toward tasks that actually align with the vision you have for your life. Routines, when used as tools, do not stifle us, they give us space to do more of what lights us up.
Think about it, someone who wakes up and has a game plan can head into the day and start playing the game whereas someone who wakes up with no idea what needs to be done that day wastes so much time squandering around trying to figure out what needs to be done. Because of how much time is spent trying to figure out what to do, there is less time to focus on the tasks themselves so they probably aren’t done with as much intentional...make sense?
That leads us into what I want to talk about next...3 reasons routines benefit you:
1️⃣ You have more time to spend doing things you enjoy.
Routines help us operate more efficiently. We are humans not robots so we are not naturally efficient, lol. We have to use tools like routines to help us be efficient. And not for the sake of just plowing through tasks quickly but so we can give our best time and energy to what actually needs to be done. When you have routines in place, you’re not wasting time trying to figure out what needs to be done every day. When you’re spending more time doing what needs to be done instead of trying to figure it out, you will have more free time to do whatever lights your heart up - maybe it’s hanging out with your family or painting or going on hiking trips, whatever.
2️⃣ You make progress toward your goals faster.
When you’re working more efficiently, you’re typically spending your time doing tasks that actually move the needle forward toward your goals instead of wasting time on tedious tasks that can be delegated, automated, or batched. When you are working in flows like this (because of routines) you are less susceptible to burnout and overwhelm which means the whole process of working toward your goals is actually enjoyable. I feel like we’ve all caved into stiff arming our way to the finish line of a goal, only to arrive there completely beat and unable to really savor what we just accomplished. When you use routines in your life, you accomplish your goals faster and the process is actually enjoyable.
3️⃣ Routines are actually good for your health.
And I’m not just pulling this info out of thin air because it sounds good, lol - I was reading an article by Northwestern Medicine that said routines offer a way to promote health and wellness through structure and organization. The article goes on to say that people who don’t have routines in their lives suffer from stress, poor sleep, poor eating, poor physical condition, and ineffective use of time. I don’t know how much you know about hustling sanely buuuuut that’s pretty counterintuitive to everything we believe around here. When we implement routines, we take ownership of our time and energy instead of letting our days and weeks run us, you know? When we establish routines, it improves our sleep, stress levels, eating habits, and time management which is linked to feelings like burn out and overwhelm when we’re not stewarding our time well.
So now that you know why routines are important, I want to share 5 routines that I recommend you implement ASAP:
1️⃣ Morning Routine
I feel like this one is pretty self explanatory but morning routines set us up to take ownership of our days. They position us to respond rather than to react to whatever happens each day. Spending time in the morning doing things that energize you and fill you up help you grow and mature mentally so you can show up as best as possible for yourself and the people in your life.
2️⃣ Evening Routine
Okay so morning routines are meant to energize and give us fuel to show up well for our days and our evening routines are meant to help us wind down and prepare for a restful night of sleep. Cultivating an evening routine is actually the first step in a solid morning routine because if you don’t get restful sleep, you sure as heck are not going to want to wake up and do your morning routine. I feel like evening routines scare people - but guys, don’t let them! They are simply habits that usher you toward bedtime - that’s it. Routines don’t have to be these long, arduous things. My evening routine is simple: no phone by 8:45 PM. Have a meaningful conversation with my husband. Do my skincare routine. Those are my 3 non-negotiables. Some nights I take a bath. Other nights I read in bed. Sometimes I watch TV with my husband. If I’m out for dinner and drinks with girlfriends one evening, I come home, don’t go on my phone, chat with my husband, and do my skincare routine. I don’t freak out that I’m not doing my evening routine JUST SO. Remember, our routines are tools, not chains.
For morning and evening routines, I tell my program students to have menus for each one if they aren’t feeling doing the same thing day in and day out. A morning and evening routine menu is just a list of activities that you know give you energy (morning) and help you wind down (evening)
3️⃣ Lunch Time Routine
Having a lunch time routine is a good opportunity to see how you’re doing mid-day. Kind of like a reset or refresh, right? I use my lunch time routine to leave my phone in my office and I go outside for some sunshine and fresh air. That’s it - I make food and get fresh air without my phone. See? Routines can be simple as long as they’re intentional!
4️⃣ Weekly Prep Routine
My weekly prep routine is usually something I do on Sundays. I look at my week from a bird’s eye view to see what events and deadlines are coming up. I make sure I have my non-negotiables on the calendar (5-6 workouts, date night, visiting my family). I touch base with my husband to see what he has going on. I choose my workouts for the week (I do 5 workouts at home and 1 at a local gym through Class Pass). I get a loose idea for what I’ll be eating that week (I imagine that when we have a family I’ll do full on meal planning but I don’t need to with just Adam and I). I nail down my top 3 tasks for the week that need to be done in order to help me reach my work goals. So that’s what mine looks like but figure out a weekly prep routine that works for you.
Having a weekly prep routine helps keep me from feeling scatterbrained or panicking that something is falling through the cracks. I am not taken by surprise and feel poised and present throughout the week.
5️⃣ Monthly Check-In Routine
Similar to my weekly prep meeting, I have a monthly check-in and prep meeting where I reflect on the previous month and plan for the coming month. I have a whole podcast episode where I share what this looks like - listen by clicking the button below:
If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 060 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic!
