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Introduction
Routine, a word that means the habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure, which means following any schedule on a regular basis. There are a few things that impact your productivity, creativity, happiness, and career trajectory like building solid routines and habits.
According to studies, up to 40% of our daily actions are powered by habits. Whole books have been filled with the daily routines of successful entrepreneurs, innovators, and 1.
Quote by Aristotle
While Aristotle is famously miscredited for saying: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Simply put, routine introduces structure in our busy, chaotic lives. This structure enables you to maximize the time that you have and allows you to spend more time doing things and spending time with the people that you love. I’ll be the first to admit that I have not always been routine.
12 easiest ways to start your routine which are very easy to follow
I will provide you with the 12 easiest ways to start your routine that’s easy to follow and implement without bragging for the time.
1. Rise Early
There are many night owls, but as it is said many high-profile achievers are early bird risers. Those extra hours help them to prepare their routine for the day.
Let’s consider these examples,
- Virgin Group founder Richard Branson wakes at 5:45 a.m. to kitesurf and eat a proper breakfast.
- Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi used to wake up at 4 a.m. to read her emails before getting to work no later than 7:30 a.m.
- Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey rises at 5:30 a.m. so that he can go for a six-mile jog.
Even if they aren’t naturally morning larks—the opposite of night owls—they’ve trained themselves to wake up early for the many benefits an early rise can bring. Those include increased productivity with fewer distractions and greater creativity due to an energized mind. It could make you happier, too. In one study, researchers found that morning-type individuals reported higher levels of positivity and well-being.
2. Make your bed
If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.
Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you’ll never be able to do the big things right. And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made. And a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”
3. Take a cold shower
Why a cold shower? Some studies show a link between cold exposure and an increase in various brain chemicals associated with well-being such as noradrenaline.
These might seem like minor things—waking up early, making your bed, saying your affirmations, exercising, making a to-do list, and taking a cold shower—but taken together into one consistent daily routine, and you’re well prepared to face anything that happens after. A morning routine takes the stress out of the start of the day and puts you on the best footing from the get-go.
4. Make a List
Everyone just thinks that how can one write a daily routine? For that, it begins by writing down everything you need to get done daily, both at home and at work. Don’t worry about how you organize this list; this is a brain dump, not a to-do list. Simply jot down everything you do each day, as well as everything you should get done.
If you feel like it’s too hard to remember all the tasks in one sitting, carry around a notebook to take notes throughout the day. No task is too small—if you want to work “brush teeth” into your daily routine, put it on the list.
5. Get Specific (Optional)
Within the loose outline of tasks for each part of your day, you can get as specific as you want. For example, you might want to write a daily morning routine that looks something like this:
6 a.m. : Wake up, shower
6:30 a.m. : Breakfast, brush teeth
7 a.m. : Leave the house
7:15 a.m. : Do errands
7:30 a.m. : Arrive at the office
That’s a very detailed daily routine example for an adult. But some people might prefer that level of detail—at least until they get the hang of the routine.
It can be very optional and only up to the preferences of the one.
6. Meditate to prepare for whatever the day brings
You don’t always know what the day is going to throw at you. But adding a habit of meditation to your morning routine helps train you to deal with things in a better and calmer way.
If you’re new to meditation, it’s important to start small. Like any new habit, consistency is more important than intensity at the start. Even simply sitting in a quiet room with your eyes closed for a few minutes and focusing on your breath can be enough to get you started.
This is Habit Loop from the power of habit by Charles Duhigg, it clearly shows the rewards of following a particular habit.
7. Set hard limits on certain activities
No matter how well you’ve built habits and routines around focused work, you’ll undoubtedly fall off the ladder from time to time. The issue is that many of us have bad habits we’ve built over the years that creep in when we’re most vulnerable.
Maybe it’s getting sucked into social media first thing in the morning. Or watching a few too many YouTube videos after lunch. Or maybe even staying up late to watch movies and missing out on sleep. Whatever it is, you need to break those habits if you want to be truly productive.
The above-mentioned routines were for the starting of the day, similarly we can prepare for the upcoming days by completing our evening routine as mentioned below.
8. Prepare goals for the next day
It allows you to identify your most important tasks in advance—before all the pressures of the day arrive on your doorstep. Ideally, the first few hours of each day should be spent conquering your most challenging task. This idea has been given various names, such as “eating the frog” and “slaying the dragon.”
Second, it allows your brain to begin thinking about those tasks as you fall asleep.
9. Practice proper sleep hygiene
Following the proper sleep hygiene routine helps to have a good and sound sleep.
- For a proper hygiene routine, one can do aforesaid mentioned things:
- Stick to the same sleep and wake schedule.
- Minimize blue light from screens (this can be done using F.lux on your computer and “Night Mode” on your mobile device).
- Set the temperature in your room to between 60-65°F (15-18°C).
- Make your room as dark as possible.
10. Tidy up
Tidying up the place before the day ends helps to precise the time for another day and get up fresh. Spending just 10 to 20 minutes a night tidying up will help reduce stress in the mornings and help you avoid marathon cleaning sessions on the weekends. If cleanliness and organization don’t come naturally to you, that’s ok—try to do the next small thing.
11. Clear your head
Clearing your head before the next day starts helps in starting fresh, and it allows you to put aside the challenges of the day and ready your mind to shut down. There are a numerous way to do so:
- Meditation
- Light Reading
- Journalising your thoughts
- Watching a peaceful television show
- Playing game for productivity
12. Reflecting on your daily achievements
“If you reflect on the things you did right, on your successes, that allows you to celebrate every little success. It allows you to realize how much you’ve done right, the good things you’ve done in your life.” This is the quote by Leo Babauta in his book named Zen Habits.
Taking just a few moments at the end of the day to reflect on and celebrate your wins puts things into the proper perspective and gives you encouragement for the coming day.
Conclusion :
Having a routine helps keep us on track, both mentally and physically, which can help make our days more positive and productive. According to Mental Health America, a routine is a tool used to improve mental health by organizing the overwhelming everyday tasks into a pattern that seems easier to accomplish.
Successful people, it turns out, often have routines built into their lives. Athletes, entrepreneurs, leaders of the industry, and celebrities; days are often heavily regimented. They live according to structure, and it’s that structure that helps them achieve big things.
