Do you always find yourself saying that you’ll ‘start fresh’ tomorrow when it comes to setting a good routine? Whether it’s waking up earlier or exercising more, it can be really hard to stick to healthy habits. Here are 9 different ways to help you achieve the daily routine of your dreams.
1. Start your day right
The mornings are the foundation to the rest of your day.
Use that morning momentum to get the jobs you hate done first, check in with yourself, exercise, and write down what you’re grateful for.
Also try to wake up at the same time every day so that your body doesn’t get confused about when to turn on and off.
2. Use the night to set up for the day
A good morning routine actually stems from a good night routine.
Going to bed early and getting everything you can ready for the next day will set you up for a smooth morning. It might feel like a bit of an effort to do at the end of the day when all you want to do is watch Schitt’s Creek, but you’ll be loving your past self when you wake up the next day.
3. Let yourself be flexible
We can’t control external circumstances that get in the way of our routines, so it’s much easier to stick to a routine that can be flexible and work around the different demands of the day.
It’s ok if not every day looks exactly the same. One day you might be able to go for a 7km run, other days you might only have the energy or time for a quick walk.
As long as you get some form of exercise in and stick to a vague routine then you’re doing great.
4. It’s ok to change things up
Sometimes we can fall into the trap of acting like our own authoritarian parent, forcing ourselves to do things that don’t actually suit us or our lifestyle.
It might be helpful to remember that you’re actually the one making these routines for your own benefit, and if something isn’t working then it’s OK to change it.
Don’t beat yourself up about not doing everything perfectly either. At the end of the day, these routines are set up to improve your daily life, not bring you misery.
5. Don’t skip more than 3 days
It’s only natural that you have some days where it just doesn’t happen, and that’s ok. Don’t let one off-day make you feel disheartened and then let it slip into an off-week and then an off-month.
A good rule to follow is the ‘3 day rule’, which states that once a behaviour has been repeated for more than 3 days, then it becomes a lot harder to stop.
So by all means, take a break when you need it, but just make sure it’s only a short one.
6. Hide your phone
We all know that technology is out to ruin any good intentions that we might have for ourselves.
If you can’t manage to lock your screens away, then there are still plenty of apps and settings you can use (such as ‘Do Not Disturb’) that will help make them less of an addictive distraction.
7. List are fun (and motivating)
If you’re someone who gets satisfaction and enjoyment from crossing things off a list (don’t we all?), then definitely write a checklist for yourself to tick off every day.
The list can be as general or specific as you want, it can even include an allocated time for cuddling your pet.
Drawing up a personalised habit tracker in a bullet journal can be great for this.
8. Use Alarms
It’s very easy to get distracted and lose track of time throughout the day. Thankfully we live in a world where we can get our little rectangle devices to tell us when we need to do something.
An example of this is setting an alarm to go to bed. It’s common to have an alarm to wake up in the morning, but having an alarm for bedtime can be just as important in establishing and maintaining a good sleep routine
8. Take it one thing at a time
There’s no point in adding 10 new things to your daily routine and expecting to stick to all of them at once.
Habits are much more likely to stick if you focus on adding one or two things at a time until they become a natural part of your routine that you don’t have to think about.
Author – Madeleine Goodman
With a background in Sales and Psychology, Maddy combines her knowledge & love of words to bring us all of the things we need to know on how to survive modern day working life. She currently works as the in-house writer at deskPlex.
