There's a reason why so many successful people swear by routine habits - they're essential to achieving success! Routines inevitably lead to efficiency, since they remove the decision-making step, saving you time and energy. Some of the world's most admired, creative and successful people rely on their own morning routines to ensure that their days are as productive and fruitful as possible.
But for many of us, creating and sticking to routines can be a real challenge. That's why we're here to help. In this week’s post, we'll discuss the importance of routine habits and how you can create them for yourself. We'll also provide tips on how to stick to your routine once you've created it! So read on and get started on creating the routine habits that will take your business to the next level!
Routine habits are important for a number of reasons;
They help to ensure that you're taking care of the essentials on a daily basis. If you have a routine habit of checking your email first thing in the morning, for example, you'll be less likely to forget or overlook an important message.
Routine habits help to keep you organized and on track.
When you have a set routine, it's easier to stay focused and avoid getting sidetracked by unrelated tasks. Finally, routine habits can help improve your productivity by ensuring that you're using your time in the most efficient way possible.
Routines promote consistency
“Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”– Dwayne Johnson.
It’s often a few important tasks that done over a period of time day in and day out move the needle.
Routines reduce stress and anxiety
If you have a plan, you'll feel more in control and your stress levels will fall. When things become second nature life just seems to tick along nicely and can reduce stress and anxiety. Create a set schedule for doing chores, work tasks, meetings, exercise, paying bills, and all the usual things you need to do. Put these into your schedule. Once this becomes your normal routine, it’s easier to accomplish everything, because it becomes a habit.
Routines Create Momentum
Routines help you build forward-moving habits and create momentum to successfully achieve your goals. Human beings are creatures of habit, therefore work better in the presence of a structure.
Routines increase creativity
Regular habits support cognitive function and may even free people up to be more creative. Research has found that having regular work processes allows workers to spend less cognitive energy on recurring tasks, which can support focus and creativity for more complex tasks.
Routines save time.
This is because you don’t have to keep making decisions about what you need to do next. This can be especially useful when you’re tired or feeling overwhelmed. Again reducing stress and anxiety,
If you're not used to working with routine habits, it can be tough to know where to start. Here are a few tips:
- First, take a look at your current daily routine and identify any areas where there's room for improvement.
Are there any tasks that you consistently put off or forget about? Any inefficient methods that you use on a regular basis? Once you've identified some potential areas for improvement, it's time to start creating your new routine.
- Start small by focusing on one specific task or area of your life at a time. For example, if you want to create a routine for working out, start by focusing on just that. Once you've established a solid workout routine, you can start adding in other healthy habits like eating better or getting more sleep.
Make it interesting, good, and fun.
The word routine can conjure up having to do boring and banal tasks. Mix it up and create routines to inspire, for example, reading 5 pages of a book daily, prepping healthy meals, having a relaxing bath with your favorite drink. Work your most enjoyable work tasks into your schedule.
- Make sure your new routine is realistic and achievable.
If it's too ambitious, you're likely to get discouraged and give up. But if it's too easy, you won't see any benefits from it. Find a happy medium that challenges you but is still within your reach.
- Use a Habit tracker
Keeping track of your habits will really help to motivate you. Just the act of ticking off your habit in your planner is very satisfying and helps to keep you on track.
-Create a set schedule Create a Schedule for doing chores, work tasks, meetings, exercise, paying bills, and all the usual things you need to do. Put these into your schedule. Once this becomes your normal routine, it’s easier to accomplish everything, because it becomes a habit.
-Create a visual reminder.
Post-it notes on fridges or mirrors, alarms on phones or Alexa. Leaving your vitamins out in site. So simple and so effective. It’s so easy to forget but these small things really will help.
-Habit Stacking
Habit stacking is a powerful technique for building new habits by leveraging existing ones. It involves "stacking" a new habit on top of an established habit, making it easier to incorporate into your daily routine.
The idea is to link a new behavior you want to adopt with a current habit you already perform consistently. By attaching the new habit to an existing cue or routine, you can take advantage of the automaticity of the established habit to reinforce the new behavior.
For example, ” When I have my first drink of the day I will take my vitamins and vitamins.” "After I brush my teeth, I will do 10 push-ups" or "After I make my cup of coffee, I will spend five minutes meditating."-Start the night before
-Start the night before
Try to make a habit of planning your day the night before. This helps you to wake up feeling relaxed and stress-free because you have already designed the blueprint for a productive day and you can launch in with less resistance or doubt.
-Make it easy for yourself
You are more likely to stick to a routine if it’s easy. Always try and create the least line of resistance to anything you want to do. This could mean always having your gym bag packed for the day. Meal prepping.
-Get an accountability partner
- Finally, stick with it!
Routines take time and effort to establish, but they become much easier to maintain once they become ingrained in your daily routine. So don't get discouraged if things are tough at first – keep at it and eventually it will become second nature.
-Be Flexible
Life happens, and sometimes our routines need to change too. If you miss a day then don't be hard on yourself. It's so easy to be hard on ourselves and give up. But don't, just start again tomorrow. Also if a routine isn’t working in some way then change it. The key is to be adaptable and adjust your routine as needed.
Set one or more routines, and you can reap these benefits: Your stress level will fall. If you have a plan, you'll feel more in control. You will have made many decisions in advance, and you can focus on making good choices for the ones that remain.
Creating and sticking to a routine can seem daunting, but the benefits are more than worth the effort. By following these simple tips, you'll be on your way to developing healthy habits that will last.
Was this article helpful. Do you have a routine? If so do you have any more tips for keeping to it.
If you would like to download your free Planner with habit tracker you can do so here