Before you throw your hands up in the air with an exasperated sigh and say “ routines are not my thing” or “ I don’t wanna live a monotonous life “
Hear me out.
You wake up and go to bed the same time every day.
Now what would happen if you were to mess up your sleep schedule? If you were to get 8 hours of disturbed sleep or if you tried to wake up at the crack of dawn when you’re a night owl.
You would be ok for a day or two and then you would hit a slump.
Because your body has a rhythm it has adapted to.
A routine. So you follow it.Unquestioned.
Let’s say you’re an artist,a student ,a professor, a startup entrepreneur or someone looking to crush your goals.
When you’re shooting for the stars – the first and most important step is to build a routine.
All our great scientists,artists and successful CEO’s have one thing in common – a routine. A ritual. Structure to their day.
Take Darwin,Beethoven or Sundar Pichai for example.
This quote by Paula Coelho beautiful summarizes everything I want to say :
If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal.
Paulo Coelho
Routines give your mind immense freedom.Freedom to workout .To study. To write your book. To build your business.
It declutters your mind. Gives you a new profound clarity.
It reduces anxiety and stress. It gives you more control over your day allowing you to accomplish everything you have set out to. It helps you stay motivated and on top of your work.
So how do you build a routine?
2 simple methods often talked about are :
Time blocking
Time blocking simply needs you to allot or set time slots for different tasks during the day.
For eg :
6 am to 7 am : Morning jog
7 am to 8 am: Catch up on the daily news + Breakfast
8 am to 9 am : Tick 3 things of to do list
And so, on
Habit stacking
This focuses on stacking one habit over the other. The end of one habit signifies the start of another.
For eg:
Eat breakfast
After I have a healthy breakfast, I will go on my morning jog
After my morning jog I will catch up on the daily news.
And so, on
As a writer, creativity is my fuel. And routine helps me keep my tank full.
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