Ep 7: How Routines Help Achieve Balance
I have learned that my levels of balance flow directly from the routines I have established in my life. I may know my priorities well enough. But if I don’t have a routine in place to live each of those priorities out, I exist in a constant state of imbalance.
So, I’ve decided, for the sake of my balance, I need to take a look my priorities and begin the hard work of establishing routines for each one.
The Benefits of Routines
- Routines reduce decision fatigue.
- Routines increase productivity.
- Routines reduce overwhelm from looming projects.
- Routines provide inner security.
- Routines prepare your body for what’s next.
- Routines determine the outcome of our lives.
Tips for Establishing Routines
- Start with identifying your priorities
- Start with only one daily habit.
- Start super small.
- Pair your new routine with something you already do on a regular basis.
- Give yourself lots of time.
- Extend yourself grace.
- Sometimes adding a new routine makes way for other routines to naturally follow.
Some Good Places to Develop Routines
- Early morning, before anyone gets up.
- Getting kids off to school.
- Mealtime prep and clean-up.
- First thing when you arrive at work.
- Last thing before you leave work.
- After school.
- Kid’s naptime
- Kids’ bedtime.
- Nighttime, after kids are in bed.
- Weekly household chores or individual recurring chores (like laundry or yard work).
- Writing, if you blog. Or creating whatever you create.
- Exercise.
- Prayer/Bible reading.
- Saturday morning.
Links
Kendra at The Lazy Genius Collective
Gretchen Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood
Posts I’ve written on routines:
Finding Your Balance is available on Amazon for $14.99
My blog: thescooponbalance.com
Follow me on Pinterest. For the sake of balance, I am no longer on social media
Email me at thescooponbalance@gmail.com