Last week, we talked about having S.M.A.R.T. goals. I hope the discussion helped you to get more specific about your goals. This week’s topic is about daily routines.

What is a daily routine? Why do we need one? In the simplest of definitions, it’s those tasks that are things we need to do on a daily basis. If you’ve never thought about this before, here’s an opportunity discover what’s most important to you and what’s not. The beauty of developing a daily routine is that you are the master behind it and can custom design it to best fit your needs, schedule, interests, and commitments.

Check out these 6 Steps on How to Create a Daily Routine that works.

1. Think of all the things that you do each day and write them down, am and pm tasks. Decide what you want to keep, remove or add. This way, whether you are working from home, laid off, or are an essential worker still going out each day, having a list of tasks you want to accomplish on a daily basis helps us stay focused, productive and gives us a sense of control of our day and current situation. If you’ve never created a daily routine, be realistic with the tasks you schedule and also don’t beat yourself up if you don’t check off every task on your list. Since some tasks are complex, it’s ideal to break them down into smaller tasks so that you don’t get overwhelmed. For example, today, my goal was to re- arrange my home office, which was a pretty big task. Thankfully, my husband was able to help me as I needed some handyman work done besides re-arranging the furniture, artwork and photographs. We began by removing books from the bookcases, items from the desk drawers, moved almost all of the furniture and artwork.  Once the room was 80% empty, we put back the furniture and other items in a completely different way. I was able to break down this big task into a bunch of smaller tasks until the office was finished.
2. Set up a morning and evening routine. We all have one but many of us are on auto-pilot and don’t even realize we have a set of tasks already in place for am and pm. Try to keep the time you wake up each day as similar to the time prior to the pandemic. I’ll call it a “morning routine” even though many people work shifts and overnight, so to clarify, it’s that time you wake up for the day.
3. If you morning routine included exercise, prayer, meditation, or meal prep, shower, etc., then, continue with those practices.  If you’ve wanted to make changes to your daily tasks, now may be the perfect time to try things out. Same principle applies for the evening routine and write down all the things you do in the evening hours before bed.
4. Shower, and get dressed in a work casual and non- pajama type outfit (for ladies, hair and makeup) as if you are going out to the office. When working from home, I find that getting dressed and having my hair and makeup done helps transition from home life to business mode. Don’t go overboard here, business casual, rather than a suit or more formal attire is not necessary. The idea is to distinguish from being home relaxing and being more professional. Every day I do this, my family asks where I’m going. I see this as mission accomplished! LOL
5. Make time for breaks, and a chance to stretch, move around and get a change of scenery. Changing your location, even in the smallest of ways, such as moving from the bed, to sitting at a table, doing laps in your apartment, etc. can have a very positive effect on our mood.
6. Review your day, check off the tasks you’ve completed and move the unfinished tasks for tomorrow.  This is also your chance to analyze what’s working and what isn’t and switch things around in your routine to see if making a change will fit better. You’ll be amazed at how having a routine and structure to your day makes such a difference.

Do you write out your daily routine? If not, I challenge you to give it a try. I am sure you will be amazed at how many things you already do each day, without even realizing it. Having a routine, especially now in these uncertain times, gives us a sense of control, structure, peace, hope and lets us see things we want to get done. How we structure our days is 100% up to us.

Let me know what you are doing and if having a routine in writing helps you.

Be well.