6 REASONS IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE ROUTINES

There are many reasons it’s important to have routines in your life.  Here are 6 key benefits you will gain by setting up rhythms and routines. 

I realize this might sound totally odd, but my routines are actually a really important part of my self-care. I function so much better when I’m in a proper routine. But honestly, it hasn’t always been like that.

It was only as I got older that I realized why it’s important to have routines. Discovering that routines actually make fun a reality was pretty life-changing.

You see before I had clear routines, I was constantly busy.  I was allowing the tyranny of the Urgent to rule. Needless to say, living this way leaves you feeling incredibly overwhelmed. If you’re feeling this way too, I promise you’re not alone.

I can also tell you the solution to this problem is really as simple as focus. Instead of trying to fit it all in focus on making time for what counts.  Also, focus on clearing space so that you can create a meaningful life.

This is where rhythms and routines come in. Instead of searching for ways to do it all, routines will help you become intentional with what you put on your plate.

So often when we think of routines we think of these must-do obligations that tie us down. Or sometimes we’ll envision a set of complicated must-do rituals. While yes, at first glance routines appear to take away freedom, in fact, the opposite is true.

Think of your routines like a budget. In the beginning, a budget can feel incredibly restrictive. However, as you adjust and tweak your budget you find you have much more money for those little things.  With a budget, you gain the freedom to start a savings account and take that vacation you’ve always dreamed of.

Routines are much like a time budget.  They help you manage your time so that you increase your free time rather than letting your day run away from you.

How Routines Will Improve Your Daily Life

Rhythms and routines can make all the difference in how you move through your day.

Let’s look at six reasons it’s important to have routines in your day-to-day life.

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1. It’s Important to Have Routines to Create Intention in Your Day

Here’s the thing, how you begin your day can set the stage for how well the rest of it will go.

I don’t know about you, but I like to be the boss of my day. However, without a routine, your day is dictated to you rather than the other way around. But having a routine in place allows me to balance the kids, my work, the house, and even me-time.

Why, because when I’m setting up my routine, I can get a clear picture of where I’m spending my time.  I know where I’m spending time on things that matter and the things that don’t. With this clear picture, I can set aside a specific time each day for each priority so that the things that matter actually happen!

In fact, my routine always includes a weekly house cleaning schedule, a weekly date night, and a time for planning and organizing my week. I set these, as well as other things, as priorities in my life.

It’s important to have routines to help ensure I’m intentional in accomplishing these priorities each week.

2. Routines to Eliminate Decision Fatigue

What is decision fatigue? Decision fatigue is defined as a deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual, after a long session of decision making.

Put simply, the more decisions we make throughout our day, the worse the decisions become. This happens because our brains have a limited capacity.  Each decision we make takes a certain amount of energy and with every decision our brain becomes fatigued. As a result, the quality of our decisions diminishes.

Since routines are really just a series of things you do each day on autopilot, we eliminate a lot of unnecessary decisions when we have clear rhythms and routines in place.

Rhythms and routines allow us to reduce the number of non-critical decisions we have to make each day so that our brain is free for more important decisions.

By having clearly defined routines, you don’t have to start your day by deciding what you’re going to do.  You already know what needs to get done and you do it on auto piolet.

3. Routines to Reduce Procrastination

A leading cause of procrastination is feeling overwhelmed by all that you have to do and not knowing where to start. We also tend to procrastinate when we lack clear direction.

However, when you have specific rhythms and routines for your day, not only are you drastically cutting down on your overwhelm, but you know exactly what it is you’re supposed to be doing. This allows you to focus and get those things taken care of that really need to be taken care of!

This is such a nice feeling! You are finally able to get your to-do list done because you’ve left no room for bad procrastination habits.

With rhythms and routines in place, you accomplish those must-dos as you go about daily life. Even on those days when the unexpected happens, you’re gonna find that it only takes a little extra time to get everything back on track.

Instead of feeling completely lost all over again, your rhythms and routines kick.

4. Routines Help Create Greater Contentment

Here’s kind of a duh statement: “What creates discontentment — not having what you want!

Don’t worry I’m not gonna tell you if you create rhythms and routines in your life you’ll suddenly have everything you want. It’d be nice if it worked that way but it doesn’t and come on, nobody gets everything they want. Despite this, many do manage to be content with their lives.

So clearly contentment comes from more than just having what you want. It comes from a sense of being in charge of your life because you are dictating what your days consist of rather than the other way around.

If you want to be in charge of your days it’s important to have routines set up. These rhythms and routines allow you to decide how you will spend your time, putting you in charge of your day!

Because you are in charge of your days, you gain stronger self-confidence. Self-confidence is directly tied to achieving our goals. Of course, achieving those goals is going to lead to a whole lot of contentment with life.

5. Routines To Reduce Stress

The importance of routines for children is well documented. Study after study has shown children function so much better when in a routine.

Honestly, it’s no different for us as adults. No matter your age, a lack of structure creates stress. Living this way means regularly not knowing where you need to be or what you should be working on to get you where you want to go.

Look, we all know that life can be pretty complicated at times.  But I promise you, using routines is a surefire way to uncomplicate the day-to-day.

Set routines inherently make things run smoother. The vital things that need to be accomplished daily have been set up to get done.

There’s no running around with mind spinning thoughts trying to figure out how to fit in the 20 things you needed to get done that didn’t get done. By setting up routines you create a rhythm.  This rhythm allows you to accomplish not just the necessaries such as cleaning, laundry, and dinner, but also times of refreshment.

Establish regular times to nourish you and you’ll see how much smoother life as a whole runs.  Plus, as an added bonus, less stress makes you a more patient kind of person.

6. Routines Allow You to Make Free Time a Priority

As I said, it’s easy to think of routines as restricting our freedom, in reality, the opposite is true. Let me go into some detail here, about how routines are actually freeing.

First, let me start by saying that I realize most of us have so much to juggle it seems like our plates keep getting piled higher and higher. This usually means we spend any extra time we do have to play catch-up.  We feel like as soon as we have one part of our life figured out two others fall apart.

But let me assure you, this is life without solid rhythms and routines in place. Life really doesn’t have to be this way. Rhythms and routines are how we make sure the things that matter get done.

By setting up a basic foundation for routines in your life, you’ll be able to truly tackle those daily must-do’s.  More importantly, you’ll have the time you need for your want to do’s. This is because the simpler and easier we make everyday things we have to do, the simpler and easier it is to clear space for the things that matter most.

When you clear space in your day-to-day life you have the opportunity to prioritize free time. It doesn’t matter if it’s about creating more time to exercise, read, declutter your home, hang out with your kids, or have a girls’ night out when you set up routines you can specifically schedule time for what matters most to YOU!

Conclusion

Don’t let life just happen. After all, this is your one and only chance at life, you don’t want to waste your days trying to figure out what you should be doing. Or even worse, letting others dictate your life through their wants and needs. It’s time to take responsibility and control of your life.

This Week take a look at your rhythms and routines and ask yourself if they work for you. I’m not talking about perfection here. There are going to be times you fall off schedule and routine, that’s okay we all do it. Show yourself grace and pick back up wherever you left off.

If you’ve never set up a routine or you want to learn how to tweak the routines you have in place, make sure to check back next week. I’ll be talking all about the how-tos of setting up rhythms and routines in your life.

For further reading, I highly recommend “The Miracle Morning”, by Hal Elrod.  You can read this for free with Kindle Unlimited.