Routines are a popular topic lately..

They have a great potential to allow us to achieve, but if we are too rigid in keeping our routines we can often miss out on opportunities that spontaneity provides.

I know this well at the moment, having 2 young children. My way of trying to get things done to improve myself (reading my bible, exercising, studying) is to get up earlier than everyone else and get as much done as I can before they wake up - but as little kids do, they change that routine always! "Today I'm going to get up just as daddy gets up..." or "I've had a bad dream so I'll get up at 0200 and take a while to settle..."

I love looking after them, particularly when they are scared and still want daddy (I know they will be too old for this soon), but it can certainly kill my productivity!!

Not sure what other parents do to try and get around this, but my best hack would be to compartmentalise everything in the routine into small chunks, say 15 - 20 min eg: "I have 15 min while the kids are in the bath - enough time for me to read up on that illness I saw in that patient today..." or "the kids are playing together well outside at the moment - maybe I can fit in a 30 - 40 min workout while still interacting with them." Non-parents; I envy you!!

Discipline is the biggest key. Some people will post on socials about their amazing routines and how much achievement they can fit in a day - "I got in a 5km swim, worked on a project for my business, did 2 hrs of piano practice and finished my 3rd degree!!" etc. These people can be very inspirational but it can be very daunting to try and emulate what they are doing. Remember though, these people have been doing this for a while, they would have started small and been honing their routine for years.

Start small yourself. Have an idea of the things you want to achieve and every few weeks add something new to it. I like Dr Jordan Peterson's idea of making things 1% better each day. Personally I would start with 1 productive activity, something that doesn't take too long or require too much of a super human effort to achieve such as making your bed (if you have listened to the speech given by Admiral William McCraven you'll know what I'm talking about!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YNmNd2ncw0

Continue this task for at least a week, but up to three weeks. Once you have this habit (a good synonym for routine) formed you can then add another small task, and another. If you add a task every 1-3 weeks over a period of 6 months, you will then start your day (or whenever your routine starts) with 8 - 26 productive activities every day. Compounding over time, this will create a powerful base from which to launch into big projects - a degree, a career, a business, whatever you want to aim for and you will have developed a great framework with which to achieve them.

Remember to be always honing your routine, making it more efficient or fit better into the rest of your life and always pushing for a little more - working out that discipline muscle. At the same time, make it flexible enough to allow for the occasional opportunity that comes along - your routine should be helping you, not ruling over you!!

In my practice I've also found that building this tool has really helped people with mental health concerns (particularly depression, but also anxiety) as it gives both purpose, and a framework to follow when someone's mind is not allowing them to be creative enough to "think for themselves". If this kind of person is able to push through and get something productive done, at the point when hindsight is available it provides an increase in self-worth, thus improving mood.