Routine is the Spice of Life

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Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a good week! I had a good one and I have been having good weeks lately and I want to talk about why. Spoiler: Routines made a big change on how my weeks turn out to be.

I have always had this perfect life in my mind where I have established certain habits and have a routine based on these habits. For example, I will do some kind of physical activity for an hour a day, read some every day, work some every day etc. I have done none of these as regularly as I have always imagined because I have always had many other responsibilities. Because I had a lot of them, I did not want to do anything else. Now, I don’t have as many responsibilities, so I started having the days I have always wanted to have. I have a good routine now which includes all the things I always wanted to do.

Human brain loves some routine. It makes its job easier. With routines, it does not have to adapt all the time and it can save its energy it normally uses for adaptation for the things we actually do. This makes whatever we are doing more productive when in a routine. Work becomes more productive. Workout becomes more energetic. It also saves it from the stress of going into the unknown all the time. It feels safe enough to release its own real power. I have found in myself that the best method is having a routine-based life with some challenges here and there, as opposed to challenging oneself all the time. Challenge is good because it gets us out of our comfort zones. But without safety, challenge is a threat. Too much of it is also threat. And as humans, we don’t like threats.

Have you made similar changes in your life? If so, what kind of changes have you observed in your performance and happiness? Do you want to have a routine in your life? Do you think it is important? Let’s chat!

Betul

60 thoughts on “Routine is the Spice of Life

  1. Routine is a part of life and to achieve our goals we need to have a certain routine.
    This year I am trying to involve my fitness in part of routine and I am loving it.
    Routine is the spice of life is a nice caption.

  2. I felt the same. Having a routine saves me a lot of energy and brain power to decide what to do next. I just have to go with the good old things: write, read, exercise. It keeps me sane!

  3. I have discovered that sticking with a routine has been helpful in treating my anxiety and depression. I haven’t nailed down the routine entirely, but I do feel better when I drag myself around to get things done. Maybe next time there will be less dragging. 😀

    1. Routine is fixed for a while but can’t be forever. It’ll never be totally nailed down because life keeps forcing adaptation. Go with what you’ve got, a little routine is way way better than none.

      1. Yeah, my routine changes when it needs to, but the idea is that I’m not just bumming around allowing my depression to get a hold of me. It’s to inspire activity more than anything else.

  4. Routine is good. Having a routine can be habit forming, and that is great for focus and discipline. Though sometimes to spice up life it’s good to break the routine.

  5. Discipline and regularity are important Betul in any life. I hope that is what you mean by routine. But one should be flexible. Love and blessings

  6. very true…i always feel out of synch on my nights off..and am glad to get back to work.It isn’t so bad if i only have 1-2 nights off but any longer and i start to feel unfocused.

  7. so true.
    Like how you mentioned even I always dreamed of having a routine and I always want to have.

    But I dont have much time to follow it up or I have some other work. at times i am very lazy too. I love to spend time on wattpad and wordpress so I just let go of the routine. what can i do?

    please motivate me to follow the routine and reduce screen timing. 🙂

    1. Well, the biggest thing is that you need to have an ideal and you have to accept that it takes a bit of time. For example, for my workout routine, I always envisioned a program where I mixed different exercises: weights, cardio and walking. But what I ended up doing was that I would do weights for several months regularly, then I would do cardio for a few months and then walking for a few months. All of them were regular in the months I practiced but it was not my ideal routine. I achieved that ideal this year, finally. So, you have to be patient with yourself. Sometimes, you are just not ready for the routine. But you have to be doing something towards your ideal at all times. I never gave up working out entirely, although I was not the same amount of regular at all times. That consistency now paid off. Start small but be consistent. Does that help?

      1. So true. Time is important!
        if i do little even atleast but should do it well.
        patience is important too. hmm true 🙂 I should work towards it.
        thanks a ton. i get it. it is motivating me now 🙂 it does help!

        follow my blog and like my posts too 🙂

  8. I love this post 🙂 Routine is super important to me because without it procrastination sets in and then I find that it is super hard to get back into it. There are a couple of apps I discovered that seem to help because… part of my problem has always been picking my phone up when I should be doing other things. One of the apps shuts all my apps down bar a few so I’m not tempted to break my routine and the other allows me to time how long i’m spending on certain things. 🙂

  9. I totally agree. I believe that routine is essential but then comes personal time. Time to do the extras in life. Eating and doing what we like off the menu 😘

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