Ep 112 – How can you use the power of routines to hit your goals in 2023

7 things billionaires do before 7 AM, Morning routines of successful personalities to change your life? Do you fall for these clickbaity headlines often, get pumped up to incorporate them in your life, only to resign to the fact that routines are not for you? The truth is that these clickbaity routines don’t work for everyone because not everyone holds the same values and priorities. Routines work if you design them to work for you and that’s exactly what we are going to discuss in today’s episode.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Own Your Everyday series of the Being Meraklis podcast. As we kickstart a brand new year ahead – I thought I’ll touch upon this topic of routines. At the start of a new year, we are filled with optimism and are looking forward to being a whole new person every time we kickstart a brand new count of 365 days.

But why routines? Do you need a routine? Are they worth the hype? What really is the power of routines?

We are going to look into all of that and more.

Personally, I never had a routine for the most part until late 2019 when I realized I was all over the place as an independent self-employed professional. I used to work from morning to night without a break and still have loads to do the next day. It was an endless mindless affair that only left me drained, and exhausted, and pushed me closer to burnout.

That’s when I got the reality check that it was time to change up certain things and step by step I started building a routine that worked for me. It was a game-changer for me and hopefully, this episode will convince you to try in earnest to build a routine that works for you. Why bother?

Currey in his book Daily Rituals says:

In the right hands, [a routine] can be a finely calibrated mechanism for taking advantage of a range of limited resources: time (the most limited resource of all) as well as willpower, self-discipline, and optimism. A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods.

The 24-hour game

We all have 24 hours in a day. Regardless of what we want to accomplish time is a limited resource. It then becomes important that we optimize these 24 hours and calibrate them in a way that we are at our best as many hours as possible.

Prioritize our efforts

It’s not just important that we optimize the time but also prioritize what we do in those limited hours. A routine helps in prioritising what’s important. These are tasks that are uncomfortable for us and things that we end up postponing because we have other things to keep us busy. Routines can help ensure we tackle those tasks that matter.

When we build routines and prioritise our time better we not only do what’s important but also get better at it.

Lowers reliance on willpower

We all have very limited reserves of willpower. Using it every day to make microdecisions is a drain on those limited reserves. Deciding every day if you feel like working out or not, or using it every morning to decide what time you need to get up is a waste of that limited willpower. A routine helps you conserve the energy you spend making such decisions and reserves precious willpower for bigger things.

Lowers dependency on optimism

Think about the energy and optimism you feel when you start something new – the first month of the calendar, the first day in a new job, the first day doing a workout – how long does that optimism remain? for most of us towards most things in life, that optimism wanes over time. So if we relied on that optimism chances are we never get anything done. Which is why most new year’s resolutions fail. A routine ensures you show up regardless of what day, date, or year it is.

Free from the tyranny of moods

A lot of times we end up living our lives based on how we feel. While feelings are temporary, the consequences of our actions based on these transient emotions are not. You feel sad so you eat a piece of cake. You feel stressed so you don’t sleep 8 hours. You feel angry so you walk away from a project that was important to you. The feeling goes away soon but at what cost to you, your future, and your ambitions? Routines help tame some bit of this tyranny of moods and help us get at least a few things done as per our priorities if not all.

I think it was Joe Louis who said – a champion is only recognised in the arena, his/her becoming happens in their daily routines.

So if you’re pumped up and excited to build new habits and routines for yourself this year – take a pause for a moment and reflect on some key questions. Ask yourself:

1. What does a routine mean for me?
2. What are my views about routines?
3. How ready am I to explore and design a routine for myself?
4. What came in my way of building routines the last time I tried it?
5. How can I make routines work for me?

Why am I asking these you wonder?

Because each one of us is different. Routines for me might mean waking up around the same time and going to bed at the same, doing mostly similar things in the morning and the evening. But for some others, it might mean more rigid time slots – fixed wake up time, and dedicated slots to do key habits. I prefer having clarity on what to do but don’t peg down when to do what outside of work. But some of you may be fixing the time when you do what is also a routine.

The key is to build a routine that works for you.

A routine that helps you make the most of your peak performance hours and helps you get what matters most to you, done in reality. It’s not just about 5 AM mornings or waking up for the Brahma muhurta – it’s great if you can do that, but a routine that you can keep up consistently in the long run.

Now with that clarity – use these 5 steps to design your routine:

1. Figure out what needs to be in your routine – What are key habits you want to inculcate? It could be Journaling, meditation, workouts, cooking, intention setting, whatever is your key priorities – decide the key elements of it.
2. Break it down – Rather than trying to do many new things one after the other, I like to break them down. Build Morning routines, Afternoon Routines, and Evening unwind Routines to make it more meaningful and not let them overwhelm you.
3. Decide routine trigger – To improve your chances of sticking with it – see if you can link it to an existing habit – maybe meditation before your morning tea or coffee or adding an unwind routine when you shut down your laptop for the day. This makes sure you do it consistently and over time stack habits one on top of the other.
4. Get specific or go flexible about your routine – Depending on how you like to operate figure out the nitty gritty of when and how you’ll do it. Do you want to wake up at 6 AM and do 15 minutes each of meditation, reading, journaling and intention setting? Or keep it flexible depending on what helps you stick with it. I keep 3-4 things I like to do in the morning – but everything besides my meditation is flexible. My morning sadhana is non-negotiable, everything else I add before or after depends on how much energy I have that morning
5. Monitor – Measure your adherence to the routine How well you’re able to stick to it? How do you feel on days you keep the routine? Is something too hard or not happening over and over again? This can be just a tick and a cross on your calendar or in your planner. But monitor it daily and reflect on your progress weekly/monthly.
6. Reiterate – Use the information from your daily monitoring and period reflections to make changes to your routine to ensure it’s relevant as your life contexts evolve. There is no set period on how often you should iterate your routines but in general, reflect every 2-3 months to check if you’re on track and tweak what’s necessary. You don’t want to change it too often or let it go obsolete so find a balance depending on the pace of your life.

Murakami says –

The repetition of a routine is as important because over time it leads to mesmerism taking you to deeper states of mind. Eventually, the dream is to transform routines into rituals – a sacred means to be, move, and do things every day. The sanctity matters more than the timings and what we do. We don’t want to turn this into an obsession! Overdo anything and you end up spoiling it. The same is the case with routines. What we need instead is to understand ourselves deeper and create rituals that help us thrive and flourish, and support us in doing our most important work in the world better.

So here’s your own your everyday tip this week – Routines help us maximise our lives and consistently make progress towards those big dreams in our lives. Invest time and energy in building your own routine and use it as a lever to do more and create a better impact through your actions. Have more questions? Write to me on LinkedIn or IG and I’ll be happy to help you get started.