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If you follow routines, your stress levels will fall.
You no longer have to make so many decisions. It makes life easier. Isn’t that what we want most as adults with attention deficit disorder? A bit more ease in life is just the ticket.
You will sleep better. Many of us complain that we just can’t turn off our brain at night. This can lead to stress about getting a good night's sleep and having a good day when we wake. Do you have a routine in place to relax your body and mind before bedtime?
You will have better health. If you incorporate a routine in your life that supports exercise, hydration, and healthy eating, you will be healthier. Don’t forget rest, relaxation and time to have fun.
“You need a routine to be mentally healthy.” -Jordan Peterson
Once you have routines you know what to expect. Decisions were made ahead of time. This greatly reduces Decision Fatigue. Social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister coined the term decision fatigue. It is the emotional and mental strain resulting from a burden of choices.
Want to have more energy and make better decisions?
Make them ahead of time and once. Turn that into a routine you follow each day. A lot of people fear that they will be bored by a routine, but it’s the routine you create. Don’t create a boring routine for yourself.
Create the day you want!
A perfect routine for you is one you enjoy and accomplish enjoy, making you better off today than you were yesterday. That is unique to each of us. Also, don’t underestimate the importance of making things you enjoy part of your routine.
Grab The Perfect Routine Worksheet right here.
Follow the prompts to create your routines. Start with the area where you feel the most stress. Is that morning, afternoon, evening? Do you need to establish a routine for work or for getting projects done?
The worksheet will take you through the process of creating a routine for yourself. I call it the Perfect Routine Worksheet, but the perfect routine is the one you follow that makes you feel good about yourself. The advice here is, just start.
Your routine will change many times as you settle into something that works for you.
Expect to not want to follow it at first. Expect to be uncomfortable. We are always uncomfortable anytime we start something new. When the discomfort comes, don’t make it mean anything has gone wrong.
You are having some sort of thought about your new routine that is creating your discomfort, and that is okay. We too often and too quickly feel uncomfortable feelings and try to escape them any way we can.
The key to success in any endeavor in life is being willing to allow discomfort and moving forward anyway.
We will learn to process the emotion we are creating with our thoughts. When we do this, the emotion will peak and dissipate, which is what we really want, but the only way through is to walk right into it on purpose.
I have an amazing client that dealt with this recently.
It was important to her to have a consistent cleaning routine. We started with 10 minutes a day, pinned it to a certain time of day (right before bed), or you can pair it with an activity you easily do. She made a commitment to do this.
Then the discomfort came. She was really not enjoying it and really pushing herself hard to make it happen. You can imagine this was an unpleasant experience for her, but an important one to have. What we learned was the thought was, “I’m a slave to this (the cleaning).”
My goal was to work with her to look at this thought and see the result it was getting her. She was committed, so she was doing it, but it was clear it could be done in a way that gave her a more positive feeling and make it so much easier for her to want to do it.
Plus, doing it with this amount of negative emotion would not be sustainable long term. We have all been there, right?
At some point, we give up just so we don’t have to feel bad. This is an opportunity to manage our minds.
The new thought she settled on was, “I’m doing a good job with these 10 minutes of cleaning.” The following meeting we had, she was so proud of herself. What changed? She became more empowered. She was the boss and not the victim. Her focus was on how she was doing a good job, so no wonder the resulting feeling was being proud.
I tell this story to point out that although we should expect discomfort if we manage our minds we won’t always be in that place. Now, are we going to fall back into not wanting to do the routine we created? Absolutely!
This is normal for our feelings to fluctuate on any given day.
This is everyone’s experience. People that commit to the routine of working out daily don’t always want to work out, but they do want to keep commitments they have made with themselves.
This is true for anything. Creating more routine in life will give you an opportunity to manage your mind. It will make life easier and simplify your days.
You will do things most days that you can be proud of. You will become a person who does what they say they will do most of the time, and that is the key.
I offer a free coaching call if you would like to get coached on this subject or any other. You can click the button below. You will get a Zoom link by email for the date and time you chose, and we can do some good coaching. Your brain is beautiful the way it is, and you can learn to do anything you set your mind to. Both are true!