On Routines

Reading Atomic Habits has made me think more about my morning (and midday and evening) routines. Sometimes it feels like a ton of work to do “the right thing” all the time, always moving yourself forward. But the reality is that doing the right thing for yourself isn’t hard - it’s that NOT doing the bad thing is hard. So how do you change that?

One itsy bitsy step at a time. Taking things you are doing now and linking them to positive things or replacing them one element at a time, you trick yourself into making the good habits the ones that are hard to break. For example, I used to end my day scrolling through Facebook feeds and checking work email one more time. It was, arguably, a waste of time, and left me keyed up and restless - which in turn, made it difficult to fall (and stay) asleep. I decided it was a good target for replacement. First, I made it “harder” to get to Facebook - I moved it to the last page on my phone and turned off badging. Now, I’d need to go look for it. Next, I put a paper book on my bedside table with a reading light (I usually read books on Kindle). After a couple of weeks of just those small changes, I added a bit of friction - I had to read 1 chapter of my paper book before I could look at Facebook at all. It worked. I stopped checking Facebook for weeks at a time. And because I wasn’t already on my phone for that, I also stopped checking emails late at night. I started sleeping better - getting better quality sleep and falling asleep more easily.

Routines are those small rituals that set us up for success - or failure. Using them can make a world of difference in how we feel and how much (or little) we are able to accomplish.