For many years I was a scattered person in the mornings. I never really had anything in the right place and every morning was an adventure trying to get from my bed to work on time. Not the kind of adventure that I really wanted to be on. The kind was you run back and forth trying to find your shoes and keys. So what was I missing? A routine.
A routine is simply doing
the same thing the same way over and over again until you get it
mastered. Sounds boring right? Well in most cases it is. But when it
comes to a job you know you have to do its worth it. Anyways, it’s really not
that bad once you get going. For example waking up in the morning and going to
work is something you know you have to do. So why not do it as effectively as
possible.
Now you can get to work
without a routine, so don’t feel like you have to have one to be successful.
But I can tell you right that I have done it both ways and by having one your
day will go a lot smoother and you will save a ton of time. Setting up a
routine isn’t really that difficult either. Here are some tips that I have
found useful when setting up a routine.
01. Try
hard to plan ahead. If you need to take a shower in the morning then why not
lay out your clothes and have them ready for you in the morning. You could also
gather up anything you need to carry with you such as your keys and have them
waiting on you by the door. This will eliminate several chances for unplanned
events like a shirt not dry or can’t find your shoes and keys.
02. Wake
up the same time every day. As long as your schedule doesn’t change then wake
up at the exact same time every day.
03. Start
with the first couple of things you do every morning and work your way up. Get
up and brush your teeth. Do these two things first. Then after a few days add
take a shower and eat breakfast etc. After a while you will know exactly how
long it takes to get fully ready for your morning.
04. Take
as many shortcuts as you want. There is no reason that a routine should take a
long time to complete. You may be so good at it that you can go from bed to
ready in 15 minutes with ease. I mean the whole point behind getting a routine
is to make things easier on yourself.
05. Make
sure you save time for the unexpected. When you do a routine you don’t want to
be rushed so much that if you had a phone call you would be late to work. Make
sure to save some time at the end so that you can take a longer shower if you
want or if you need to make a morning phone call you can.
06. Have
fun with it. If you don’t enjoy doing something in a certain order than make it
were you
will be most likely to stick with it. If you don’t like taking a
shower first even though it needs to be done then get up and drink coffee.
Whatever it is you are doing you have to make it the best possible or you will
never stick with it.
07. Practice,
Practice, Practice
Once you get this routine
down you will feel 100 times better about your day. Go ahead and get your
family on board with routines in the morning to if you feel like it. If you get
everyone on one your morning will work like clockwork. This is a sure way to
eliminate some of that daily stress and you really get a sense of
accomplishment when it’s done.