Organized Charm: NYNL Day 25: Write Down Your Routines

Today, we are focusing on the daily actions that we have set in place. We typically think of routines as recurring productive tasks to complete day after day. But, in reality, not all routines are good. In fact, I bet that a lot of us have some pretty lousy routines, if we really think about it (I certainly do!).

So today’s challenge is to really examine those...

Write Down Your Daily Routines.

As you go through each day for the next week or so… pay more attention to your daily habits. What do you do and when do you do it?

Note Things that Frustrate You.

For example, when I wake up in the morning, I want my coffee to be ready. I always have the best intentions of preparing it at night and setting the automatic timer for 5:00 AM. However, nearly every night, I wait until I’m super sleepy and ready to go to bed. Then I think, I should make coffee before I go to bed… buuuut... I’m so tired tonight… I’ll just make it in the morning. And then I wake up in the morning, and it’s hard to get out of bed, and I’m still half-asleep, and I make a ridiculous mess all over the counter with the coffee grinds, and I vow to start setting up the coffee maker at night.

And that is the cycle of my morning coffee plight.

Compare Routines to Lists of Things to Improve and Maintain

Well, after making these lists, guess what? A ton of things on both lists were impacted by my daily routines! Of course I didn’t want to make coffee at night if I was doing homework before and after dinner. Why was I putting my homework off until so late when I get off work at 3? Oh, that would be because I was wasting (at least) 1 hour each afternoon on social media.

Rearrange Your Routines

Interestingly enough, Limit Screen Time was one of the items on my list of things to improve. I already knew that it was sucking valuable time out of my day yet I was letting it. Taking that hour away from social media and giving it to schoolwork meant that I had an extra hour in the evenings. Which just happens to be more than enough time to make coffee and set the timer.

Write This Down

5 Items to Add/Subtract for your Morning, Afternoon, and Evening Routines.

After all, how we spend our hours is how we spend our days… And how we spend our days is how we spend our lives!

Pinterest told me so. :)