Did you fall out of your routine?
Are you finding it hard to get back on track after a certain event?
Or maybe nothing specific happened, but it was life in general that got in the way, and all of a sudden you found yourself completely off course. And now you have no idea how to get back into your routine after it got disrupted.
We probably all have been there at some point in our life, and it can be super annoying, especially if things were going quite good.
But with some dedication and a good plan, you can get back on track in no time, and here are the 5 steps I take whenever I find myself in that situation:
Go back to the basics
Often times when we fall out of our routine, it’s because at some point, we got so distracted with life and responsibilities that we forgot to look after our most basic needs. I’m talking sleep, healthy-ish eating, hygiene, exercise and a sense of connection.
So here’s where I need you to ask yourself, are you taking good care of your body and mind?
Are you getting enough sleep every night to function properly throughout the day?
Do your meals consist of cereal for breakfast and pizza for dinner, or are you actually having at least three relatively healthy meals?
Are you drinking at least 1.5 liters of water?
Are you forgetting to shower, or maybe skipping your skincare routine for example?
Are you taking at least half an hour daily to move your body?
Are you keeping some sort of contact with the people close to you?
Make a checklist of the basic habits you should be following, and take a week or so to implement them and then make sure that you stick with them, because these are the foundation of your routine, and if you’re not fulfilling your primary needs, you will struggle to be productive and effective in your responsibilities, whether it be work, studying, or any other task.
Always remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup, so make sure to fill your own first, and then you can go chase those goals of yours.
Stick to a morning and night routine
Adding to the first point, having a fixed system that you follow each morning and each night is crucial to maintain and support your overall routine.
For the morning, the way you start your day truly dictates how the rest of it will go, so if you start it by snoozing or scrolling on your phone, there’s a high chance the rest of your day won’t be that productive either.
I talk about the importance of having a morning routine in my 5 Clichéd Daily Habits That Are Life-Changing blog post, and it’s something I keep repeating to myself and to my friends as it has made the biggest difference in my life.
So have a set of habits you practice each morning that will set you up for success.
It can be a full-on 3 hours morning routine consisting of exercise, showering, eating, and a dozen other tasks.
And it can also be one hour or even less just to drink some water, have a quick healthy breakfast, shower and get dressed. Anything that will make you feel refreshed and ready to take on the day.
As for the night, get a wind-down routine going as well. Especially if you struggle to fall asleep like me, take some time before going to sleep to dim the lights, meditate, have a cup of tea maybe…
Again, anything that will relax and prepare you for a good night’s sleep.
And if you find that you overthink a lot, I highly recommend that you take some time to journal. Just grab a notebook and dump down any thoughts that might be stuck in your head, so you’ll go to sleep with a clean and relaxed mind.
Define your priorities
If you find yourself constantly confused as to what you should be doing, you might need to take some time to define what your priorities in life are.
That way you’ll stop wasting time on random things and dedicate that time and energy for what’s actually important to you.
Sit with yourself whenever you get the chance, grab a piece of paper and a pen, and write down what are the things you care the most about in life.
Mine would be health (including both physical and mental), personal development, financial stability and spirituality.
Mind you, not putting something on that list does not mean it’s not important to you at all. Your priorities can and should change over time, depending on what phase of life you’re in, and there are times when you have to focus on a few specific areas in your life that you feel need the most care at that certain time.
For example, relationships, hobbies and travel are very much important goals of mine, but for the time being, I’m not putting them on the top of my list because I have more important things to focus on.
Let’s say you’re a mom to a newborn, your most important priority would be to take care of your baby, and adding ten other things to that list will be impossible for you to handle.
And so your daily routine should be a reflection of what you’ve written on that list. Take it a step further by determining which habits you should be practicing daily to be living by each one of your priorities.
Start slow
Falling out of your routine might also be a sign that you are putting too much on your plate. Trying to do a million thing at once will eventually overwhelm you and you’ll find yourself struggling to accomplish the most basic tasks.
Especially if you’re just starting to get back on track, the best way to implement new habits is to do it gradually.
Back to the first point, make sure that you have your basic needs met before anything else, otherwise you won’t have much energy to focus on your other responsibilities.
Once the base of your routine is set, you can start adding habit by habit so you don’t overwhelm yourself.
The best tip I could give you is to make a to-do list, because if you’re waking up every day with no idea about what you have to be doing, you will waste half the day procrastinating and trying to figure out which tasks you should start on.
So after you finish your work day, or before you go to sleep, grab your planner or open a note on your phone and make a list of the tasks you need to accomplish the next day.
I like to write them in a consecutive manner, that way I don’t have to think about what I should do next each time I finish a task.
Don’t forget to include fun things in that list too; we’re often told that we should only allow ourselves to do the things we enjoy after we’re done with all of our responsibilities.
And while that might be true in some cases, I still encourage you to have at least one thing to look forward to each day. It will motivate you and it will ensure that you won’t get bored and end up giving up on all your other tasks as well.
Track your journey
Keeping track of your routine at the end of each day is an excellent way to keep yourself accountable and motivated. Maybe make that a part of your night routine; just take 10 minutes to reflect on how your day went.
The method I follow is I write down everything I did from when I opened my eyes in the morning till the moment I started that process; I even mention at what time I woke up, what I ate, where I wasted time…
This process is amazing to make you aware of what’s working and what’s not, what’s making you waste time, what things you could maybe do better.
Let’s say you started your day by snoozing, maybe it was because you didn’t get enough sleep the night before; that means you should work on going to sleep earlier.
If a specific task took you longer than it should have, maybe you’re getting distracted by your phone or something else; that’s your signal to eliminate distractions while working.
And if you got to a point where you were tired and overwhelmed by all the things you have left to do, that might be your sign that you should let go of some not-so-urgent tasks and take it easier on yourself.
Write down the things that went good as well, you need to give yourself credit for the effort you’re doing; getting back on track after you’ve fallen out of your routine is no easy task.
I like to do this process as part of my journaling session, so I’m documenting my journey in my diary. If you too share an interest in journaling, check out my How Journaling Changed My Life And How It Could Change Yours Too blog post.
Side note: you don’t need to keep doing this for a long time; maybe just the first couple of weeks to perfect your routine and to make sure that you’ll stick to it.
Now all that’s left for you to do is to start now, and not later.
The more you wait the harder it’ll be for you to bounce back, and trust me nothing feels better than getting back to your rituals.
And even if it feels hard at first, you’ll get used to it again before you know it.
If you have any other tips for getting back into a routine, feel free to share them in the comments down below!
