Your Greatest Routine: The Ultimate Guide to Designing A Routine For Greater Health, Happiness, and Impact

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
– Aristotle

We can have great intentions for how we’re going to show up each day.

On Sunday evening after a weekend of sleeping in, catching up with friends over brunch, and recharging from the past week we think,

‘This week, I’m going to crush it. I’m going to get up early tomorrow and make it to gym, I’ll finish up that project at work, and I’ll even call Grandma on Thursday.’

Yet for some reason, by the time Wednesday rolls around, we haven’t made it to the gym, we’re behind on our project so we’re working late, and Grandma is the last person we want to talk to.

Despite our best intentions, life has a way of distracting us from our goals and core desires.

Without regular reminders that we do have the power to design our own lives, and that we can and should pursue our desires – it’s easy to get tripped up.

Last post, I suggested that a daily routine is a perfect antidote to this problem.

 

Designing a routine that brings you back to your vision of your highest self is the single, most effective change you can make for massive shifts in your energy, productivity, health, and happiness.

So what exactly does a daily routine look like?

Do a quick google search and you’ll have no problem finding suggestions for things you ‘must have’ in your daily or morning routine. Things like:

• Waking up early
• Drinking lots of water
• Meditating
• Reading something inspiring
• Exercising
• Eating healthy
• Practicing gratitude

 

All of these are great suggestions. They’re habits that have plenty of science behind them to suggest that they will, in fact, make your life better.

But my guess is before you’ve gotten halfway through most of these articles you’re thinking,

‘Shoot, how many of these should I be doing? Do I need to do all of them? What if I just pick one, which one’s most important? Do I do them at night or in the morning, or both? I really, really, hate getting up in the morning, can I do it on my lunch break?

A quick peek at my own morning routine looks something like this:

 

• 6:00am Groggily open my eyes. Rejoice that my husband gets up before me and enjoy stretching out over the full width of the bed.
• 6:15am Shuffle to the kitchen, make myself a warm cup of lemon water and finish waking up while reading a book and snuggling with my cat (she hates this).
• 6:45am Get dressed, stretch out on my yoga mat for 10 minutes and then head outside for a quick walk.
• 7:15am Breakfast and coffee while I review my goals and what I want to accomplish today. Jot down 3 things I’m grateful for in my notebook.
• 7:30am Start working on my most important task of the day.

I love my morning routine. I also practice an evening routine and would like to work on an afternoon one.

Great. Does that mean that you should copy mine?

Absolutely not.

The problem with generic articles telling you what your routine should look like is that they haven’t been designed for you.

A random internet stranger, no matter how personable or credentialed, has no idea what is going to support you best.

You know who knows the answer to that question?

You do.

Maybe you have to sit and get real honest with yourself for a minute. You may have to admit some truths you’ve been burying deep down.

But without a doubt, you know better than anyone else on the planet what habits and actions are going to make you feel your best.

And if you’re not 100% sure, a daily routine is the perfect way to experiment and see what works for you.

Are you still wondering,

What time do I do it?
Whenever you want! Pick a part of your day that never seems to go as you’d like. Maybe your mornings are rushed and you’d like them to start off more peacefully. OR, pick a time that’s realistic, a time when you know you have a few extra minutes to get off Facebook and do something that actually pumps you up. OR, pick a part of your day that is already awesome and play around with how to make it even better.

What should I do?
Start by asking yourself how you want to feel. Do you start to feel burnt out in the middle of the workday? Do you want to feel purposeful, creative, and focused instead? What is one thing you could do to make yourself feel more of that? Maybe you decide to build in going for a walk and meditating for 10 minutes after lunch every day. Or you call a close friend or family member or create the perfect pick me up afternoon playlist.

How do I make sure that I follow through?
Once you’ve decided what you want your routine to look like, ask yourself what you need to make it happen. If your routine includes getting up early in the morning, you’re going to need to make sure that you’re getting enough sleep, which may mean committing to going to bed earlier. If you want to start going for a walk after lunch, maybe you ask a coworker to join you so you’re not tempted to stay glued to your chair.

My routine works for me because it fills my desires, it helps me to start my morning in alignment with how I want to feel.

How you want to feel and what your vision looks like are likely very different from mine.

How you want to feel and what does your vision of your highest, healthiest, happiest, self, looks like. Now design a routine that supports that. I promise you won’t regret it.

Ready to get designing? I’ve put together a checklist to make designing your new routine a piece of cake.

To your health and happiness,
Julia

Let us know over on the Facebook page what new routine you’re designing!