You May Need to Break Your Routine in Order to Fix It

Your routine is your routine.

You do it all the time, every day, probably without thinking.

It has become more than habit, it is your lifestyle.

Yet, what do you do when your routine isn’t producing the results you want?

Breaking Your Routine

I’ve done the same morning routine for many years.

I get up early. About 4AM, and I do my most important things before the day begins.

I read. I write this blog. I plan my day. And I workout. All before the world (and my family) is awake.

Recently, I found that my morning routine wasn’t producing the results I had previously known. Writing was getting pushed aside. And often, I wasn’t making it to the gym.

Some of this was due to life changes. I was staying up later at night, my young daughter began waking up during the night, and other subtle lifestyle shifts.

It finally became apparent that I need to “break” my routine in order to improve it.

‘To fix your routine, you may need to break it.’

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For a long while, my routine had served me well. However, circumstances change, even if subtly. It was apparent that I needed to adjust my routine if I was going to improve my results.

So, I changed my routine. I adjusted my bedtime. I re-ordered my tasks in the AM. And I even re-evaluated my priorities in several areas.

Soon, I found that I was getting my planning done again. As well, my workouts were becoming consistent again.

I had to “break” my routine in order to fix it. 

If you aren’t getting the results you desire, what things could you break in your routine?

Here are just a few ideas…

• Bedtime – As the saying goes, “Early to bed, early to rise…” and so on. Yet, most people don’t get enough sleep. Do you really need to stay up surfing on your phone? Or watching Netflix? Try going to bed early.
• Setting Your Alarm Clock – When you get up is just as important as when you go to bed. Rolling out of bed 10 minutes before you need to leave the house isn’t a great start to the day. How different would your day be if you got up just 30 minutes earlier each morning?
• What You Do Before Starting Your Day – What are you most important priorities? Do those before the day begins. It could be working out. Or writing a book. Or even just meditating. If you try to wait until after your busy day, you will have less chance of completing them.
• What You Eat – You are what you eat, and when you eat. Don’t assume you need to eat at the “normal” times. Or that you must go out of the office each day with the “lunch crew.” Shake up your eating schedule and routine.
• Your Commute – Try changing the time of your commute. Shifting it even 15 minutes can make all the difference. Some people even change jobs to change their commute. This may sound extreme, but I know people who have changed their lives by eliminating multi-hour daily commute.
• Your Work – If you look hard enough, you will be surprised to discover that much of what you do in your job is self-imposed. Or even superfluous. What can you remove or do differently in your work?

Change Your Routine, Change Your Results

If your routine has become just routine, then you may need to shake things up. Break them, even.

What could you do differently?

Challenge yourself. Question everything… even the things that you consider normal or unchangeable.

You’ll probably find that you need to “break” your routine in order to fix it.

Question: What might you need to ‘break’ in your daily routine? You can leave a comment by clicking here.