Routines are great and so beneficial, and you don’t want to ruin them by making these mistakes.
Routines are a game changer! There are so many essential routines to adopt daily that can benefit your life. If you haven’t gotten around to formulating routines, you definitely should!
Routines are great because of its automation. Once you’re used to doing them, you pretty much set yourself up for success with the goals you’re hoping to accomplish. While they do take some time to become automatic, once they are it has so many benefits.
However, there are many mistakes that can be made when trying to formulate routines. From my personal experience, I have made many mistakes (even the smallest ones) that had affected my routines. While routines can work for you and benefit you in many ways, mistakes can get in the way of accomplishing that.
That’s why this blog post is going to outline mistakes that you may be making when trying to develop any routine. Reading about some of these mistakes can help you formulate routines that are unique to you, make them not too chaotic, and overall just allow you to enjoy them.
1 – Copying everyone else’s routine
Whether that’d be a morning routine, night routine, study routine, work routine, one big mistake that you can make when developing your own routine… is copying someone else’s exact routine.
If you watched several videos on the same routine, even though some of the things they include in the routine are similar, none of them are the exact same. That’s because, obviously every person has a different routine.
So if you copy someone else’s exact routine, whether that’d be the morning routine or the night routine, you don’t really choose what exactly suits you.
It is 100% okay to watch several videos on a particular routine, but you should pick and choose what works best for you so you can create your own personalised routine. It may be similar to someone else’s, but it could never be the exact same.
2 – Having too many steps
The second big mistake when developing any sort of routine is to have way too many steps.
I used to be guilty of having 10 or more steps in my morning routine, that if I just missed one step, I completely ruined my morning routine. Another reason why it’s hard to have too many steps in a routine is that it’s going to be hard to remember.
We have to keep in mind that routines are supposed to be simple and automated. Routines are something that we consistently do on a daily basis, and it became a habit to the point that we do them without even thinking of it.
And that’s a lot harder to keep consistent with and remember when we have too many steps in our routines.
Like the example I gave earlier with a morning routine, you want to have less steps to keep it simple. Because the last thing that you want to do in the morning is think about what’s next in your routine. Your routine needs to be something where it’s automatic, and you know exactly what you need to do.
So your best bet is just to keep your routines simple, at least to 5 tasks minimum. Anything more than that can make the routine a bit harder to repeat.
3 – Not having a goal at the end of your routine
Something that is really important when it comes to developing any sort of routine is having a goal at the end of it.
You need to have a reason why you’re doing a particular routine, and you need to have a desired outcome in mind on what you want from your routine. Here is what I mean.
With a morning routine, the goal that you have at the end of the routine, is to feel refreshed, to have clear headspace, and set yourself up for a very productive day.
With a night routine, the goal by the end of the routine is to wind down, relax, and sleep well overall.
With a work or study routine, the goal by the end of the routine is to progress in your work, to get your required work or study done.
So as you can see in the above examples, you need to have an outcome in mind from your routines. Because if you’re doing a routine for no purpose at all, it is going to be hard to motivate yourself to keep doing it.
That’s why when you develop your routines, make sure that you already know what you want from it and how you want to feel. This will help you be intentional with the tasks that you include in your routines. It prevents you from just adding random tasks that you think will be good, but it doesn’t align with that desired goal or outcome you have for that routine.
4 – Not having good habits
Because when you think about it, a routine is pretty much just a series of habits combined into a system… it’s pretty cool!
For example, your morning routine is filled up with habits of drinking water, reading, journalling, showering, exercising, and then breakfast!
Since habits are automatic and you do them without thinking of it, it makes the routine automatic. When the routine is automatic, you do the routine without thinking about it. And if you have a goal or outcome in mind on what you want to achieve, you technically set yourself up to automatically do the things that will help you achieve your desired outcomes.
That’s why you want the habits in your routine to be good habits! Let’s go back to the morning routine.
Your morning routine is either going to be filled with good habits such as reading, journaling, exercising, and showering… doing that daily can bring a lot of benefits.
OR our morning routine is going to be filled with bad habits such as snoozing the alarm, going on your phone, going on social media, playing games, and all those things that are not the most beneficial.
You don’t want to make the mistake of having your routine filled with habits that are not going to benefit you. The last thing that you want is to make bad habits automatic, and do those bad habits without thinking of it.
Use the beauty of having routines to your advantage and allow for it to work for you. When it comes to thinking of tasks or habits to include in your routine, reflect on the benefits that it will be able to give you.
5 – Not having a cue for them
What this means is that you need to have a cue that automatically tells you that your routine is about to start.
The routine that has the easiest cue is your morning routine. Because obviously, your morning routine begins the moment that you wake up.
But, what about your night routine? What about your work routine? What about your self-care routine?
When you don’t have a particular cue in mind, it becomes a bit more trickier to transition into the routine smoothly.
So think of a specific cue that you can tell yourself that it’s the start of a particular routine.
For example, the cue that your night routine is going to start, is when it hits 7pm or when you finish your last work session.
The cue for your work routine starting is when it hits 9am, or you finish your morning routine.
The cue for your self-care routine starting is when you finish your work.
It’s important for that cue to be specific so you know exactly when you are starting. If the cue is vague (like for example, the cue for your night routine is before you go to bed, that’s vague because it doesn’t detail when you would go to bed, and doesn’t take into consideration what you’ll be doing before then).
Your brain needs that specific cue. When that specific cue is instilled into your brain, you would automatically know when it’s time to start your routine.
6 – Not “shaking them up” once in a while
Sometimes, the reason why it’s hard to stick with routines and habits is because we simply just get bored with them.
That’s why every once in a while, it’s great to shake up your routines. Otherwise, the routines will just feel so repetitive and you give up on them because you’re so bored with it.
A few examples are my workout routines when I used to go to the gym. When my routine was the same every single time I did a workout, I got bored and lost my motivation.
Even when it came to my study routine. Whenever I studied the same thing over and over again. I got bored and lost my motivation.
That’s why you want to shake up your routines, and find new ways to challenge yourself.
So what I like to do is shake up my routines at least every month. It happens during my monthly routine. Every single month I look at some of the routines that I have, and add something new to it. Not only do I add something new to it, I add something that is going to challenge me.
And it doesn’t have to be anything big. Even if it’s just as simple as doing a new workout every week, eating a different meal every week, or taking a different route to work. When you have that change in pace in your routine, it feels exciting, and when you feel excited, you stay motivated.
Go on Pinterest or watch YouTube videos for other ideas. There may be something on there that would challenge yourself (even in small ways).
Now, how do you know if your routines need a “shake up”, when reflect on the routines that you have now, and if you’re either not feeling energized from it or it’s not generating the results you want, then it’s time to shake them up.
7 – Having Distractions
This is quite an obvious one. We all know that distractions doesn’t do any good for anything.
But it’s worth mentioning anyway.
Anything that is going to get you to lose focus while doing your routines is of course not going to do you any favours.
Routines are supposed to get you on the flow for whatever you do, so if you have a distraction that gets in the way, it’s hard to get on the flow.
For example, distractions for your morning routine is going to affect the way that you think and refresh yourself for the day ahead.
Distractions for your work routine is going to affect your work performance and your overall work quality.
Distractions for your self-care routine is going to affect the way that you feel refreshed and care for yourself.
As you can tell, you want to limit your distractions as much as you can. You don’t want any possible distraction to be in sight because the moment you are distracted, the moment your routine drifts.
So just like with any distraction, you want to keep them out of sight as much as possible. If your phone is a distraction to your morning routine, then ensure that your phone is kept in a place where you’re not tempted to touch it.
If so many tabs opened up is a distraction to your work routine, then close all the tabs and work full screen.
If a messy environment is a distraction to your self-care routine, then clean it up and make it neat.
Don’t let anything distract your flow of your routines.
8 – Integrating Routines
Integrating routines means integrating two or more routines together.
We also know that multi-taking most times don’t do us any favours either.
Being focused on multiple tasks would affect the work quality of everything that we’re working on.
It’s the same with our routines.
Being focused on many routines at a time would affect the chances of achieving that particular outcome we set for having that routine.
For example, a big example is mixing a work routine and a self-care routine… I mean they’re completely opposite of each other. Imagine trying to work, and then trying to relax with the TV turned on for your self-care. Not only is your work quality going to be affected, but you also sacrifice a bit of your self-care time as well!
That’s why you just want to do one routine at a time. Leave the morning routine on its own, and once its done, do your work routine. Leave the work routine on its own, and once its done, do your self-care routine.
Not only do you feel a lot more relaxed that way, you relieve yourself of a lot of stress. You relieve yourself of a lot of stress from trying to do multiple things at once, in hopes of getting your outcomes faster. You rather take your time going through one routine at a time, than trying to do everything at once.
9- Doing routines inconsistently
Obviously, routines needs consistency. You need consistency in your routines for your routines to work for you.
That’s why one of the biggest mistakes when developing routines is being inconsistent with them.
You need to show up for your routines on a regular basis, but really, you want to show up for them on a daily basis.
You need to show up for your morning routine every day. You need to show up for your night routine every day. You need to show up for your self-care routine every day.
You can’t just decide to do a morning routine one day, and then skip it another time. You can’t just decide that you’re going to show up and then show up with every routine.
Because again, routines are just like habits. You build a habit by staying consistent and showing up every day. It’s the same with routines. You build and instill your routine into your lifestyle by staying consistent with it and showing up every day.
Just like a habit, you can’t build a habit successfully if you only do it once in a while. You successfully instill the habit by doing it every single day, and getting your mind to take note of that habit. Then, once its instilled, it becomes something that you do without needing to think about it.
That’s the automation you want with your routines. It works the exact same way like habits. You want that routine to be instilled in you that it becomes something that you do without needing to give it a second thought. You want your brain to get used to doing that routine consistently. That’s why you don’t want to just do your routines once in a while. If you want them to stick in the long term, you need consistency.
10 – Thinking that routines are a hassle
It’s surprising that some may think that routines are a hassle because it stops them from having their freedom.
But the truth is, when you don’t have routines during your day, you lack structure. When you lack structure, you lack organisation. When you lack organisation, you waste time. And what you waste time, you eventually lack your freedom anyway.
The reason why we may think that routines are a hassle is because we keep thinking short term. When we think short term, we look at routines as a waste of time, because they are getting in the way of things that we want to do, and the things we want to do whenever we like.
But when you think about it, you end up wasting your time anyway because of the lack of structure that you have in your days like how we mentioned earlier. Having routines isn’t just about having a whole bunch of life hacks compiled together that you do daily. Having routines is about helping you achieve your goals and your desired outcomes, and just make life easy for yourself in general.
We are all for making things easy for yourself right? Routines help you because they give you the structure you need to set yourself up for success. You feel like you can manage better and have more drive to do the things that you want to do.
You stick with your routines, you shake them up a bit, and you stay motivated and conscious. Because just remember, while the effect of routines don’t show up in the moment, or in the short-term, they do impact your behavior in the long term.
Turn those mistakes into stepping stones for improvement
If you’ve done any of these mistakes from above, that’s 100% okay. We can use those mistakes as stepping stones for improvement. The reason why I listed those mistakes above is because I’ve done every single one of these. However, the benefit of making those mistakes was that they helped me understand better how routines work.
Now that you know them, get started with developing or improving your current routines! Make them your own, keep it simple, have a desired outcome in mind, and make sure you take those steps to make routines easier for you. Then of course, remember to shake them up every once in a while so you keep that drive and motivation up.
Routines are great to have, and they’re in fact one of the greatest productivity and time management techniques that you can use. So start taking those small steps to progression, and see how they can benefit you in the long term.
-Lauren 😊
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, this is Lauren! I’m a law grad from Melbourne, Australia. On laurenbarri.com, I create content on all things personal development, productivity, self-care, and habits! I am super passionate about these topics because of how they helped me in all areas of my life, and I want to share it with others!
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