Are Routines Killing You?

If I say the word “routine” to a group of people, you can bet there will be two kinds of reactions: a visceral shudder, and a smiling nod. Why? Well, I would say it’s because that word means very different things to these two groups. And it’s such a polarizing word that really I haven’t seen a reaction anywhere in the middle. No “meh, a routine.” Just either a screeching “I hate routines!” or a beaming “Boy, I love routines!”

The group that hates routines seems to liken them to what Ralph Waldo Emerson described as the “hobgoblin of little minds,” because “with consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” Oscar Wilde was in this group too, with his “consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” These folks think of routine as a plug-and-play existence, a black-and-white void of flat days and flat nights, where creativity has no part and nothing ever deviates from the same old thing. Nothing new, no fun, just endless dullness.

The group that loves routines is on to what I personally mean when I invoke the term. I think of routine as the ultimate barrier-busting tool. It’s a way to put the annoying mundane tasks of life on auto-pilot, so they take up less of your energy and your mental space.

Hate to cook? Pick 10 recipes that you know by heart and make them in rotation. Assign meals to the days of the week. That’s a popular one: Taco Tuesday is part of our American cultural fabric at this point. Hate laundry? Just do it one day a week, the same day each week. Not sure how to motivate yourself to get to the gym? Build a routine and link it to another routine: go right to the gym from work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Having trouble remembering to take your vitamins? Buy some small zipper baggies and bag up 7 days’ worth on Sunday after dinner.

If the r-word sends chills up your backbone, try some other ones! Habit, rhythm, and strategic plan are all the same thing here. Use any word that works for you that reminds you that when you can reduce your decision-making load, you free your energy up for more exciting things. That’s really the key to routine. It reduces drudgery and dread. It’s not meant to suck away joy. Don’t let the parts of life you savor fall into auto-pilot—save your routines for the boring things that need to get done but are hard for you!

Image Credit: Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay