At the beginning of this year I wrote about making a New Day’s Resolution as opposed to the traditional New Year’s resolution. The concept appealed to me due to the high fail rate of New Year’s resolutions.
My New Day’s resolution was walking.
My intent was to walk a measly 10 minutes per day. Even though ten minutes is well below the recommended amount, in this case, something is better than nothing.
About three weeks into January, I had to admit, the resolution was an epic fail.
However, I was determined to walk.
“Why”, I wondered, “was it so impossible to walk that little tiny amount each and every day?”
At this point in my life, I like to think that I know myself pretty well.
My tendency is to manage life with lists and routines.
The problem wasn’t my desire to walk.
The problem was, walking just didn’t fit into my routine.
The common advice is to exercise first thing in the morning. It is good advice and I did give that a try. For various reasons, it wasn’t a fit. (coffee + treadmill = disaster).
What about making it part of my end of the day routine? Not! Most evenings I feel like all I can do is crawl into bed. Sometimes I don’t even make it to the bed and instead keel over in our comfy recliner.
There were two real possibilities; during my lunch break or as soon as I walked through the door in the evening.
So, I decided that I would walk at lunch and if that wasn’t possible, I would walk first thing upon arriving home after work.
For the past several days, I am happy to report, I have been walking.
As an added bonus, I have more energy. It’s a lesson that I have learned and forgotten more times than I like to admit.
If I hadn’t added walking to my routine, if I hadn’t made it a habit, it wouldn’t have happened.
And the reality is, if I take it out of my routine, my walking habit could, well, take a hike! (So sorry, couldn’t resist!)
This situation has made me realize the power of the daily routine in reaching goals and bringing order to our lives.
My mom has always maintained that babies do best when routines are established.
Have you ever heard a mother comment that she is not willing to be out and about during nap time? Upsetting a baby’s routine can upset the family for the remainder of the day.
It never fails to amaze me when I visit a daycare at nap time. Rows of mats and sleeping toddlers. Getting two toddlers to take a nap was a challenge for me. Getting 15 toddlers to take a nap at the same time seems miraculous!
The key is the routine. First, we have lunch, then we read a book, then we go to sleep. It becomes part of the toddler’s routine, so off to sleep they go!
As adults, we really aren’t different. We thrive on routines.
Do you ever feel like you actually accomplish more on a normal workday than you do a Saturday? It is because of our daily routine. On the week-end we tend to ditch the daily routine.
Our routines keep us productive.
Is there something which you want to accomplish but it just never seems to materialize?
Exercising, writing, visiting your parents 😉?
Try implementing the power of the daily routine.
I am willing to bet that you will experience greater success when it becomes…part of your daily (or weekly) routine!
| Are you getting “The Little Letter”?
“The Little Letter” is my once per week (or less) newsletter which contains a weekly hack, new post updates and other cool stuff. You will also get access to Lots of (Free) Littles Unsubscribe Anytime! |
Good tip! My friend and I keep saying we will start walking at lunch when the weather breaks. Keep it up! You got this!
Thanks! You do too. Keep me updated!
Once again a great point and an enjoyable read. I usually wake up early, have my coffee than work out to some degree. I’m happy to report that I have been doing this for years now. However, it was years of daily promises and countless excuses, than disappointments that I hadn’t followed through yet again, before it dawned on me that mornings work for me. I was somewhat stunned that it took me so long to figure it out. If I didn’t workout in the morning, it wasn’t going to happen. Also, something is better than nothing. I do what I can.
Thanks for the comment.
I live by the concept that something is better than nothing!
I never even though about why my child acts like a turd on the weekends… makes so much sense since we don’t keep her routine lol also makes sense why I rarely feel productive!
It is amazing how routine oriented we really are. That said, it is good to sometimes ditch the routine!
I am 100% lost without my daily routine. I have flex for other things that come up but I always keep the foundation the same. It helps so much!
I love thinking about the routine being the foundation. That is absolute truth. Thanks for checking in!
It is wonderful that you were able to change your routine to include a daily walk! I need to do the same!
A daily walk is critical for my mental and physical well being! Thanks for checking in.
This is actually really insightful! It IS hard to implement new things when they just don’t fit with what you’re used to doing day in and day out. I’m definitely going to keep this is mind when I wish to add something to my routine!
I hope it helps. It was actually quite a few years before I realized that something had to be part of my
routine in order to “stick”. Thanks for commenting.
Your story makes a really great point for me – I recently did some physical therapy and I’m supposed to do the exercises 3 times a day. It only takes about 5 minutes each time, but I just haven’t been doing it and I think it’s because I haven’t picked a specific time in my schedule to do it. I’m going to have to figure out where I’ll fit it in and then actually do it as part of a routine.
I’m sorry that you are having to do PT but happy if you found a solution that makes it easier to complete.
If you get a chance give me an update and let me know if putting it in your routine helped.
Hope you have a great day!