I used to avoid routine like the plague.
In my eyes, routine was where adventure died. Routine was where our will to live died.
The reason I believed this, was because I witnessed so many adults around me getting their life sucked out of them by their routines.
And they all looked somewhat like this:
- Wake up early in the morning.
- Hit the snooze button.
- Drag yourself out of bed.
- Rush yourself to get ready for work.
- Commute for an hour during peak hour.
- Work a job you hate for a boss you don’t like.
- Commute home for an hour.
- Get home too exhausted to do anything other than collapsing onto the couch.
- Order food and watch TV.
- Repeat the next day…
It all sounded like a repetitive nightmare to me. A life like this would make me feel miserable and I couldn’t understand why anyone would sign up for it.
Although I still believe that it’s necessary to break your routine every now and then to invite adventure into your life, I’ve finally found merit in routine.
I realized doing routine right, is all about making your routine work for you. It’s all about creating a routine that doesn’t require escaping from.
If you have to work for your routine, if you live for the breaks in-between, it’s time for a change.
I’ll share my ideal routine below:
- Wake up at 5 AM.
- Make a great breakfast, while listening to music.
- Hit the gym before traffic builds up.
- Work a job I love for a company I love, with people who inspire me to be my best self.
- Commute back home.
- Cook a healthy meal for dinner. Keep the left-overs for lunch the next day.
- Down-time with the person I love most. Read, write or Netflix – depending on the energy I have left.
- Go to bed early to make it easier to get up the next day.
In the weekends I’d sleep in a bit longer, hang out with friends and family, work on my side projects – but other than that, it would be pretty much the same.
Although I didn’t get all of the above right as of yet (I am 90% there, working hard on the other 10%), this routine is already doing wonders for me. It’s a routine that gives me energy, instead of taking it away.
Keep in mind what works for me, might not work for you. You’ll have different goals and dreams, you might have kids… but you get the idea: your routine should make you feel good about yourself, it should enable you to be your best possible self.
I used to hate routine. Now, I’ve built a routine that makes me feel happy with myself.
It was the moment that I started to feel bad breaking my routine, I realized I’d finally created a life that doesn’t require escaping from.
And that’s what life is all about.
