Routines can help create a sense of security and stability. They can also create effective roadmaps for how you should spend your time, effort, and attention.
Here are a few tips to building structure in your day — and to help you stay the course.
Assess your needs.
Before you make any changes to your existing day-to-day, pay attention to your own behavior to see what makes it hard for you to get work done or distracts you from key tasks. Make resolving those issues the focus of your new routine, advises Arthur B. Markman, professor of psychology at the University of Texas and author of “Bring Your Brain to Work: Using Cognitive Science to Get a Job, Do it Well, and Advance Your Career.” Then decide what’s working based on your own indicators of success.
It also helps to be familiar with your physical and emotional rhythms so that you can align your routine to your energy and concentration levels, notes Anna Rowley, a consulting psychologist to tech firms. “Are you a morning person or an afternoon person? When do you most feel most alert? Arrange your schedule accordingly so you’re doing high-power tasks at the optimal times.”
Remember: What works for one person, doesn’t work for another. There’s no single solution for professionals across the board. What matters is developing a routine that leaves you feeling mentally refreshed and gives you an increased sense of control.
Create a dedicated workspace.
“Much of your behavior is driven by the environment around you,” remarks Markman, so set the stage for productivity by creating a dedicated workspace that supports your new routine. “Ideally, you would make desirable work behaviors easy to do and undesirable behaviors hard.” That could mean going into a private office, setting up a home office, or relying on some combination of the two.
Markman also recommends placing reminders on whiteboards or sticky notes. Or, leave your work out on your desk to help you stay on track. “If you can’t leave your work out all the time, consider getting a portfolio case and putting together a cover you can put on your workspace that has all of the reminders. At the end of the workday, you can put this workspace away and then you can take it out again at the start of the next day.”
Set yourself up for success.
Goals and objectives may need to be broken up into small, manageable parts, so you can gain a sense of accomplishment, which is a motivational factor in engaging — and maintaining — your routine. “People tend to repeat what they find pleasurable and exciting,” says Rowley. Give yourself a reward for checking off items that are part of your daily to-do list. That doesn’t necessarily mean showering yourself with gifts; rather, Rowley notes, it’s about acknowledging your agency and effort through positive self-talk.
Clear away distractions.
It’s one thing to set up a routine; it’s another thing to keep it going. The difference between persistence and failure? “Some people are able to maintain their focus, while others are easily influenced by activity going on around them,” notes Markman. “The more distractible you are, the harder it is to stick to a new routine.” That’s why it’s important to remove those attention interferences — such as smartphones — to increase your outputs.
Rowley advises doing a brief relaxation exercise, saying an affirmation or mantra, or taking a walk when you get off course or when you move from one undertaking to the next. “As much as we think we are excellent compartmentalizers, many of us remained focused on a previous task even though we may have started a new one,” she says. Incorporating these well-being rituals into your day can help you clear the mental clutter. “Think of it as saying good-bye to one task and saying hello to another.”