I remember that dazed feeling of not knowing what to expect when I was going through my divorce. I felt like I was living in chaos, not knowing what was coming next, feeling like I was running to put out one fire after another. I am going to share with you how to create and use a routine while living in that chaos so you can start feeling more in control of your life.

Once you create a simple, personalized routine from following the steps in this blog post, you’re going to stop feeling as overwhelmed, no long wonder where to start, and you’ll be able to sit down to create a flexible routine that helps give you some structure even during chaos. Download the free worksheet to follow along and start creating your routine.

You’re going to find that once you have a personalized routine, you are going to seriously stop feeling as overwhelmed as you do right now. Your routine is going to help you:

• focus on the things that benefit you
• structure your time to do things in the way that is optimal for you
• maintain a sense of calm

Steps To Create A Personalized Routine

• Make a list of everything you need to get done daily, both in your home life and at work. This isn’t a to-do list, jot down everything you do every day and things you should get done.

• Structure your day. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Make sure to group tasks into the time of day that makes the most sense for when you’re most productive.

• Get specific. Use your loosely created outline of tasks and get as specific as you want. For some this may look like an hour by hour list; for others, you may just divide your day into morning, midday and evening. Others give each day of the week a theme or focus like Monday is laundry day and Wednesday is errands day. This is YOUR schedule, so plan it accordingly.

• Schedule in time for flexibility. There will be days when tasks come up that aren’t part of your typical routine. A dentist appointment, for example. Make time in your schedule that can be flexible for unplanned tasks, and keep your most productive time scheduled with activities you need to be done daily.

• Test it out. Start with a week making tweaks as you go along. After a month, assess your routine to determine what’s working and what can be improved. How does your new routine make you feel? If you find you’re more stressed, then your routine needs some adjusting. The purpose is to make life easier for you.

Tips For Creating Your Routine

Remember that the point of having a routine is to have a system that makes daily life easier for you. So be sure that you:

• Don’t overcommit – keep in mind that things WILL come up that need taken care of right away
• Avoid perfection – focus on what works best for you NOW
• Take your time and adjust as needed – it doesn’t have to be right the first time through
• Make things fun – add in enjoyable activities to your routine to recharge and relax

Stay Flexible In Building Your Routine

Give yourself some grace. Sometimes we are in a time of just getting moment to moment. You may want to do all the the things (or more likely feeling like you “should” be doing all the things), but sometimes, that’s just not possible. Keep these ideas in mind if that’s the season you’re in right now:

• Pick your essentials, then add in other items as you find space for them.
• No need to track time like 5 minutes for brushing teeth, 5 minutes for washing face, 15 minutes for taking a shower, unless that makes you happy!
• The order of your items doesn’t particularly matter. Your routine should have flow, but when things come up, you need to be able to switch some things around. Build that flexibility into your schedule.

Conclusion

You’ll know when you’ve found a good routine when you’re feeling less stress and more self-confidence. You’re going to be saving time that would otherwise be spent on planning and decision making. You’re going to find that you need a lot less determination and will power since you’re having the make less decisions during the day.

Now that you know all the benefits and have all the tools you need, it’s time to get to work. Download the free worksheet that will help you create your personalized routine. 

Once you’ve had a chance to work on it, let me know if you need more help in creating a routine to suit your lifestyle. We can get laser focused on how to create a weekly or daily routine, or we can focus on creating a morning, evening, or self care routine. Click here to schedule a free consultation.