Routine: The Boring Way to Get Creative — Part 1

Remember the time when we were school going kids and had a timetable at school. We made timetables for studying at home too. The routine was simple. Wake up, freshen up, go to school, come back home, change into home dress, go out to play, come back to finish homework, watch television, spend some time with parents, dinner and then off to sleep.

Remember how we used to hate having to stick to this routine 6 days a week. We looked forward to Sundays because we didn’t have to follow the routine. Fast forward to adult life. We are the makers of our life and our rules. So we live as we want to. Do things when we feel like doing. Like literally no routines to follow. The result, every day, is overwhelming because there is just so much to do every single day. Time just goes into finishing chores and there is hardly any time left for pursuing the things that matter most.

Well, here is my take on this problem. Have a routine. The most boring thing is to stick to a time to do a particular task every day, every week. Remember the character Subodh from the movie Dil Chahta Hai who has routines for everything in his life. We were made to believe he was boring. He might have been boring and predictable, but he had time for everything important in his life and remembered every single detail no matter how small and trivial. Routine protects the things that matter so that you can actually enjoy the exciting parts of life. Routine doesn't have to mean: Every minute of my day is scheduled. It can mean: The important things don't get lost in the chaos of my day.

Having a routine takes away the need to make necessary decisions every day . Most of us make new year resolutions for having some routines in order to get our life on track but the resolution and the routine fail just after a few days. We create timetables but fail to follow it after a couple of days. Does being unable to stick to a schedule or follow a routine frustrate you? What do you think might be the reason?

The reason is twofold. One, how important is this goal for you? Are you clear about the goal? If the goal is of utmost importance, then we will make it a priority and stick to the resolution because the end results mean something very valuable for us. Two, are you clear how to achieve it? Are you overloading yourself with too much? Are you overthinking it?  

Take a moment and pick one routine you've been trying to build. Don't judge yourself yet. Just observe it. What did you intend to do? What actually happened? And where did the routine break down?

Make notes on this and next week we shall see how we can build routines that work and how we can make routines work for us.

Perhaps routine isn't meant to make life predictable. Perhaps it is meant to create enough space for something else.