The Four Letter Word for Routine Is Sexy

If you have an ultra-creative or task crushing mind, having a routine can feel like having your legs gripped by an unyielding toddler. However, if approached with the right mindset and strategy, it can be quite sexy and down right liberating. Before we get into the oohs and ahhs of why it’s sexy, let’s quickly clarify what a routine is and what it is not.

A routine is not having one or more things that you try to fit in whenever you think of, feel like, or have time for it.

A routine is one or a few things that you commit to doing at a certain time or within a certain time period. If two or more things, each task is best done in a set sequence. A routine takes initial planning and charting your intention. Sometimes, to implement it, you may even need to prepare for the implementation. 

So what makes a routine so sexy?

YOU ARE EFFORTLESSLY PROACTIVE

Ditch the feeling of having a thousand things to do in one hour or the need to do a random drawing to help you pick the next task. When you have a routine, you already know what you need to do and when you want to do it.  (Get Free List Standard Routines with Template to Create Your Own)

YOU ARE “IN COMMAND” NOT “IN CHARGE” OF YOUR TIME

Anyone can be “in charge” of their time by making a decision at any given time. You are presented with an option and then you make a choice. But when you are in command of your time, you’ve told it what to do before it presented you with options. And if other options happen to present themselves, you’ll already have something to measure its importance against. If you really want to be a boss or a Woman On Her Move, be in command, not in charge.

MORE EFFICIENT AND PRODUCTIVE

For every interrupted task, it takes about 10-20 minutes to get full on track or figure out what to do next. When you already know what needs to be done, the guesswork is eliminated, and you’ve already made the preparations to see it through without setbacks due to mindlessness. This logic is easily understood when you consider the domino effect in co-dependent routines. This is where one routine done at a specific time or sequence is dependent on the successful completion of another task done at a prior specific time. If not properly planned, one missing domino can stop the whole show. When you have a routine, you’ve already identified all of the dominos worthy of an encore implementation. In other words, you crush it every time!