daily routine assignment expert

Take a few minutes after work to separate yourself from other thoughts and ideas and dig into your own. If you want, write down ideas, thoughts, and feelings that won’t leave you alone. This way, you know everything is ready to be dealt with tomorrow and can be free to truly relax and recover.

15. Spend time on a hobby

One of the more counter-intuitive habits that can actually help you recover and be more productive is to do more work at home. Rather than just relaxing, engaging in what’s called a mastery task helps you to disconnect from the workday and be more energized and focused the following day.

As Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less , explains:

Mastery experiences are engaging, interesting things that you do well. They’re often challenging, but this makes them mentally absorbing and all the more rewarding when they’re proficiently executed.

To get even more from your mastery activities, look for hobbies that include other people (to fulfill our social needs), are healthy (like sports or exercise), or give you space to think and be alone (to bring even more mental solitude).

16. Prepare for tomorrow with a ‘shutdown ritual’

Not everyone has total control over how they spend their time during the workday, which can often mean we get stuck being upset with how things didn’t go as planned. However, creating a sense of control is an important part of calming your brain and staying positive and productive.

In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us , Daniel Pink suggests creating a ‘shutdown ritual’ that gives you back that sense of control, no matter what else happened during the day:

Establish a closing ritual. Know when to stop working. Try to end each work day the same way, too. Straighten up your desk. Backup your computer. Make a list of what you need to do tomorrow.

You get to choose your own ritual. But a few elements that have been shown to help include:

• Writing your to-do list for tomorrow
• Reflecting on your day and writing in a journal
• Closing open browser tabs and cleaning your desktop
• Setting out clothes for the morning (or the gym)

17. Turn off your devices at least 30 minutes before bed

A lack of sleep ruins everything. It doesn’t matter how productive you’re being in other aspects of your life if you don’t get a solid night’s sleep all those efforts are wasted. Unfortunately, getting proper sleep isn’t just about the time you give yourself.

The blue light that is emitted from the screens of our devices can mess with your internal clock and make it more difficult to fall asleep. According to Dr. Adrian Williams, professor of sleep medicine:

"The influence of light on hormonal responses is minimal in the day, but maximal in the evening when it may suppress melatonin secretion and delay sleep."

While stopping your screen time a few hours before bed is preferable, most experts agree that you stop at least 30-minutes before you go to bed.

If you want to make building this habit even easier (and give yourself some added benefits), simply leave your phone outside of the bedroom. This way, you won’t be tempted to check it and you’ll have a better morning by not waking up to a screen full of notifications.

Habits that optimize for energy and health

Not all great productive habits fit into specific parts of our day. And not every routine has to do with how you spend your time at work. How our bodies feel affects our ability to focus and be productive, and ignoring your health isn’t an option when you want to build a productive routine.

As much as possible, you should try and work these few habits into your daily routine.

19. Give your eyes a break

You probably spend a terrifying amount of your day staring at a screen. So much so that there’s actually a condition called computer vision syndrome that occurs in 50-90% of knowledge workers.

When your eyes become fatigued it can have a far-reaching impact, from physical fatigue, decreased productivity, and increased errors, to minor irritations like eye twitching.

There are lots of ways you can protect your eyes during the day like using proper lighting, reducing screen glare, and taking more breaks. However, one of the easiest habits to build is to follow the "20-20-20 rule".

Every 20 minutes of time spent staring at a screen, look away at an option that is at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Another exercise is to look far away at an object for 10-15 seconds, then gaze at something up close for 10-15 seconds. Then look back at the distant object. Do this 10 times to stop your eyes from "locking up" during the day.

20. Drink more water during the day

Water is a miracle productivity tool. Yet most of us skip the water cooler and head for the coffee machine when we’re feeling a lack of energy.

And while caffeine definitely has its place in our workday. Drinking more water is one of the best daily routines you can build. Our bodies run on water, and dehydration doesn’t just result in a dry mouth but causes a lack of energy, focus, motivation, and productivity.

To stay properly hydrated during the day, build a habit of drinking water during the day. Carry a water bottle with you as a reminder to drink more or set a goal for the day.

21. Regular exercise

Lastly, you don’t need another person telling you the benefits of exercise. But I’m going to do it anyways. If your physical health and having a beach body isn’t as much of a priority to you, then listen to these other results.

Exercise can slow down neurogenesis , meaning you’ll keep more brain cells as you age. Over a shorter time frame, it can also give you more energy throughout the day, keep you happy and motivated to work more, and even help you stay mentally focused for longer.

Building exercise into your daily routine doesn’t have to be a huge endeavor. In their book, Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day , authors John Zeratksy and Jake Knapp explain how modern culture encourages unrealistic expectations about exercise:

"Moving your body is the best way to charge your battery. But you don’t need lengthy complicated workouts."

Instead, the authors suggest a few simple rules:

Exercise for about 20 minutes: Research shows the most important cognitive results can come from just 20 minutes of exercise.

Do it every day: The energy and mood boost from exercise lasts about a day, so it’s important to keep up with your routine.

Don’t stress about perfection: If you do 4 out of 7 days, that’s great. The goal is consistency over the long-term. Not stressing that you missed a day here or there.

This means your routine could be going to the gym for a quick workout, doing some body weight exercises in the office, or even just going for a brisk walk and taking the stairs each day. Like most good daily routines, it’s about being able to do it consistently. Not going for broke every single day.

Daily routines are just guidelines for living your best life

All of these habits and tips will help you be more productive. But trying to add them all to your daily routine is probably a bad idea. Instead, you need to experiment and see what works for you. Try one for a week and track your results. Does it work? Why not?

Ultimately, we’ll always default to doing what works best for us. Your body and mind will tell you if certain things aren’t working for you (you’ll get restless, bored, anxious, tired, etc…). Listen to those signs and use them to build your own personalized daily routine.

More articles about Remote Work:

Work From Home Parents: How to Stay Productive

Team File Sharing 101: The 7 Best Business Tools for Keeping your Files (and Projects) in Sync

The secrets and science of a productive four day workweek

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Ultimate Daily Routines That Work: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Your Own!

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Are you feeling frazzled? (Like ALL the time?) Are you stressed out? Do you have a hard time with day-to-day consistency? Maybe your goal is to get the kids into bed by 8pm every day, but half the time dinner isn’t even done until 8pm, so by the time everyone gets down it’s 9pm or later.

Routine is hard. I know.

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A short time ago, a friend asked me for some help establishing healthy daily routines . Well, he wanted me to help him “get his life in order”—and to be successful, a huge part of that was helping him create a regular schedule .

Here’s the thing about creating a daily routine: all those little actions add up to become habits . It takes about 30 days to form a habit, but I swear, from Day ONE you’ll start to see real changes in how much you’re accomplishing and how you feel every day.

From Stressed to Satisfied…

When my friend came to me, he was unhappy and stressed out in a lot of areas of his life. He wasn’t accomplishing things. He wasn’t healthy. He felt like he was overwhelmed, behind, and even depressed.

But, just like I told my friend, once YOU begin to establish life routines and plan your time, each day becomes a little easier. All those little to-dos become automatic. You’re getting stuff done and you’re kicking butt!

The hardest part about setting up your daily routines is getting started. The second hardest part is when you get frustrated and overwhelmed, or when you run into something unplanned…so you give up.

Instead, I want you to try something different this time.

Rather than doing a total life overhaul, I want you to just take on a couple changes at a time. Maybe even just one change, for now. I want you to add those one or two changes to your routine, then build on it from there. Eventually, you’ll establish a successful daily routine!

I’m going to break it all down for you, just like I did for my friend. As soon as he started to establish some easy daily routines, he was able to feel more control over his schedule. He was suddenly able to get more done and see results…leading him to feel happier, healthier, less stressed, and more fulfilled.

On a weekend night (assuming you work weekdays), sit down and start your plan for the week. Within 6 weeks, you’ll have established a whole set of regular daily routines!

You can do this!

Routine Week 1: Establish the Framework

For the first week, all I want you to do is identify the areas you want to work on. Which places in your life make you feel upset, overwhelmed, or sad?

If you’re a working mom, your list might include:

• Fitting in time for exercise/fitness
• Spending more time with your spouse
• Spending more quality time with your kids
• Keeping up on household chores
• Leaving work at the office
• Not being late to work/feeling rushed every morning
• Getting a handle on your finances
• Getting more sleep

Don’t focus too much on the details (like “wish we had a weekly date night” or “we spend too much on entertainment”). Instead, aim for general areas of focus.

For week one, that’s all you’re going to do. Just figure out what areas you need to work on or what you’d like to get a handle on.

Hint: If you’re SUPER unorganized and you’re really overwhelmed at the thought of doing any of this- you may just want to get Hot Mess to Home Success , which teaches you step- by-step how to use bare minimum consistent effort on a consistent basis to transform your entire home (and budget) by using your unique personality. It specializes in extreme cases of chronic disorganization (but to be fair – also works well with more mild cases).

Routine Week 2: Create a Daily Schedule

This week, you’re going to tackle creating a daily schedule. Plus, you’re going to start working on at least one thing on your list from Week 1.

Again, keep it simple. So often we think, “Well, it’s 6:05am and I missed my alarm, so now I can’t work out.” A 10 or 15-minute workout is still better than nothing. Just pencil it in—and tell yourself you’re going to do it, no matter what .

I want you to get a cheap planner or calendar, or print one off. (You can use an electronic calendar if you like, but I find the act of writing things down solidifies them a little more.)

Your biggest enemy right now? You’re probably going to try to get everything done perfectly . So instead of stressing out about it, simply pencil in what your “ideal” daily routine would look like. Again, don’t aim for anything over-the-top right now—like “scrub the floors daily” or “join a gym and go six times a week.” If you’re starting at zero let’s make this attainable.

Your ideal daily routine might look something like this:

• Get up at 6am to walk/run.
• Eat breakfast.
• Take lunch to work.
• Be on time to work.
• Unplug when you get home from work.
• Help kids with homework.
• Warm up/make dinner according to a meal plan.
• Eat dinner as a family.
• Do all the dishes and run a load of laundry.
• Get the kids in bed by 8pm.
• Review and take care of paperwork for the day.
• Spend at least an hour doing something for myself (reading, watching a movie, blogging, etc.).
• Do a quick run-through pick-up of the house before bed.
• Set out work clothes and workout clothes for tomorrow.
• Be in bed by 10pm.

Your list should be NO LONGER than 12-15 items. This isn’t a step-by-step outline of your day, just a rough guideline. This should be your normal “weekday” routine. (Your weekend might include more chores, shopping trips, etc.). If you have items on your work calendar, those shouldn’t be on this list. This is about establishing daily routines to help you balance your work, life, and family time.

If you work from home, you’ll make a similar list and simply block out your work time, naptimes, etc.

Now, I want you to pick one or two items on your routine. Those are going to be our focus for the week. For this list, I’m going to pick number 1 and number 9.

For the next week, commit to doing just those two things regularly, during the allotted time. So, if you’re getting up at 6am to walk/run, that’s going to be your focus. If you get up at 6:10am or even 6:20am, I want you to still put on your gym shoes and go for a walk. Even if you can’t get the full routine in, it’s about establishing the basics.

It takes 30 days to establish a habit or make something into a daily routine. Even if you can’t be perfect, going through the motions will help it set in your mind.

As far as laundry and dishes go, these two household chores are the cornerstones of being able to “keep up” on housework. These basic life skills can make all the difference between feeling overwhelmed and giving up, and feeling like you have a handle on things. Every single day, run the dishwasher (or wash your dishes as you use them). Find three baskets to sort your laundry (whites, darks and colors) and put your dirty laundry in the baskets. Don’t wait until the load piles up. Just take care of it as you go.

If you do those two things, then you’ll start to immediately see results. I promise. And seriously—committing to regularly doing the dishes and laundry will change your LIFE. You can do this!

Week 3: Establish a Pantry

So now we’re on week 3. You’ve tackled a couple of items from your list, and if you’re doing them each day, you’re probably starting to see a difference already! Really give yourself props for what you’re doing. Change isn’t easy!

When I was helping my pal figure out his routine, one of the things I knew about him was that he was struggling with finances and time management. He was eating out quite often, which was hurting him weight-wise, too. And, since he wasn’t planning out his meals, he was spending tons of money going out to eat, plus wasting tons of time going to the store all the time because he needed “stuff.”

To solve this, we established a “Walmart” for him, right in his home. This might be your pantry , your storage room, or a closet. This is going to be where you’ll house your six-month supply of basics: toothpaste, diapers, and toilet paper. You’ll also need some quick-and-easy pantry meal items like peanut butter, crackers, pasta, salad dressing, tuna fish, canned chicken, rice, beans and vegetables. You may also want to stock up on powdered milk, some breakfast bars or cereal, and easy dinners like mac & cheese, spaghetti, or Hamburger Helper.

This at-home Walmart is going to be your go-to spot to keep you from running out to the store all the time.

Sit down and make a list of all the “basics” you usually end up running to the store for—plus all the items you could use to make a quick meal in a pinch. You don’t need to have everything you use regularly (like fresh foods, special facewash, treats, your makeup, etc). Just the things to keep you from unexpected store trips. You’ll want to eliminate those weeknight disrupters when you have to run out for something to eat or when you realize you’re out of TP at the last minute.

Make your list, then go to the store and stock up. This trip might be a little expensive, yes, but trust me: get what you’ll need to stock your pantry because it’ll save you in the long run. If you’re trying to get a handle on your finances, this might seem counterintuitive, but look at it this way—over the course of the next couple weeks, you’ll probably spend at least this much money (probably more) on unplanned trips to the store, where (admit it) you’ll probably buy extra stuff you don’t really need each time.

Continue to do your Week Two routines—yet now I want you to add one more item. Maybe it’s to eat dinner together as a family. That doesn’t mean you have to eat every meal at home (because that isn’t the item you’re tackling yet). You just need to be together. Maybe you all eat together at home two or three nights this week, and then go out two or three other nights. Baby steps.

Week 4: Establish a Meal Plan

By now, you’re probably starting to see some actual changes in your life! You might be feeling better about the exercise you’re getting every morning. Your house is feeling cleaner because now you’re keeping up on laundry and dishes regularly. You’re eating together as a family and establishing a routine. GO YOU!

One of the best ways to help you save money on your groceries , get a handle on your finances in general, and even make progress with losing weight (if that’s one of your goals) is to establish a meal plan.

You’re going to take a page in your calendar, planner or notepad, and write down 10 or 15 quick, regular meals your family likes to eat. Don’t worry about how healthy they are or anything other than if you can make it at home and quickly—even if it comes out of a box or goes right in the microwave!

For the next week, you’re going to try to plan your dinners. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t go out to eat—just plan it! Aim for eating a meal at home at least half the time. Even more often is better, but don’t tackle more than you think you can be successful at.

Look at your list and pencil in the dinners on the days, as they fit with your schedule. For breakfasts and lunches, choose something very easy, like cereal, a breakfast bar, or a sandwich. If you regularly go out for lunch, try packing sides and snacks, or see if you can bring your lunch two weekdays.

For more on meal planning, check out my meal planning beginner’s guide to get started—but don’t try to do it all right now. Just taking the first steps will start you off in the right direction.

Now pick one more item from your list (in addition to eating at home). If you were following the list above, I’d choose item number 13—each night before bed, you should do a quick run-through of the house.

Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and right before you brush your teeth, wash your face, or put on your PJs (whatever your pre-bed routine), do a quick walkthrough of the house. If you have a two-story house, keep a laundry basket at the bottom of the stairs.

Carrying the basket with you, pick up all upstairs items and put them in the basket as you go along. Take the basket upstairs, put them away, and do the same thing—pick up anything that’s out of place, put it in the basket, and take it down. Wipe off countertops or clean up any spills or food that’s out. Take out the trash if you need to. Repeat this each night.

If you’re ready to “next level” this one, I want you to also put together your lunch (either leftovers or a quick sandwich) the night before, and throw a breakfast bar in your bag, or put the cereal by the coffeemaker. The idea is to make your morning go a little more smoothly so you can get out the door happy. You can even take a quick glance in your closet and put out your outfit so you’re sure you’re ready to go in the morning. Look! Now nothing can stop you!

Week 5: Practice Self-Care

So you’ve been working really hard at all of your new routines! Even if you’ve had some slip-ups or if you haven’t done everything perfectly, if you’ve followed the plan and only taken on a few items each week, you should start seeing some major changes in your daily routine!

This week we’re going to focus on self-care. Exercising and eating regular, planned meals is probably making a difference, but you and your family also need to get a good night’s sleep.

Each night this week, aim to keep up on your routines, but also keep a consistent bedtime. This might be a shock to your kids and even your spouse if you haven’t been on a regular schedule, but you need to be getting enough sleep so you can recharge and feel your best.

I also want you to tackle, “taking time for yourself.” For some of you, the reason things got so out of control is because you sat around on the couch watching TV every night—not because you were relaxing, but because you were totally overwhelmed. So by now, things might look a little different.

When you take time for yourself, really enjoy it—enjoy watching your favorite program, reading a book, or relaxing during the time between when you put the kids to bed and when you take ten minutes to pick up the house and go to bed yourself. Even if everything’s not “perfect” yet or if you still have a laundry list of stressors to tackle.

Continue, of course, to do the regular items you’ve established so far, but don’t skip ahead or ignore your own needs—having time to yourself IS part of establishing a successful daily routine! Unplug from work when you get home. Take time for yourself each night. Put the kids to bed at a regular bedtime and follow a regular bedtime yourself!

Week 6: Figure Out Paperwork and Finances

Here you are at the end of your six-week daily routine boot camp! If you’ve really followed the plan, you’ve probably established some great habits. You’re probably seeing an impact in all areas of your life.

The biggest takeaway from establishing a successful daily routine is that little habits add up over time. Rather than trying to tackle every single thing at once, you’re just doing a few little things each week—little changes to your routine that add up to big successes. Maybe your own goals are a little different than what I’ve outlined above. Maybe you can fit in a walk during your lunchbreak at work or perhaps you enjoy going to a gym. Maybe you work from home, but still have a hard time finding those daily routines to make you successful.

Every time we do something repeatedly it becomes a habit. They can take some time to form, but if you really try to fit in one small change, and then master the next change, and the next, you will be successful.

This week, we’re going to look at paperwork and finances. I know this is an area many people struggle with. If you’re eating at home regularly and using a meal plan, you’re probably already seeing some savings. If you’ve established your “home Walmart” and you have some items on hand, you’re avoiding those expensive mini-trips to the store.

You’re already making progress. Awesome.

Now, each night, after dinner, take a few minutes to go through the mail of the day. Do a quick sort into three piles: to pay, to follow-up, to file. Establish somewhere you will keep these piles, like a folder or box on a desk. Each night, take those few minutes to go through whatever came in and sort it. Throw away any junk that’s accumulated on the counter.

On the weekend, block out some time to go through your budget and start to figure out how to get a handle on your finances. Now that you’ve established a system for everything that comes in, you won’t have to sort through your handbag, look on the coffee table, or search for missing paperwork when you’re trying to figure it out.

Since you’re now putting things away each night and the house is picked up (and free of dirty dishes and piles of laundry), you know there isn’t anything lurking around.

Now that you’ve established a meal plan and you have an idea of a grocery list, you can expand your repertoire and even consider cooking some make-ahead meals to “hack” your weeknight dinners and make them more delicious.

The great thing about setting up successful daily routines is that now, you have a handle on stuff. When something unexpected happens, you might go off routine, but you know those 12-15 things you need to do each day to keep life running smoothly.

I’d love to hear how you applied these ideas to your daily routines and how it’s working for you! Is there an area you really saw some great improvement in? Is there something that was very challenging for you? Let me know!

P.S. If you’re feeling like no matter what you do you can’t get your house under control (not to mention your budget!) we completely understand.  If you are sick of spending all day “catching up”, only to have it completely trashed again in a few days, then you should check out our FREE training “Why Your House is Trashed and How To Fix It For Good With No Extra Time or Money”   which will walk you through how to break that cycle once and for all.

The training will walk you step by step through the three foundational routines that will help you manage all aspects of your home no matter how bad your situation is right now. 

  Implementing this core foundation allows you to work with your personality (and your specific situation) to create a custom plan to manage your dishes, laundry, schedule book, meal planning, budgeting, and a cleaning routine in less than one hour a day. You read that right, ONE HOUR A DAY.

If you want to take it a step further, we can teach you how to automate a ton of stuff in your home (without paying for it), giving you back HOURS of your life (yes, even your crazy life!). Then once you get the foundation set, we move on to more complex skills like meal planning, budgeting, and cleaning.

This is a proven system that’s been field-tested by thousands of people. People that have tried everything and could never keep their house clean or stick to a budget.  

Like Jenn, who said “I used to struggle with absolutely everything. I married a man with 4 amazing kids and suddenly found myself drowning in dishes, laundry, and cleaning. There was NEVER enough money to cover everything and cooking meals that everyone would eat was impossible.” 

“Then my dad got cancer and I also became his caregiver. The house and my stress level went from bad to worse overnight.  I got the Hot Mess to Home Success course in desperation sitting in an ER waiting room at 3 am. I thought there was no way it could really help me since my situation was so unique with 4 step kids and being a caregiver for my Dad.”

“I had probably always been a hot mess, but this was a whole new low for me. Fast forward three months into the course and I meal plan regularly and stick to it (that’s never happened before), I use a planner every day, I have no dishes and laundry backed up (!) and I have significantly more time to do the things that matter (like helping my family battle cancer). You don’t even realize how much of a difference this stuff makes until it becomes your lifeline. I can’t imagine going back to how I used to live and I’m glad I never have to. I’m really grateful for that 3 am purchase!”

  If you’re ready to get started, you can sign up for the FREE one-hour training here. 

March 19 at 8:38 am

I am not very good at being productive when following routines because some chores beckon me to put them off as much as possible 🙂 but I really like your idea of picking a couple of things out of the to-do list and commit to do them regularly. That makes those chores manageable without the idea of routines appearing intimidating or boring. Thanks for sharing!

March 19 at 5:39 pm

I love my little at home “store”! I used to coupon and now I just look for the best sale prices and stock at the dollar tree on my cleaning supplies. It helps me so much to have things like clorox wipes, toliet paper, paper towels and other essentials on hand. I usually have a 3 month supply.

March 23 at 9:35 am

That’s a great idea, Holly!

March 20 at 11:14 pm

I definitely need to create a solid routine. My current schedule is all over the place!

March 21 at 8:54 am

I love how you break things down into baby steps. I remember starting your budget bootcamp at the beginning of the year, and when I got to the dishes challenge I knew it would be a real challenge to get my sink cleared every night. But I actually stuck to it and was able to put a smiley face for each day! I was so proud of myself for actually sticking to and completing the challenge, and I loved having a clean sink each morning.

I want to continue that kind of thing in other areas of my life for sure. Creating routines is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I think I’m going to start at the beginning of April. I can’t wait to see what my life will look like by summer!

March 23 at 9:43 am

I’m so glad it’s working for you! It’s how I learn best, too 🙂

March 21 at 2:51 pm

I LOVE these ideas! I started implementing routines and schedules into my life and it really does make a difference! I feel so much better when I wake up at the same time, complete my “morning routine” and get all my chores out of the way as early as possible.

Keeping up with the dishes has definitely been the hardest part, but I think I am finally to the point where it bothers me more for there to be dishes in the sink than to just clean them!

March 23 at 9:44 am

I’m so glad they’re working for you! 🙂

March 22 at 7:44 am

I love Week #3! We’ve been doing this for a dew years now and it saves us so much time (and my husband likes to stock up on sales)!

March 22 at 9:05 am

I love the idea of establishing a framework for what you want to work on improving in your life! There have been times I thought that something was off and I wasn’t feeling as happy as my normal self, but never thought to concretely identify the areas. I also love and live from my pantry! I live in NYC so it is challenging to keep a well stocked pantry in a small space, but I also save so much money shopping the sales.

March 22 at 11:25 am

These are great Rosemarie! And very do-able! I work best in the early mornings, so that time is put aside for all of my freelance writing. Even though meal-time is no big deal in my house because it’s just my husband and me, I love the idea of establishing a pantry. The money you will save is phenomenal, especially when you set aside time now and then to MAKE your own cookies or breads. They are healthy and delicious!

Practicing self-care is SO important. If you don’t do it, your body sure will. Sometimes it seems as if my life is one big routine; but that’s ok, because that is when I get my most work (in any venue) done. We are all going to have those days when things go wrong and those are great learning experiences. Just go with the flow, because you can’t do anything else.

March 23 at 9:34 am

Oh good, I’m so glad! 🙂

Oh that’s great! I know, exercise is so hard to “find time” for – but so worth it 🙂

March 24 at 10:24 pm

I’m lazy, I am not very good at being productive when following routines because some chores beckon me to put them off as much as possible. 😀 I love how you break things down into baby steps. Thanks for sharing and I try to do daily routines. I hope to learn from you more.

March 24 at 11:08 pm

Thank you for this post. This post is so helpful to me.Thank you for offering it. Happy weekend!

March 28 at 1:09 am

I actually have a question. I have a very all over the board work schedule. So the night’s I come home late. I can’t get to bed at the same time every night because of this and can’t get up at the same time. Any advice?

May 1 at 4:42 am

Wonderful post. These habits are ones that all of us should use but we sometimes forget in the rush of every day work. A great list to keep nearby and remind yourself to slow down and pay attention. Thanks.

October 29 at 3:58 am

September 29 at 10:57 am

Thanks so much for this article. I’m a Girl Scout leader and teaching basic budgeting skills is actually necessary for a few of our badges – even at the brownie level. We encourage the girls to plan meals on our camping trip using an established budget. I think it really opens their eyes to how money is a finite resource!

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Daily Routine: How To Create & Improve Productivity + Examples

• Written by HIGH5 Content & Review Team
• August 6, 2022

If you’ve never had a structured daily routine, the concept might seem abstract or even unnecessary. You might wonder, “What’s the point?” or think, “That’s way too regimented for me.”

However, by the end of this article, you’ll not only understand the importance of a daily routine but also how to create one that truly resonates with who you are. The key lies in understanding and leveraging your unique strengths. By taking the HIGH5 strengths assessment , you can uncover your innate talents and use them to craft a routine that feels natural, energizing, and profoundly effective. This strengths-based approach transforms the idea of a daily routine from a rigid schedule into a powerful tool for personal growth and fulfillment.

Not only will it improve your productivity but it will also help you to enjoy life more, bring meaning to your work, and give you a sense of clarity. Let’s get started.

How a Daily Routine Changes Your Life

A daily routine can transform your life in numerous ways, especially when it’s aligned with your innate strengths. By taking the HIGH5 strengths test , you can uncover your unique talents and design a routine that leverages them. This personalized approach not only boosts productivity but also enhances your overall enjoyment of life.

When you incorporate activities that play to your strengths into your daily schedule, you’re more likely to stick to your goals and achieve them. Moreover, by consciously allocating time each day for pursuits that resonate with your core strengths, you’ll find yourself less stressed and significantly happier.

Lastly, a daily routine can give you a sense of clarity. By knowing what you are going to do each day, you will be less overwhelmed and stressed out.

You will know what is expected of you and will be able to focus on your work and goals more easily.

Many find that creating a daily routine is the best thing they have ever done for themselves. It may even change your career or help you to start your own business.

Let’s look at an example of how a daily routine can improve your productivity and give you clarity:

Example: Jessica’s Daily Routine

Jessica has always struggled with staying productive and focused on her work.

She constantly felt stressed and overwhelmed and did not know where to start when it comes to completing tasks at work or creating an online course.

However, after creating a daily routine, she finds herself much happier and more productive.

Every morning, before she starts working, Jessica meditates for 10 minutes to relax and prepare for the day ahead.

Next, she creates a list of things that she wants to accomplish each day and breaks the bigger tasks into smaller ones.

Throughout her workday, Jessica focuses on one task at a time and does not allow herself to be distracted by social media or email.

When it is time for lunch, she takes a break and eats; instead of working through her meal as she used to do.

In the afternoon, Jessica works on another task and then takes a short walk outside around 5 pm before getting back to work.

At 7 pm, after dinner, she spends an hour relaxing with her family and watching TV together.

Finally, when bedtime rolls around at 9 pm, Jessica turns off all electronics and goes to sleep early so that she can wake up feeling refreshed in the morning.

If that sounds like a solid day for you, then having a daily routine might be beneficial.

Pro Tip From HIGH5 Strength-Based Routine Design: After identifying your top strengths through the HIGH5 test , review your current daily routine. Look for opportunities to incorporate tasks that align with these strengths. For instance, if ‘Strategic Thinking’ is one of your top strengths, consider starting your day with a brief planning session to optimize your schedule.

Daily Routines for an Organized Life

Creating an organized life begins with establishing a routine that aligns with your natural strengths. By taking the HIGH5 strengths assessment , you can identify your unique talents and use them to craft a personalized organizational system. This strengths-based approach not only provides structure but also ensures that your routine feels natural and energizing. It allows you to allocate time effectively, preparing for tasks in a way that plays to your strengths, and accomplish your goals with greater ease and satisfaction.

Let’s look at some steps that you can take to create a daily routine that is perfect for you.

1. Make Your Bed

Your bed is the focal point of your bedroom. Making it in the morning will give you a sense of control and calm before you begin your day.

When making your bed, be sure to smooth out your sheets, fluff your pillows, and tuck everything in tightly.

If you’re feeling extra ambitious, try turning this into a workout by doing some simple yoga poses – like triangles – before getting started on more serious tasks for the day (like making breakfast or packing your lunch).

2. Have Your Equipment and Clothes Laid Out the Night Before

The first step to creating an organized morning routine is to make sure that everything is ready ahead of time. Layout all of your clothes so that they are clean and pressed.

If you are an early riser, then try setting out your outfit the night before. Also, make sure that all of your equipment (like laptops and cell phones) is charged and ready to go.

3. Wipe Down Large Surfaces

Make your bathroom or kitchen sink sparkle by wiping it down with a wet paper towel or cloth every morning.

By doing this, you’ll be able to see any spots that you missed when cleaning the night before.

Wiping down the bathroom counter (and even inside the toilet bowl) will help you feel relaxed throughout the day because there won’t be anything gross lingering in your peripheral vision.

This also helps improve communication – if everyone keeps their space clean, then they won’t have dirty dishes cluttering the table whenever they have guests over to eat.

4. Put Everything Back Where You Found It

Tidying up after yourself is one of the most important parts of a daily routine.

This will not only make you more organized, but it will also help your housemates feel calmer and more relaxed too.

Make sure that you put everything back where you found it – this includes dishes, clothes, books, shoes, etc.

If certain things are kept in the wrong place regularly, then either try to train everyone else in your household to use those items properly or use whatever equipment necessary to keep those items with their rightful owners at all times (such as rubber bands or labeled containers).

5. Run Through a List of Essential Items

Every morning before you leave for work/school/playtime, run through a mental list of the items that you will need.

This way, you won’t go out to the car and realize that your laptop is still on your desk.

When making a list like this, make sure to include everything from relevant work documents to an umbrella – just in case.

There’s nothing worse than being caught out in a rainstorm without protection because you were too busy rushing around looking for your keys that slipped into the black hole of space under your couch.

6. Prioritize Your Tasks

Every night before going to sleep, try writing down three tasks that you have time for during the next day so that when morning comes, all you’ll have to do is start with the most important thing on your list.

If you’ve already completed it, then try one of the other two tasks or cross off your list if it’s something that can be taken care of later.

7. Prioritize Your Emails

If you’re like most people, then you get more emails than you’d like to admit (and that number will only continue to grow for the rest of your life).

Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about this problem other than to check email at set times throughout the day.

When checking emails, use the rules of triage: answer quick questions; save important messages for later; delete or archive irrelevant information (or forward it to someone else who might need it).

8. Keep Your Finances on Track

If possible, try using apps that monitor your expenditures and give you a report of your daily or monthly spending habits.

This can help you save up for important items and also lets you know where all of your money is going so that if there’s enough to spare, then maybe it can be put towards something larger (such as paying down debts or investing in the stock market).

9. Plan for Dinner

Even if everyone comes back from work/school/playtime at different times throughout the day, try cooking dinner together at a set time every night.

If possible, offer to cook for someone else one night out of the week – they will most likely return this favor in the future when their turn comes around again.

If neither of these options is viable possibilities, then make sure to have food that can be heated up quickly or eaten straight out of the refrigerator.

It might not be as tasty or as fresh, but it’s better than nothing – which is what you’ll have on those nights when everyone comes home from work/school/playtime at completely different times throughout the day.

10. Clear Your Desk at the End of the Day

If you happen to own a desk (which most people do), try cleaning it off right before going to sleep.

This will help you feel less guilty about neglecting your work and thus make you more willing to do some of it if need be.

Plus, if any important items are lying around that belong somewhere else, this will give them a chance to get back where they belong so that you can start fresh in the morning.

11. Review Your To-Do List

As strange as it might sound, the best time to review your to-do list is right before going to sleep.

That way, while you dream of a better world brought about by productivity and organization, your subconscious can help make some of those dreams a reality – which means more time spent working and less time wasted on distractions (such as video games or Reddit).

Because remember: there’s no such thing as doing nothing when trying to improve one’s lifestyle.

Pro Tip From HIGH5 Strength-Aligned Task Prioritization: Use your HIGH5 strengths profile to prioritize your daily tasks. If ‘Achiever’ is one of your top strengths, you might benefit from a detailed to-do list with clear milestones. Conversely, if ‘Adaptability’ is a key strength, you might prefer a more flexible schedule with room for spontaneity.

Daily Routines for a Healthy Life

A healthy life starts with a healthy body. A healthy body starts with a clean kitchen, which is where most of America’s health problems begin.

Staying on track throughout the day will help keep you motivated to complete more tasks without taking too many breaks along the way; which means better sleep at night and less time wasted trying to fall asleep.

And if all of these things are done daily, then you’ll be feeling great before you know it.

These are the steps to follow for a daily routine that forms a healthy body.

1. Start the Day With a Glass of Lemon Water

Water is good for you. Not only will it keep your body replenished with vital nutrients, but it will also help rid the body of harmful toxins that are causing you to feel sluggish and tired all day long.

Depending on what type of water is being consumed, however, there are certain benefits that one can reap from drinking this life-giving liquid throughout the day (other than staying hydrated).

For instance, lemon water helps stimulate fat loss by flushing out unwanted chemicals found in the liver which allows it to function at optimal levels.

Fresh squeezed juice might do just as well – or even better since lemons are packed with Vitamin C which is necessary for healthy immune system functioning among other things.

Either way, water is a great asset to have in one’s daily routine.

2. Exercise in the Morning

Once upon a time, people had to be at their best physically all day long just so they could survive throughout the harsh times of early civilization.

Nowadays, however, with grocery stores and pharmacies on practically every corner, this has become less and less necessary; which means that most people spend very little time – if any at all – working out or trying to stay fit (which can cause health problems later down the line).

Studies show that exercising right after waking up is optimal for getting rid of stress and staying energized throughout the rest of the day; therefore it should be done before anything else – even though we’ve been conditioned to believe that it’s the most inconvenient time to get things done.

3. Eat a Good Breakfast

The first meal of the day is important for staying healthy. It should be full of nutrients, low in calories and high in volume.

Breakfast foods can include whole-grain cereals, oatmeal, eggs with toast or fruit, yogurt plus fruit or granola, and bagels plus cream cheese plus fruit…

Pretty much anything that’s considered good for the heart like turkey bacon instead of pork bacon (which has three times as much fat) – all depending on how willing you are to give up bad habits in favor of better health.

4. Stay Hydrated

Almost 50% of people are chronically dehydrated, which is very bad for the body.

This is especially true if you exercise regularly because you need to stay hydrated more often – even compared to people who don’t sweat that much.

To prevent this from happening, always have a glass of water on hand.

This will not only keep you alive longer, but it will also prevent productivity crashes throughout the day (which makes getting things done harder).

When exercising in the morning after waking up, be sure to drink lots of water before and after completing your workout.

5. Get a Healthy Lunch

Lunchtime is probably the most important time for people to eat since they’ve been working hard all morning and need something nutritious to replenish their energy with.

Unfortunately, it’s also one of the times when people tend to eat whatever they can get their hands on – with fast food is the biggest culprit.

One thing that every workplace should have access to is free healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables (or whatever you want).

If not, getting some type of salad or a big container filled with tuna pasta or anything else is usually better than nothing at all.

6. Do Some Mid-Afternoon Stretches

No one likes doing this – just like waking up early in the morning – but it’s necessary for preventing muscle strains from long periods of sitting.

In most workplaces, this is made especially easy by providing a few chairs with wheels on them which people can move around as they please.

If you work outdoors, try going for a short walk every so often since this will give muscles some time to relax without you having to do anything else since movement is good for the heart and circulation.

7. Eat Dinner peacefully

Dinner is the last meal of the day before sleep, although for some people this can be eaten at around 9 PM or 10 PM.

Since dinner should not only be a time to recharge after a day’s work but also a time where you socialize with family and friends, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or two to complete.

For those who like to take time over their meals, it might be good to split up dinner into different courses which can be eaten slowly.

8. Take Time to Relax

After a long day of work, taking time to relax can be very important.

This is especially true for people who have families since they need to remember that being a parent doesn’t mean you have to take care of everyone else’s problems all the time.

This means letting go and trying something completely different from what you do during your normal daily routine.

For some people, this might simply mean going to the bathroom and taking a nice shower every night before going to bed.

Or maybe watching television or listening to music while having a cup of tea or coffee in hand – turning off phones and tablets in order not to be distracted by work emails or other alerts which may pop up during the relaxation process.

In most cases, this is the most difficult part of improving your daily routine – especially when it comes to letting go.

9. Go to Sleep at a Reasonable Hour

For many people, going to sleep late at night can mean having very little time in the morning before rushing off to work.

This can be problematic since there are plenty of things that need doing before leaving home (making lunches for school or work, checking if doors are locked, taking out the garbage, or recycling) which might take up too much time in the morning.

Also, sleeping late means having less time for yourself before starting the day.

Daily Routine for More Productive Work

If you want to be able to have more productive work, then your daily routine is also key.

Here are the steps to follow if you want to be more productive in the work you do.

1. Plan the Night Before

If you want to get more productive work done during the day, one of the best ways is by planning at night before going to bed.

This might be difficult in most cases (especially when there’s a lot of work and people don’t like their jobs).

But it can make things easier in general since there’s nothing else you need to think about in the morning when getting ready for work or school since everything has already been thought out and planned.

This means having a list somewhere (sticking post-it notes on the wall is one popular way) with all of today’s tasks written down so that they can be worked on without any problems or distractions that may take your attention away from what needs doing.

2. Wake Up At The Same Time Every Day

The first few hours of the day (after waking up and having breakfast) can be very important since this is when we can get the most work done.

That’s why it’s important to wake up at around the same time every day, even on weekends or days off from school or work.

This means we’ll be getting up in time for the day and won’t need to rush over anything.

3. Create a Distraction-Free Workspace

If you’re able to create a distraction-free workspace then it might be possible to get more work done.

This means no phones chirping or notifications coming in, no television set or music that can take your attention away from what needs doing, and no one trying to distract you with unimportant conversations.

This can be problematic during weekends when family members want to chat but if possible, try not to let this interfere with your daily routine since it can result in having less productive days which could lead to problems at school or work.

In most cases though, this is easier said than done since most people have jobs that require being on a phone or going to meet with clients at times.

In this case, it’s best to try and stick as much as possible to your daily routine so that you don’t become distracted by other things that might take your attention away from the tasks at hand.

4. Tackle the Worst Thing First

Tackling the worst thing first is another way of making sure we’re able to get more productive work done during the day.

This means tackling those difficult things (especially those we tend to put off for as long as possible) right when we wake up and getting them out of the way before anything else comes along which might seem even worse in comparison.

For example, if you have problems in your marriage, don’t wait until the end of the day when everything is miserable already to try and think about solutions.

Instead, get up early (even on weekends) before everyone else wakes up and goes over what happened the previous day so that by the time family members are awake, these issues will already be resolved or at least thought out enough for them not to interfere with daily life at home.

This also works very well during school and work since it’s best to handle those difficult tasks right away instead of trying to deal with other things first which might seem even worse.

Doing this should mean you’ll still have plenty of time left after dealing with other things – time you can use for yourself or do something else productive.

5. Rest or Meditate

At the end of most days, it might be a good idea to take some time to relax and meditate.

This helps us get rid of any stress we might have before going to bed so that when we wake up in the morning, everything will seem easier and more relaxed.

This means not thinking about work or school during the day and having plenty of time for fun or things that can help us unwind after a long period of focusing on other things.

6. Say No to Unreasonable Requests

Saying no to unreasonable requests is one way we can spend more time working on important tasks instead of doing other things that don’t require our attention.

This means no longer allowing other people to distract us with unimportant chores or errands since this will kill our productivity and make it difficult for us to get anything done during the day.

For example, if we constantly spend our days running errands for other people this will make it impossible to do anything productive because we won’t be able to fit anything in between all of that running around.

In most cases though, this is just common sense and should come naturally without us needing to actively think about it.

The problem with this nowadays is that many times we get distracted by other people either through lack of motivation or wanting to help them out.

That makes it hard to stick to a daily routine and get things done since we keep getting drawn away from what needs doing.

Daily Routine for a Stronger Relationship

Developing a daily routine that nurtures your relationships is crucial, and it becomes even more powerful when it’s informed by your unique strengths. The HIGH5 strengths assessment can provide valuable insights into how you naturally connect with others. By understanding your relational strengths, you can create intentional moments in your daily routine that foster deeper connections. This strengths-based approach ensures that the time you spend with loved ones is not just present, but truly impactful and fulfilling for all involved.

Being able to do this will not only help improve feelings within the household but it will also allow more time for both parties involved so that by the end of the week both people are feeling better and closer than before.

Kiss Your Partner Goodbye

Part of a daily routine means getting up early, speaking with our partners, and then kissing our partners goodbye when it’s time to go.

Although this might seem like a simple task, it’s very important since by doing this we show the other person how much they mean to us.

It also shows them that we care about them which in turn creates a better relationship with them as well as more time spent together throughout the week.

Create Little Daily Rituals

Creating little daily rituals will help us get into the habit of interacting with those around us from day one instead of waiting until later on when everything begins to get too hectic to bother with.

This is usually something that takes place during breakfast where we can talk about what happened the day before or what’s coming up later on that week.

It doesn’t have to be anything especially meaningful but it does need to take place so that everyone is involved.

Schedule a Date Night

It might seem like having a daily routine means no room for social activities, but this isn’t the case at all.

We’re not suggesting cutting out time for friends and family members but instead creating little slots throughout each week where we dedicate some time specifically to them instead of trying to fit things in between other tasks or errands which need doing.

Create a Bonding Bedtime Routine

The last thing that’s usually sacrificed if we don’t make time for our daily routines is our sleep schedule.

A bedtime routine can improve your relationships by creating a sleep schedule that is healthy and also enjoyable.

This means sticking to the same time every night so that both people get used to it and can plan what they need to do beforehand.

It also means creating a routine that helps you enjoy your time together instead of rushing through things so that everyone can go straight to bed, which is similar to how most couples operate these days.

Pro Tip From HIGH5 Strength-Based Connection Time: Use your HIGH5 strengths profile to enhance your relationship routines. If ‘Empathizer’ is one of your top strengths, you might schedule a daily check-in with your partner to discuss emotions and experiences. If ‘Storyteller’ is a key strength, consider implementing a family storytelling time where you share experiences or read together.

Best Daily Routine for Students

As a student, your daily routine can vary immensely depending on your level of study.

If you’re studying for a professional qualification then the tasks will go one way, but if you’re at university or school then you must mix up your activities to help with both studying and socializing.

This might seem like an impossible task, but it’s pretty easy since all we need to do is keep reminding ourselves what our priorities are when it comes to these activities.

These are the five things that all students should do as part of their daily routine.

Get up early

This is the most important rule of all. Getting up early is the only way to make sure your day goes smoothly, and this will give you plenty of time to complete all your tasks.

As a student, you might also find that staying up late isn’t really an issue since you’ve probably got plenty of time on your hands, but it’s still important to make sure you get enough sleep each night.

This means getting to bed early and setting your alarm for the right time.

Getting up early is best if done gradually, so begin by setting your alarm for half an hour earlier than usual and then moving it forward every few days until you’ve reached the time that works best for you.

The process can take some time but eventually staying up won’t be a problem because of how much more efficient you’ll be when working toward your goals in the morning.

Eat breakfast

It’s important to make sure that you sit down and eat something nutritious early in the morning.

Breakfast is essential for putting off hunger pangs later on in the day; plus it will help keep your energy levels up right through until lunchtime.

So prepare yourself a healthy meal each morning before heading out of the door.

Get everything ready the night before

It might seem like more effort to get all your things ready for school/college ahead of time, but it takes much less time than trying to do everything at the last minute.

If you leave things too late then there’s always a risk that something will go wrong and ruin your whole day, which is why it’s better to be as organized as possible.

This means preparing any clothes you might need for the next day as well as making sure that everything else is ready before going to bed.

This way you won’t have to worry about forgetting anything important when you wake up since it will already be right beside you on your desk.

Get plenty of exercises

This part can vary according to where and what type of college/university course you’re following, but the most important thing here is that you find time each day to work out.

Exercise releases endorphins into the body which improves our mood and also ensures we stay healthy so there are no excuses not to do it every day.

The best way to work out is by joining a club or group that meets up regularly, but if this isn’t possible then look for other activities that you enjoy and figure out how you can incorporate them into your daily routine.

If you do the same thing every day then it will soon become easy and will have the positive effect that exercise should be providing you with.

Donate or recycle your stuff

It’s likely that as a student you’ll have plenty of things lying around at home which are surplus to requirements, so finding ways to give them away is great for both your home life and also making sure the environment stays clean.

Rather than throwing these things away, donate/recycle them since there are plenty of charities/organizations that can make use of your stuff.

This could be clothes, shoes and even books so take a look around and you should find something in good condition.

Best Daily Routine for Kids

Here are the best routines that kids should be doing daily.

Basic Cleaning Routine for Kids

Having a cleaning routine will help your kids take responsibility and it will also help them learn how to clean up after themselves.

Here is a list of cleaning tasks that you can get your child to do:

• Take out the trash
• Sweep the floors
• Clean their room, make their bed & put clothes away
• Set & wipe the table for dinner etc.

You should also teach children how to use basic supplies like paper towels and sponges (if they’re old enough).

You don’t need fancy equipment or expensive tools, just give them what they need and show them how it’s done.

Scheduled Meal Time for Kids

Having a scheduled mealtime is important, it will help keep you and your children on track with the day and know when it’s time to eat.

When you schedule a certain amount of time for meals (including snacks) this will eliminate arguments between parents and kids about when they’re allowed to eat their next meal.

It also helps us as parents know how long we have in-between meals if we want to go somewhere after dinner etc.

Make Chores Fun For Kids

You could use music as an incentive for your children to getting their chores done and having fun while doing it.

Kids love music and dancing so you might want to put some headphones on your children, and set a time limit for how long the volume of the music will stay on (turn it off after that amount of time).

Give Rewards for Completing Tasks & Staying Organized

Create simple reward systems for when your kids complete tasks. You could also use it as a motivation system so that they want to stay organized so that they can watch TV or play games on their computer.

If you follow this daily routine then it’ll keep your kids busy while teaching them key skills for life.

Get Your Child To Take Responsibility

When your kids are young – teach them responsibility by having them help with little tasks.

When they get older, make them responsible for larger things like cleaning the house (or room).

Give your children choices if you want it to be their responsibility to tell them exactly what you want to be done or give them some freedom and let them decide on how they’re going to do the task.

How to Stick to Your Routine

Back to you, there are a few things you can do to stick to your daily routine:

• Make a list of the tasks you need to accomplish each day and try to stick to that list as closely as possible
• Set realistic goals for yourself, and don’t try to do too much at once
• Make sure that your daily routine is convenient and easy to follow
• Try to get into a routine as quickly as possible when you wake up, so it becomes second nature to you
• Reward yourself for completing tasks on your list, even if they’re small rewards
• Following a daily routine can be extremely helpful in improving your productivity and getting things done

How to Improve Daily Routine

One way to improve your daily routine is by setting goals for yourself each day.

This could involve tasks such as completing a certain number of tasks, writing a certain number of words, or working for a certain number of hours.

Having tangible goals to work towards can help to increase productivity and motivation.

Another way to improve your daily routine is to establish a daily routine that works for you.

This could involve waking up at the same time each day, eating breakfast at the same time each day, and taking breaks at the same time each day.

Having a set routine can help to streamline your day and make it more efficient.

Bonus: How To Write a Daily Routine

Write down all of the tasks that you would like to accomplish during the day.

Prioritize your list by putting the most important task at the top, and write down an estimate of how long each task should take to complete.

Group any related tasks so that they can be completed in succession (e.g., working on multiple chapters of a book).

Finally, determine when you should start and end each task based on your other daily activities, after which you can assign these tasks to individual hours or half-hours during this period.

Once you’ve created your routine, stick with it every day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Daily Routine

What things should i do every day.

1. Exercise : Studies show that exercising every day can significantly improve mental health and productivity. For optimal results, exercise 5-6 days per week (for 30 minutes each session).

2. Read: Reading daily will help you become well-versed in areas of your choice, allowing you to think intelligently about any given topic – something everyone should aspire to be able to do.

3. Gratitude Journal: A vital exercise for improving happiness levels and increasing empathy, gratitude journaling involves writing down or thinking about things you’re grateful for every single day – the more specific the better.

What should I do every day at home?

When you are at home, make sure to do the following things every day:

• Prepare the next day’s outfit(s) and lay it/them out on your bed or somewhere you will see them
• Make sure to pack any work, school, or gym bags for easy access in the morning
• Unload and reload the dishwasher
• Take out the trash and recycle (if applicable)

What to do after waking up?

After you’re up there are a few tasks that are recommended to do every day before anything else.

Drink Water : Drinking water first thing in the morning is an excellent way to start your metabolism for the day and hydrate yourself after not drinking any liquids while you were asleep.

Make the Bed : Making the bed each morning is an effective way to build self-discipline and foster a small sense of accomplishment for completing such a simple task – two things that will help you with whatever else comes your way later in the day.

Shower : This one may seem like a no-brainer, but many people miss it altogether. Taking a shower first thing in the morning will wake you up and get your blood flowing for the day.

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Daily Routines of Writers: Using the Power of Habits and Triggers to Write Every Day

by Guest Blogger | 26 comments

I’ll start with the bad news.

Much of what you’ve heard about daily routines is more fictional than the stories you’re writing. Everyone seems to have their own “key” to productivity: motivation, willpower, passion, and big goals being the most common.

While these all have the vague ring of truthiness, you’ve probably noticed that, in practice, the results of such methods are inconsistent to nonexistent.

Fortunately, there’s a simple cure.

The Problem With Common Productivity Methods

A daily routine needs to be automatic. Decisions require precious energy and grant us wiggle room to come up with clever excuses not to write. Daily consistency can’t be about gritting our teeth and simply wanting it more.

Because, one day, you’re going to wake up and not want to write at all .

This is why habits are the foundation of an effective daily routine. Once properly installed, they happen without our conscious involvement, and without sapping valuable energy for unnecessary deliberation.

But what of those old productivity stalwarts mentioned during the introduction?

Motivation and willpower are fleetingly unreliable.

Passion is a myth—completing the hard tasks critical for generating growth is often not enjoyable, largely because the human body tries to maintain a state of homeostasis.

And big goals, while great for impressing your friends, are often little more than written wishes with impossible deadlines. On the offhand chance you do accomplish such a goal, you often find yourself so torched by the end that you quickly backslide into old behaviors to escape the “dream big” private Gulag you unwittingly crafted.

Lost amidst this self-help shuffle is the skeleton key that actually controls all your behavior, positive or negative: habits .

Daily Routines Give You Freedom

Artists shy away from consciously constructing habits and daily routines because they’re worried their schedules will become inflexible or their creative work will suffer.

The truth is actually the exact opposite : an effective daily routine frees you from dozens of sundry decisions, thus allowing you to effortlessly immerse yourself within your creative work.

This isn’t a new discovery; prolific Victorian-era novelist Alexander Trollope penned 49 novels in his lifetime by maintaining a consistent daily writing routine from 5:30 AM to 8:30 AM before heading to work at the British Post Office. Of his daily routine, Trollope had this to say:

“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”

Incremental progress and continuous improvement—that is, kaizen —doesn’t make for great copy. There will be no sudden light bulb moment that transforms you from a 500 word per day writer to one who regularly cranks out 6,000 words. Unfortunately, the internet has led us to believe that such massive leaps are the norm.

But while habits aren’t sexy, they do have one critical advantage over the self-improvement pack.

What Is a Daily Routine?

A daily routine is simply a chain of habits, lasting anywhere from ten minutes to a few hours. If you’re just starting out with consciously creating habits and routines, then a shorter one—with fewer moving parts—is recommended.

We all have daily routines that trigger at various times. A morning routine is the most obvious: we might wake, take a shower, get dressed, and have a cup of coffee, always in the same order. However, there are additional daily routines that we don’t consciously see. Most of these automated routines are beneficial, and require no tweaking.

A few, however, could use an overhaul.

And, since many prolific writers maintained consistent daily routines, you might want to construct an entirely new one to ramp up your writing output.

I’ll explain how to do just that using habits.

But first, let’s dive a little further into productivity.

The Two Keys to Productivity

While habits are critical to your productivity , they aren’t the only factor.

Habits make up about 50% of your daily productivity. Essentially, a habit is a behavior that’s been repeated long enough to become automated. You don’t need to decide whether or not to tie your shoes, or to wear a shirt: these decisions have been burned into your brain’s neural architecture through years of repetition. This saves us considerable time and annoyance.

We can apply the same principle to writing, eating, or any other area we’d like to change: burn in the right habits through repetition, and eventually they will become as automatic and effortless as tying our shoes .

Chain these habits together, and you have a daily routine that unfolds effortlessly.

But habits aren’t the whole story.

The other 50% of your daily productivity comes from energy management. Your energy levels are dictated by your sleep, diet, exercise, and understanding when you work/focus best. If you sleep poorly, your performance suffers—and it can even sabotage your habits and daily routines (you might skip shaving in the morning if you’re running on E).

Here’s where things get interesting: sleep, diet and exercise are all controlled by habits. In effect, almost 100% of what you accomplish on a day-to-day basis can be traced back to your habits.

The final point—understanding when you’re most alert—is a matter of self-awareness and experimentation. It is during these times of peak awareness & focus that you want to build daily routines—which, again, are simply chains of habits—and search for triggers.

What’s a trigger?

Good question—because triggers are essential to consciously creating habits and daily routines.

The Basic Architecture of a Habit

Habits form naturally. This makes them appear unremarkable (or impossible to consciously create). But much of your current life is already controlled by habit and routine.

The problem with naturally developed habits is simple: you haven’t consciously chosen them. Subsequently, it’s common for our minds to be overtaken by habit squatters: uninvited, non-beneficial behaviors that wreak havoc on our objectives.

Worse is when they snowball into ineffective daily routines. You’ve probably found that taking certain actions early in the day triggers a cascading effect—either good or bad—on your productivity. This is an example of an unconscious daily routine.

Luckily, habit formation—either creating a new habit, or changing a bad one—is simple once you understand the mechanics. And a black box process becomes crystal clear.

A habit has three components:

• Trigger (also called the “cue” or an “antecedent”)
• Behavior (e.g. the habit itself)
• Reward (also called “consequence”; e.g. what we get from performing the behavior)

In your brain, these three components of a habit become literally bundled together in a neural cluster. This is known as Hebb’s Law: neurons that fire together, wire together . The time frame between the trigger-behavior-reward sequence is condensed enough for these actions to form a neural link. Repeat this chain and the neural groove becomes stronger.

This is why, to change or create a behavior, we must start at the beginning of the chain: the trigger.

Triggers come from the environment, a certain time of day, a specific action (e.g. sitting down), a thought (e.g. “I’m bored”), a smell, sound and so forth. They immediately precede the behavior in question.

Examples of common triggers, and the resulting habit chains:

• Waking up (trigger) > shower (behavior) > cleanliness (reward)
• Morning coffee (trigger) > read the paper (behavior) > feel informed/smart (reward)
• Sitting down at your computer (trigger) > check your email (behavior) > dopamine rush (reward)

By becoming aware of the action/feeling/sensory stimulus immediately preceding a certain behavior, you can work to either repurpose these triggers or avoid them. This, in turn, will alter the behavior. If you routinely buy a doughnut on your commute, but figure out that the trigger is walking past the shop, then taking a different route will render that habit inert.

When it comes to new habits, triggers are equally important. The key to effectively using triggers is finding common actions (e.g. sitting, going through doorways, drinking your coffee) and then constructing effective habits around them. The more consistent and repetitive an action is, the faster the habit will get burned into your neural architecture.

You can then build entire daily routines around these common triggers—say, one for your morning coffee, one for your lunch coffee, then a final one for your evening cup.

But triggers alone are often not enough to solidify your habits.

And the other piece of the puzzle comes directly after the behavior: the reward.

Rewards come in two flavors: extrinsic and intrinsic. Although we believe that intrinsic rewards are best—e.g., we should enjoy writing in the morning for its own sake, or exercising because it makes us feel healthy—this is an egregious error, particularly in the early stages of habit formation.

While we all formed plenty of positive habits without the benefit of extrinsic rewards, it goes without saying that intrinsic motivation is clearly insufficient to create habits that have, to this point, eluded us.

Thus, implementing a system of extrinsic rewards is critical to solidifying habits. Unfortunately, however, we tend to do the opposite: we follow up a difficult behavioral change with what amounts to punishment.

Our “reward” for an intense workout will be a miserable egg white smoothie. Or we’ll do a writing session, then immediately “reward” ourselves with a series of cold calls. Or a chore we hate, such as emptying the dishwasher.

In our brain, this links the preceding behavior to negative feelings. It’s no wonder that our adherence plummets long before most behavioral change can become habitual.

Instead, we need to actually reward ourselves.

Common rewards include:

• Coffee, chocolate, soda —e.g. a small treat or a snack. You can use your morning coffee as a reward for doing 200 words after getting up. I frequently use lunch (because I love lunch) as a carrot for getting writing done.
• Watching a movie or video or reading a book. Usually we’ll cut these out, or only read so-called “serious” books. If you want to read a comic after doing your 200 words, do it.
• Playing a game. You have to be careful with any reward that can stretch out infinitely, but setting aside thirty minutes for Candy Crush or Halo 5 is effective.
• Social media. Again, it has to be bounded, otherwise you could spend three hours on Facebook.
• Checking email. Embarrassingly, I’ve used this as an effective reward.

If none of these are enticing, then come up with your own rewards—something that you like . Then cap your habit with that reward to reinforce the behavioral change on a neural level.

And enjoy it . Don’t spend the entirety of your reward time berating yourself or feeling guilty.

One final note: as time wears on, your brain becomes more accustomed to the intrinsic reward (e.g. the satisfaction of getting words down) and, often, you can reduce or remove the extrinsic reward.

The Final Step: Reps

After you’ve designed a habit, everything comes down to repetition . Think of your neural pathways like a groove. The more water you run through that groove, the deeper it becomes. Eventually you have the Grand Canyon—where something is so automated that it becomes part of who you are, without thinking.

The more common the trigger, the quicker you form a habit. Daily habits are best; those that can be performed multiple times a day are even better.

This makes sense even when doing something every day is suboptimal. Daily strength training is (generally) less beneficial than a three days per week program, as the muscles demand rest time to recover. But when I switched to exercising every day, I quickly went from a 70% compliance rate (with only three weekly sessions) to a 90%+ compliance rate (despite working out twice as much).

Because of this repetition, when I skip a workout due to injury/fatigue, there’s a nagging voice that makes me desperately want to do it anyway.

This took a couple months to “burn in,” but this habitual inertia is incredibly powerful when you experience it firsthand. So powerful, in fact, that I would have concluded that a story like the one above was either fictional or wholly exaggerated.

It’s not. Habits literally change who you are.

Keystone Habits (What Habits Should I Build?)

As with most things in life, certain habits have massively more impact than others. This is an example of the 80/20 rule, wherein 80% of the results are generated by 20% of your effort. Keystone habits are the cornerstone of that vital 20%: they are daily tasks that, when successfully and consistently completed, improve multiple areas of your life via a halo effect.

Getting in shape improves multiple areas: confidence, social interactions, focus, energy, and so forth.

Exercise is an example of a macro keystone habit—e.g. things that improve your entire life. Micro keystone habits, on the other hand, are field specific: playing guitar every day, for instance, dramatically increases your technical skill on the instrument and ability to create music. But the benefits are largely contained within a specific domain (although you might be happier/more content/be able to focus better), unless you’re a professional musician.

As a writer, there are three keystone habits that can push your career to the next level:

• Writing every day (or five times a week). The more you write, the better you get; the more you publish, the more money you make. In short, if your goal is to become a professional writer, then this is the #1 habit you should focus on. Note that “writing” includes stuff like revision.
• Reading every day. This is pure story fuel.
• Exercise. This is pretty much a keystone habit for everyone, but especially critical when you consider that writing is a very static task. Exercise can not only help us get out of heads, but has a litany of cognitive and physical benefits that will increase our focus and overall life satisfaction.

By the way: Putting these three habits together into a daily routine makes a lot of sense, especially if you’re strapped for time.

Common Obstacles

Behavior change is rarely easy. We all have habits that, upon reflection, we’d rather not possess. Similarly, we all have habits that we’d like to add to our daily regimen—but have, thus far, been unable to make stick.

Thus, here are four things to keep in mind when you’re either changing or creating habits.

1. The Grand Canyon

Since we all have habits that have been serving us poorly for a long time, that earlier metaphor about the neural pathways might have given you pause. Habits cut both ways: you can really burn-in terrible, automated behaviors. Many of us have.

Don’t beat yourself up; instead, understand that changing them comes down to identifying the trigger and then repurposing it for something more positive. Eliminating habits is very difficult, as the neural pathways (like the Grand Canyon) don’t disappear once they’re formed. Changing the behavior by replacing it with a more positive one is far more effective—this essentially creates a detour that bypasses the old habit’s neural pathway.

2. Habits don’t mean always

There are days where life breaks our routine and we skip a shower or tooth brushing. Nonetheless, we don’t view such occurrences as catastrophic or identity shattering—nor do people flee our presence because of the small woodland creatures that have suddenly taken up residence in our hair.

Habits don’t mean every day; they mean that, when you miss a day or an opportunity to perform one, it generally takes conscious effort—and it feels like something is off .

Iteration and experimentation are essential to changing your habits and building new ones. You will have many false starts and setbacks. Quickly moving on and attempting to build a habit differently—instead of burning failures into your neural grooves by repeatedly trying ineffective strategies or dwelling on mistakes—is a simple two step process.

1. Dissect why you failed. Was it a problem with the trigger or reward? Was it poor planning? Do you just not care about this habit?

2. Adjust the trigger or reward and try to build the habit again.

4. Harness the power of friction

Since our willpower is unreliable, even when we’re trying to build smaller habits, it pays to reduce negative temptations and distractions in the environment.

Create friction: For bad habits, set up obstacles and remove triggers from the environment. This can be something like changing your social media account password (or deleting the app from your phone). If you’re trying to eat better, not keeping cookies in the house ensures that you can’t eat any cookies when a craving hits.

Reduce friction: For good habits, we want to make jumping in as seamless and painless as possible. Thus, we can reduce friction by doing things like keeping our WIP open on our computer. Or our guitar out in the open.

Don’t underestimate the power of friction. You might think ten seconds sounds like it doesn’t make a difference.

You’d be amazingly wrong.

I practice guitar regularly (one hour a day). For a while, I put my tuner in a bag in the closet (five feet from the practice area). I didn’t tune the guitar for a month —despite playing every day, and knowing this was severely impacting the quality of my deliberate practice.

This immediately changed when I put the tuner on the shelf (still five feet away—just in plain sight). When it comes to building habits, reducing even a little friction goes a long way.

Habits for Writers

To this point, I’ve taken a more general overview of habits, simply because the concept has tremendous utility outside of writing. By widening our scope, I hope you’ve also identified various habits that are indirectly impacting your ability to create effective daily routines.

For example, you might have already formed the requisite daily morning writing habit “grooves,” but are only showing up half the time because of poor sleep. Which is the result of an ill-advised coffee at 7:30 PM habit that reduces your sleep hours from seven to six, making you tired and fuzzy-headed upon waking.

Thus, it pays to examine all our habits to determine their halo effects—either positive or negative.

However, since The Write Practice is (obviously) for writers, I’ll also give you a few writing-specific examples.

Changing old habits by repurposing triggers

OLD: morning coffee (trigger) > read paper/email etc. (behavior) > dopamine rush (reward) NEW: morning coffee (trigger) > write 250 words (behavior) > read paper/email (reward)

OLD: feeling bored (trigger) > go to ESPN/email/blog (behavior) > feeling informed (reward) NEW: feeling bored (trigger) > pull out a craft book and read for 10 minutes (behavior) > text a friend (reward)

OLD: Lunch (trigger) > go talk with friends/go to the food cart (behavior) > feel good/socially energized (reward) NEW: Lunch (trigger) > bring lunch, work on work in progress (WIP) for 15 minutes (behavior) > visit with friends when they return (reward)

Creating new habits

Sitting down (trigger) > flip to WIP and write for 5 minutes (behavior) > watch a short video (reward)

Booting up your computer (trigger) > work on WIP and write 200 words (behavior) > check social media (reward)

Walk the dog (trigger) > upon returning, work on WIP and write 200 words (behavior) > have a sandwich and give Rover the crust (reward)

Wake up (trigger) > drill scene structure for 10 minutes (behavior) > have breakfast (reward)

The numbers are placeholders and should be scaled to your schedule and skill level. If you can write 5,000 words per day, then it likely doesn’t make sense to work in 200 word blocks. That will probably decrease your productivity.

Conversely, if the longest thing you’ve written in the past three years is a Post-it note, 200 words might be a Herculean effort. Don’t worry about that; once you have the habit in your pocket, scaling the word count or time commitment is a simple matter of gradually bumping up that number.

Putting It All Together: A Daily Routine

We’re finally coming full circle to what the title of this promised: creating a daily routine. It’s important to understand habit construction first, as building a routine is as simple as putting those pieces together into a longer chain.

A quick refresher on the three components of habit construction:

Structuring your daily routine in a way where the links flow naturally into one another as a smooth series of triggers and rewards is critical to its effectiveness.

Morning routines are the most common, so let’s break one down. If you recall from earlier, the three keystone habits for writers are writing, reading and exercise. Thus, we’ll chain these together into a morning routine that takes about an hour.

You can, of course, adapt this for any time of the day, using any trigger as the start of your routine.

Waking up is a great trigger, since it reliably occurs on 100% of days. Thus, we’ll use that to kick things off:

Wake up (trigger) > read craft books for 15 minutes (behavior) > coffee (reward)

Right now, we have a fairly basic habit like the examples above. Reading is a good way to start the day off, since it takes less focus & brainpower than writing, which can be a little difficult with sleep fog (YMMV, naturally).

The secret sauce in building a routine from this single habit, then, is to use its final link—the coffee reward—as a trigger for the next habit. Which will give us something like this:

Wake up (trigger) > 15m reading (behavior) > coffee (reward/trigger) > 15m writing (behavior) > 5m email (reward)

Let’s take another step in the chain, using the five minutes of email reward as a trigger for a little exercise:

• Wake up (trigger)
• 15m reading (behavior)
• Coffee (reward/trigger)
• 15m writing (behavior)
• 5m of email (reward/trigger)
• 15m exercise (behavior)
• Protein bar (reward)

Links can be added to the habit chain ad infinitum. In general, however, a simple daily routine is best. Each additional behavior, trigger and reward introduce a new point of failure. If you’re out of coffee, that can throw the entire routine off, for example.

Daily Routines That Work

A robust daily routine is structured around triggers that happen every day, rewards that don’t interfere with your goals (e.g., if you’re trying to lose weight, half a cake is not a reward), and reliable individual components.

In other words, if your internet is out 25% of the time, then using email as a reward would be untenable.

Which leads us again to the concept of friction, and setting ourselves up for success. For the daily routine above:

• Keep a paperback book by your nightstand so you can roll over and start reading. (reduce friction)
• Don’t keep your phone/iPad/Kindle Fire there, as it’s easy to get sucked into a web browsing wormhole instead. (increase friction)
• Keep your computer on, with the WIP open overnight. Thus, when you come up with your coffee, the document is already waiting. (reduce friction)
• Set a timer for activities—emails, social media, video games—that can go on endlessly. (increase friction)
• Have your exercise mat/clothes set up the night before. (reduce friction)

A few more things to bear in mind when creating your daily routine:

Smoothly transition to the next habit

This is paramount in individual habit creation as well. Don’t muddy the neural circuit by doing three things in between the coffee and the fifteen minutes of writing (or whatever your chosen behaviors and rewards happen to be).

A trigger must be tightly bonded and immediately followed by the behavior. Likewise, the reward needs to come right after the behavior. Otherwise the chain doesn’t work.

Smooth transitions have the added benefit of dramatically increasing your efficiency and saving lots of time.

Consistent repetition

Perform your daily routine the same way, in the same order, for many consecutive days. This means that an effective daily routine you can follow is better than a mythical “awesome” routine that doesn’t fit your lifestyle.

As with habits, if you can repeat your routine multiple times per day, then it will become automated faster.

Analyze existing triggers and rewards

And, as for adjusting an unwanted routine: simply analyze the existing triggers and rewards. Often removing just one or two will cause the current routine to crumble and fade away.

Key Takeaways

While I hope you’re excited about using habits to build new daily routines, I’ll temper expectations by saying this isn’t an instant life renovation silver bullet. Habits take a long time to form—sixty-six days is commonly thrown around as the “average” time.

Unfortunately, like most things in self-help literature, this number is wholly fictional; the actual time depends on the person and activity. I sat down and meditated for thirty minutes a day instantly; it took me five years to form a regular exercise habit (and I’m still not all the way there). And don’t get me started on going to sleep before 3:00 AM.

After months—or years—of banging your head against the wall following bogus self-help truisms, spending months or years to change your behavior might sound untenable. Unfortunately, there is no alternative. It would be unrealistic—and, quite frankly, undesirable—to expect your brain to completely change overnight.

Nonetheless, as you put in reps, compounding takes over. At some point, you start progressing faster than you ever thought possible. This is the classic “overnight success” that took five or ten years to coalesce.

But if you’re persistent, that success could be you.

Since we covered a lot of ground, here are the key takeaways:

• Willpower, motivation, big goals and passion are unreliable for generating long term behavioral change. The Greek poet Archilochus said it best over 2,600 years ago: “We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” Habits are your training. 50% of your daily productivity comes from habits; the other 50% comes from managing your energy through getting enough sleep, exercising, eating well, and knowing what times of day you work best.
• Habits are built on triggers, behaviors, and rewards. Focusing on the triggers, then the rewards, will allow you to change old habits and also craft new ones.
• Triggers come from many places: the environment, time, thoughts, sensory stimuli, and more.
• Rewards should generally be extrinsic in the early stages of habit formation.
• Not all habits have equal impact; those that have a halo effect across multiple areas are called keystone habits .
• Three keystone habits for writers are writing every day, reading every day and regular exercise.
• Repetition is the key to burning in neural grooves and making a habit or daily routine automatic—executing your habit daily or multiple times a day will hasten the automation process .
• Replacing bad habits is much easier than eliminating them. Repurpose triggers for positive behaviors to turn time-wasting/negative habits into benefits.
• Expect to experiment with triggers and rewards—sometimes it’s not immediately obvious what is causing a certain behavior, or which extrinsic rewards motivate us.
• Daily routines are simply chains of habits. Craft them around consistent daily triggers and robust individual parts so that day-to-day life doesn’t interfere.
• Keep records. A check mark on a calendar or a simple log will allow you to instantly see your progress. This is critical, because progress is often slow enough to seem imperceptible.

The Power of Habits, Triggers, and Daily Routines

Habits are the most powerful driver of behavioral change on the planet. When consciously strung into well-crafted daily routines, they make you an unstoppable source of seemingly effortless productivity.

While the upfront cost of building habits might seem too high or too slow, consider this: once you’ve carved in those neural pathways, that behavioral change is permanent . No more discipline or watching motivational videos on YouTube. Zero time deciding what to do, or whining about “not feeling it.”

Just pure writing bliss and continual improvement. What could you accomplish if your brain was forever freed from the shackles of merely showing up? Imagine all your creative brainpower being marshalled toward writing the best stories possible—instead of more productivity hacks and tricks.

That’s the power of a bulletproof daily routine. The pieces are simple. But don’t let that fool you.

Lasting, permanent change is now in your hands.

The only question left, then, is this.

A year from now, who are you going to be?

Do you have a daily routine that helps you write? Let us know in the comments .

Take fifteen minutes to consider how habits and daily routines can positively impact your writing.

First, pick one existing habit you want to modify into a writing opportunity. Or, design a new writing habit to add to your day. If you’re ambitious, try constructing a simple routine of a few habits. Identify the trigger and reward and write out the complete chain.

Then, commit to completing the habit for the next thirty days if it’s a new habit, or continually iterating it over those thirty days if it’s one you’re trying to change. Check off the day on your calendar each time you perform the habit.

Share your habit and its trigger-behavior-reward sequence in the comments below . Be sure to encourage your fellow writers as we all work to develop healthy, productive habits.

Guest Blogger

This article is by a guest blogger. Would you like to write for The Write Practice? Check out our guest post guidelines .

26 Comments

Nicholas, thank you for a great post, which is timely for me. Just this morning, I thought about how I squander the first two hours after waking and wondered how to construct a more productive day. Your formula of trigger-behavior-reward sounds workable. For the next thirty days, my plan is waking-exercise-tea (reward/trigger)-WIPs-craft book. As I become comfortable with the process, I will extend it to the rest of my day.

Sounds like a good plan, Billie. Sometimes it takes a little while for the brain to get warmed up in the morning, too, so if a routine/activity doesn’t work right when you wake up, try experimenting with various times of day.

Great article, although I was thrown (embarrassingly, it turns out) by the acronym, WIP, which broke my concentration when I had to stop to Google it. Because our lives are flooded with acronyms which stand for different things in different settings, I would suggest a global replace so newbies can stick with it. Thanks for great info!

Amazing article. Very relevant especially in this time of having sooo many distractions on our tool to work: the computer! It’s hard to separate them sometimes. I really enjoyed this, so thank you.

This is true. If you’re struggling with internet distractions, there are various plugins that block aspects of social sites (e.g. Facebook’s newsfeed or YouTube’s homepage). There are also complete solutions like Freedom or Cold Turkey, which can block all sites or certain sites for a set period.

I know that for some people it’s difficult, but I find that writing a complete first draft on paper has reduced the amount of internet related distractions I have by half.

I agree with you. Writing in longhand seems to help me from distractions.

Wow. Your article is so timely for my writing and my life. When I retired, I found it difficult to accomplish anything. My life had usually evolved around the demands of work or school with pushing against deadlines as a motivation. Once I retired the deadlines were gone and with them the structuring impetus of my life. I finally got around to establishing what I called daily disciplines, 12 of them, which helped me put some structure and satisfaction back in my days. The disciplines included different forms of writing. Then, my personal disaster, a stroke, made performing those disciplines difficult. Well, as I am rewiring my brain to adapt to limited capacities I have slowly regained a modified 12 discipline activity. Your article made me realize that some of what I called disciplines fall into trigger, behavior, or reward categories. I have experienced some of the reward of establishing new habits. What I need to work on is continuing but to set my disciplines into a routine…I keep switching the order around but now think my freedoms might be wider and deeper if I approach these disciplines in the same order on a regular basis. Onto more self-discovery and hopefully some publishable writing!!!! Thank you, again, for such an important posting.

This is a great point; often school or work provides us with important structure/routines that disappear after we leave. An important part of being a full-time writer is replacing these structures with ones of your own, which it sounds like you did.

I’m sorry to hear about your stroke. You might want to check out the book The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. It’s a fantastic book on learning/brain plasticity in general, but it also contains a chapter with inspiring stories about individuals who retaught themselves various tasks after strokes or other brain injuries.

Thank you for your response and your suggestion to look for the book The Brain That Changes Itself. I am looking forward to finding it either at the library or through Kindle.

This is the most amazing article I’ve ever read!

I usually write if I feel like I have been so lazy. Or, if my break is too long between books. Or, when I’m excited. Great article! Thanks!

I used to crank out in between 500 to 1K words in twenty minutes when I was working on my previous WIP last spring. It was beautiful. But, since I spent summer, fall, and most of winter preparing for the next book in the series, my routine was wrecked. Basically, this post is exactly what I’ve been needing. Thanks!

I too am struggling with a daily routine since retiring. I am so grateful for retrogeegee’s comment and for your easy-to-follow article. Having a degree in psychology, my inner voice was screaming that I should have thought of this, but my heart’s loud cheers for this simple explanation have drowned out that voice. Thank you for sharing your insight!

This article is my agony to the tee. I spin around in circles doing everything but write. Looking at triggers/behaviours puts things in perspective and gives me a place to begin.

Great recommendations. I light a candle and say a prayer right before journaling and I snuff the candle with a prayer when I have finished writing. It really helps and it’s amazingly simple.

I don’t have a candle, but I use an old-fashioned green table lamp. There’s something about having it on that gets me in the mood to read and write.

This is the best post I’ve seen on this topic. Exactly what I needed to develop a healthy writing routine. Thank you.

I like how you presented this info. I like things boiled down and when i reflect on my habits I realize that i reward myself more than being productive. I get lost in the distrqctions that are there. By pointing out some options about rewards started giving me some ideas about what I can start doing to reward myself in better ways and control the reward systems.

This is extremely helpful. Thank you, Nicolas, for all of the amazing details included. I realized that I do my email first when I sit down to my computer. If I make that a reward and sitting down to the computer a trigger to write, it will make a huge difference. Writing then becomes the priority. I seem to have been treating it as the reward – I can only write if I take care of all my email first. Reversing this sounds wonderful.

I put off email frequently until after I do a writing related task, and it works well. It also helps with efficiency, since email has a tendency to send me down a rabbithole of links/responses/tasks unrelated to writing.

Good insights ! Thanks. My question is : what can I do when I start to be bored ? I generally start going on facebook, and than surfing on the web, without purpose and I lose lots of precious time. Then my energy level is so low that I start to wonder if I can write something. And I lose my stamina for writing. I have the same computer for writing and for fun. Should I buy a second one just dedicated to my scrivener ? Would it be helpful to reduce tension ? Thanks.

You can buy a different computer (which would act as a different trigger), or turn off the wi-fi (or use programs like ColdTurkey to cut off distractions). You could also take your laptop to a new room or a coffee shop (which acts as a different trigger). But, to be honest, I don’t do any of that (although you could experiment with any combination of them).

Boredom is inevitable, I think; the intrinsic rewards that come from writing (or any skill that demands concentration/lots of hours of intense focus) are doled out slowly, over days and months. As such, particularly in the beginning of developing a routine, other, more immediate rewards (TV/surfing) are going to be much more appealing.

The solution to defeating boredom/distraction is cultivating quality focus.

Focus is usually thought of as something we generate on-demand, but really it’s a skill. If you train yourself to task-switch constantly, this is what you’ll be “good” at – but, unfortunately, when the time comes to sit and do one task, your brain won’t be wired to accomplish this. This is fairly common in today’s culture, but luckily it’s also a simple problem that has a simple solution: your focus just needs to be trained.

The #1 fix? Just sitting there, doing one thing and not allowing yourself to do anything else. Start with a set block of time – 15 minutes, 30 minutes. Writing works, but you can cultivate focus in anything (e.g. reading). Here’s the kicker: during your writing block, you don’t actually have to be writing – but you can do absolutely nothing else (this is an old rule from Raymond Chandler, by the way). Soon you’ll be so bored that you have no option but to write.

Once you get some inertia going during a session, that usually continues.

You’ll also find that most distractions/urges to surf dissipate within 30 seconds to 1 minute. Occasionally they’ll be more persistent. But as you make it a habit not to give in, you’ll find that your focus sharpens – and you become more accustomed to being bored and not being thrown off by it.

Of course, occasionally there are times where your focus is just terrible, and it’s impossible to get rolling on a project. After holding out for five or ten minutes, sometimes it’s better to just go do something else and come back later.

Alls so true, Nicholas. Yeah! Cultivating ‘quality focus’, is what I, above everything else, must develop.

I’ve just recently discovered the wisdom and insights of Nicholas Erik via his website and KBoards, and I must say it’s some of the best, no-nonsense, down-to-earth wisdom I could ask for as a self-publishing author.

P.S. I’d also like to point out that the author Nicholas referred too isn’t Alexander Trollope, it’s Anthony Trollope.

I know it’s just another excuse, but sometimes I feel as if I need several hours worth of time blocks in order to feel productive. I find it interesting (and refreshing) that you list 15 min. spurts of writing/exercise/reading in your habit-forming process. Sometimes you just have to push aside the drain you feel from constantly tweaking your methods and just go for it. These are some wonderful ideas I’m definitely looking forward to implementing in my personal planner next week.

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Answer to Question #213224 in HTML/JavaScript Web Application for jayanth

totalTorpedos, torpedosFired as inputs, write a super class Submarine with property and methods as below,PropertyDescriptionisSubmergedIt should contain a boolean value to indicate whether the submarine is submerged or not.

MethodDescriptiondiveWhen this method is called, it should set the value of isSubmerged to true and log  "Submarine Submerged"  text in the console.surfaceWhen this method is called, it should set the value of isSubmerged to false and log  "Submarine Surfaced"  text in the console.

Add a sub class weaponUnit which extends to Submarine with the below properties and methods,

The sequence of operations is,

• Submerge the Submarine
• Fire torpedos
• Surface the Submarine

Sample Input 1

Sample Output 1

Submarine Submerged

2 Torpedos Fired, 3 Left

Submarine Surfaced

Sample Input 2

Sample Output 2

2 Torpedos Fired, 8 Left

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