The Power of Routine

Does it really impact your productivity and consistency?

People who have a morning routine have a 20% higher chance to identify as highly productive. Small successes in the morning certainly lead to a better mood. Whether cause or correlation, if something gave me a 20% better chance at something positive I’m taking those odds all day.

There is no doubt routine helps consistency, something I highlighted in my last blog post, but why? With as much focus that has been put into ‘routine hacking’ over the years with ‘self-help’ books such as “The 4 Hour Work Week” and “The 4 Hour Body” both authored by the great Tim Ferriss, something we need to observe more closely is adherence which leads to routine. Routine and positive change can be great, but only when you’re consistent with it. So how do we start to adhere, and why do I claim it’s more important than the routine itself? We need a deeper dive here.

One of the most highly acclaimed health routines is of course “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I believe it may be true, especially if you throw the apple hard enough. See in that quote though it’s very specific. What, when, who. Lifestyle changes are meant to last a lifetime and not just be a cool buzzword event we try for a couple weeks. Hey there New Years Resolutioners.

Routine is so important that studies have shown Here that children gain more weight in the summer off school than during the school year because of LACK of routine. A more obvious routine is a bedtime routine. I use the sleep coach from my Whoop strap seen Here to tell me when to go to bed based on how I want to feel the next day. It’s a little tedious to adhere to at times (just ask my partner) but I feel ‘on’ most mornings because of it. I’ll drop a link to a FREE month of Whoop at the end in case you get one. Here is a study on the impact of bedtime routine for kids too.

Watch me guess a routine YOU already do. I bet early in your life you adopted the routine of brushing your teeth in the morning and at night. You associated certain cues to help you. Finish breakfast, brush your teeth. Getting ready for bed, brush your teeth. If you haven’t, we need to talk. Get on it.

There is much talk of habit forming, with one early study done saying it takes 21 days to build a habit. Imagine right at 21 days a habit was formed? Easy peasy. The problem is everyone is different. A University of London study performed after showed habits (routines) took 18-254 days to build. Yikes. That’s a big range. Where do you fit into the range? You have to try something and find out. Good news is the average of all of those was 66 days. That’s a solid amount of time thinking about something consciously for it to become a regular part of your day, since routines do not require conscious thought.

First pick something small and seemingly easy. You should probably be asking something like “wow, that’s it?”. Worst case scenario is that that easy thing happens and you build some momentum to try the next new thing. Another important factor is to try one thing at a time. No lists. One new change that you will adopt for a lifetime, only then do we choose another. This was something hard to figure out as a new coach over a decade ago. I knew all the good things people could and should do. I would suggest them all and sort of smile and wish them good luck. Nothing happened. Shocking.

As individuals we must create adherence to routines we choose, or they will choose us. You don’t want to be in your later years of life depending on adherence to your routine medications to help keep you alive because you didn’t make healthier choices earlier on. You have the choice. Use that choice early and often, at least for your own sake.

1. Adherence > Routine 2. Start small. 3. One thing at a time

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Jacob Saunders