At home habits and routine

As I was laying on the couch this afternoon waking up from my regular 45-minute nap, I had a thought….

Having a nap in the afternoon was not something I did before the pandemic, although I am sure a lot of us who have been under tight lockdown have made this one of their regular habits and/or routines. I started to consider the future of work and how we will all break some of these habits and routines that we might have become used to for almost a year.

Especially when we start work, I asked myself.....

How will we break these habits and routines that have been formed?

Habits and routines form over a period, they are behavior’s we perform automatically and repeat till they become part of our daily routine.

It is important to understand that routines have some similarities to habits, the main difference being the level of awareness and intent. Both have similarities in terms of they are regular, but habits happen with little or no thought and routine requires effort.

Before lockdown, my daily routine was to wake up, go to the gym, have a shower, eat breakfast, commute to work, put in a good day’s work 9–10-hours which involved meetings, calls, emails. The evening would involve travelling back home, prepare dinner, maybe do some more work, and eventually get ready for bed in preparation for doing this all over again the next day with maybe some variations.

This eventually over time formed a routine which gradually become a habit, and you start to master it over a time. 

For example, you know exactly which tube to catch in the morning, which will get you in approximately at which time - so that you arrive at your desk at your desired time.

Chains of habits are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken Warren Buffet

BUT when we have delays on the London Underground what happens!!!! You go into a level of panic that is because your routine that has been formed has been broken.

When we decide to get back to normality whatever that might look like we will need to rewire ourselves into a different routine. A familiar one but for some it might be a struggle. As an employer we will need to look at creative ways of how we bring people back. Maybe something similar to KIT days (Keep in touch days) that we have for those returning from maternity leave.

When you decide to recall staff back to work give us a call at bonafide hr so we can help you get ready for the people challenges for the future when it arrives. 

visit us at www.bonafidehr.co.uk