The No-Structure, Structured Routine

I’m sitting here writing, and it’s 8:47am. In precisely thirteen minutes, I will be able to open up my email inbox, and I will do so with gusto. And right now, it’s taking every ounce of energy I have available to manage that gusto and wait, not-so-patiently.

You’d think I would have a much better handle on this, but no such luck.

I love checking my email. I love clearing notifications. I love reading the morning headlines. And then, when all of that is done, when I’m feeling prepared and caught up, I enjoy going about the rest of my day.

Recently, though, I realized maybe I wasn’t feeling so prepared and caught up. Maybe I was feeling a bit more distracted, and the first couple hours of my day should be more grounded, possibly more productive, and definitely more intentional. Perhaps, I could tweak the routine.

So, I made myself a little schedule. I’m absolutely not one of those people who wants a morning ritual. But, I did revamp my ideas of how I wanted to spend my time. I get up early, and I was still finding myself scrambling later in the day to accomplish my tasks. I didn’t want to play that game anymore, and I figured I could even find time to fit in some hobbies or outdoor time or more enjoyable work or non-work social activities too. And I definitely wanted to get a handle on my social media boundaries and how that was affecting my mood and my productivity and creativity. I needed to change my routine, and here’s what I came up with:

6:30–9:

Up, breathe, pull card, read, walk.

Move?

Write?

No email or social media before 9am.

9–12:

Email, news, clear social media notifications, post social media.

Write. Coach.

At least one invitation to conversation.

12–1:

Eat, read. No social media.

1–3:

Write. Create. Coach.

3–3:30:

Email.

3:30–5:

Gym. Social media is allowed.

5-Evening:

Marty. Me. Nature.

Notice, the categories are broad. I get itchy if I have to do a certain something at a certain time. But giving myself a couple hours of freedom to accomplish my main tasks, I can get behind. So that’s what I did. Essentially, I set myself up with more than half the day for coaching and creation, while allowing myself communication time that wouldn’t let me fritter it away aimlessly.

Now, this looks like a great setup. Freedom, but not too much. Boundaries, but not too tight. Just how I like it. And I do like it.

But.

Thirteen minutes went by and I interrupted writing this piece to check my email. I swear, it’s compulsive! Once you get used to a certain routine, which, for me, has been the last five or so years, it’s tough to break it and create a new one. As they say, old habits die hard, right? And checking email first thing is one of my oldest habits.

The lack of social media first thing is a welcome change. I struggle not to pop in and out constantly during my windows, but it has definitely improved my mornings, my lunchtimes, and my evenings, to have some kind of even light accountability for it.

But what’s really interesting and challenging for me is that I usually am not the least bit inspired to write anything in the morning. I’m not a morning person, so I don’t know if my brain just isn’t awake yet or what, but it is a struggle to sit down to a blank page first thing. Honestly, it’s why I always defaulted to answering emails first — that’s far more brainless.

I also have yet to get outside and walk in the morning, and I’m not sure what’s holding me back from taking 20 minutes doing that. (Blame it on my lazybones, short-legged dog who doesn’t like walks.) I like to hang out with Marty as he gets ready for work. I pick up the house or start some laundry. Get my task list in order for the day. Make some notes. I usually end up reading quite a bit. Make myself some breakfast. Finally, in the 8am hour, possibly get some writing done.

It’s not the best, but it’s progress. Even if I don’t get a ton done in the early morning, I usually cover every lingering thing that could possibly distract me between 9am and 3pm, so my later morning and early afternoon are all high-energy productivity city. Even if I’m still tweaking the routine, my habits, my behaviors, I’m still seeing big improvements in how I’m feeling throughout my days. I have tried being both more regimented with my schedule, and totally not having one, and this is the most suitable combination of both I have found so far.

It took getting conscious about it, and setting aside some time to evaluate my time. (Ha.) When I visualized what my days were looking like, it was all a messed-up jumble of nonsense and wasted time. When I visualized how I wanted them to look, it was quite a bit more refined. So that’s the direction I went. And little by little, the visualization is falling into place.

Yes, I’m still fighting some stuff. But I’m also finding more peace and accomplishment in my days. Certainly, it’s not perfect, or happening overnight, as evidenced by my beeline for the inbox as soon as the clock struck 9am. But, behavior change and building habits are rarely perfect, and nearly never happen overnight.

That doesn’t mean it’s not worth a try. Especially when it comes to how packed our lives are, how little time we tend to prioritize for self-care, how “busy” we claim to be — this visualization, and an everyday effort toward it, is valuable. There’s no perfect routine for every single person because our lives are vastly different. But there’s probably a more optimal way for you that might just encourage more peace and comfort in your days too.

I’d love to learn about your routine, or how you might be struggling in creating it. Feel free to email me anytime — I’ll get back to you between 9am and noon.

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