Since I’m starting a new 100-day challenge today, I need to also change up my daily routine in order to fit daily blogging into my schedule. So I thought that we could start by looking at why it’s better to have a routine for your workday, especially when you work at home and have multiple things that have to get done in a day.
I’ve always been pretty resistant to the idea of a routine, but I know that when I have a reasonably set schedule it’s a lot easier to get everything done. When I wake up without a clear idea of what I’m going to do, I have a nice relaxing breakfast, read a little, and maybe if I’m lucky, I get to work by about noon.
The truth is, whether we want to accept it or not, we are hard-wired to have a daily routine. We like to eat at certain times, sleep at certain times, and work at certain times. When your work requires you to be creative, it’s easy to let that last one slide and have work overpower everything else in your life.
And this causes stress and overwhelm because we’re always rushing from one thing to the next. Or spending so much time on the creative part of our work, everything else falls by the wayside.
Having a Routine Allows You To Make Better Business Predictions
Having a routine allows you to predict your day, at least to a certain extent.
A daily routine lets you plan your day in a way that makes the best use of your time for you and your business. Having a schedule also makes it easier to predict income and expenses too, especially if you do client work. Setting up your schedule to have set billable hours means you know roughly what kind of income you are looking at for the month.
When you know what kind of money you have coming in, you take a huge load of stress off your plate too.
Your Routine Doesn’t Have To Be Overly Complicated
Planning your day and creating routines gives you the space and the freedom to make good choices every day.
Your schedule doesn’t have to be overly complicated. For example, my daily schedule looks a little like this:
- Morning – Creative work (journal and coloring kit production)
- Walk the dog
- Afternoon – Networking, me-time
- Walk the dog
- Evening – Blogging and Technical Stuff
The actual tasks that fit into those time blocks will vary depending on what I have going on. And if there’s deadlines to be met, I can change things around as needed.
It’s also important to remember that the actions you add into your routines should help to make a difference in your business and your life. You should always be working toward a goal of some sort so that you will know when the work you’re doing is producing results, and when it’s time to change things up again.
What Will You Get Out of Setting Up a Workday Routine?
The benefits of creating a workday routine that works for you are many. Here are just a few example of what you can do when you have a routine:
- spend more time with family
- have more time with friends
- decide which work is most important
- figure out what to outsource
- decide which tasks can be automated
- get more done each day
- understand what really matters to you
- make more money
I don’t know about you, but I kind of like the sound of all of that. Life’s too short to be chained to your computer all day every day just because you’re not working as smart as you could be.
Creating smart routines that work for you is a powerful solution for living your best life, whether you run your own business or work at a job. We are all creatures of habit and once we accept that, it gets a whole lot easier to create healthy habits that allow you to be more productive and more creative.
Do you have a workday routine that helps you be more productive? Share your favorite tips in the comments below.