I didn’t realize this until maybe a few years ago but I’m a routine person. In general I like doing the same things, at the same time, on the same days. No surprises.
This held true for me in university, even though the “routine” was far from optimal. Sleep in, miss my morning lecture, procrastinate on any projects, etc. It wasn’t pretty, but it was consistent.
And this is still true for me present day, although it’s a striking contrast. Wake up early (currently really early, 4:45am), commute downtown on train (during which I read for 20 minutes and do 20 minutes of Polish language learning), get a coffee, work, walk or gym, work, kindergarten pick up, hang out with family, bed time.
While I thinking having a good routine is great, I’m starting to realize that switching it up is also valuable. The routine can become stale and when I fall out of it I start to feel guilty!
So my new plan is to create a routine, where part of that routine is changing the routine.
I’m going to approach this in a few ways.
To start, once a week I’m going to change up my work environment. Either work from a different office, work at home, find a coffee shop, maybe a brewery. Just do something different.
Secondly I think I’ll plan to review my routine every quarter and adjust as needed. Maybe I decide I need to wake up earlier or later. Go to they gym on different days. Could be anything. The point of this will be to tweak as needed to ensure it’s working for my at that point in time.