What are you doing after work today?

Although you may not know exactly what will happen, you know that you won’t be working. If you’re still working in an office despite the pandemic, you’ll definitely be leaving. Snag your cell phone from its charging cable, cram your things into a bag of some sort, say goodbye, or not, to co-workers who are still lingering, and leave. People might not describe you as someone who walks with a purpose, but your pace to the parking lot will have them second-guessing.
If you work from home, the process involves fewer steps. Power down your computer or close your laptop. Pull the curtains shut as you pass the window, hit the lights when you leave the room, and close the door, leaving the workday behind you. You’ve gone through this routine so often that it all happens without even thinking about it. 

Sometime in the summer of 2020 I got pretty stir crazy. My job in the entertainment industry had dissolved several months earlier due to the Coronavirus, and showed zero indication of returning. This downtime was my moment; I finally had time to dedicate to responsibilities that I had put off until I could “get around to it.” I had so much I wanted to do and so many things to accomplish, I didn’t want to waste my days binging Netflix.
The alarm would go off, I’d hit snooze a few too many times, and eventually, get out of bed and open the curtains so the sunlight would help wake me up. With my sights set on productivity, I’d scan my To-Do list to determine where the day would take me.
The front porch needs a coat of stain. Maybe I'll do that. There are a few bills to pay, and they can’t be late; perhaps I should focus on those first. I have a blog to post, and I should probably sit and write before losing my creativity and inspiration. But I haven't spoken to family or friends for days, which also needs to happen this afternoon. This internal dialogue is how I began each day. I was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start.
Each day seemed to resemble the one before it. I was always busy doing something, but I couldn't tell you what I had accomplished at the end of each day. I never seemed to get all of the “important” stuff done. Plagued by constant distractions, I pushed calls to friends and family to the next day. I felt guilty for doing whatever I was doing at any given moment because there was always something else that I felt deserved my attention. It became clear after spinning my wheels for a few months that if I was going to move the needle in any substantial way, I needed specific goals, and a timeline to keep me on task. So, intent on feeling some form of accomplishment at the end of each day, I decided to create a daily schedule.
It seemed pretty straightforward; make a daily schedule, wake up, and follow it. But the more I considered this idea, the more concerned I became. What if the time I dedicate to a specific task ends up being insufficient and it remains unfinished? Will a self-imposed daily schedule create a feeling of urgency, causing more unnecessary stress and anxiety? And what about the creative moments? If I sit at my desk to write because I've decided that this is the time when that happens, won't that feel forced and eliminate the enjoyment I get from writing? And more importantly, will I even be inspired to write at that moment? What if a schedule kills creativity?
But my current approach clearly wasn’t working, and if this idea failed, I could always revert back to the random method. So, I decided to go all-in and create what would become my daily schedule.

Each morning started with my alarm going off at the same time. I scheduled morning exercises like running, biking, or Yoga for every day of the week, which proved beneficial by allowing me to be strategic with my workouts and ensure variety. If I planned to run on Monday, Tuesday would be a good day for Yoga. If I was biking on Wednesday, my legs may be fatigued on Thursday morning, so that run could be a short one.
Knowing my schedule in advance allowed me to prepare the night before. If I were going on a bike ride, I’d set my riding gear out, charge my lights and speedometer, and put air in my tires. If I planned to run, I'd set out my clothing and put my sneakers and water by the front door. No decisions to make, no reasons to second guess, and no time wasted. With a plan in place and the activity built into my schedule, I knew that there wasn’t anything else I needed to be doing at that moment. Suddenly, I didn’t feel guilty for riding my bike or going for a run in the park.
The ability to get a bird’s eye view of my entire weekly schedule also helped me avoid monotony. Suppose I planned to spend several hours sitting in front of my computer one day. In that case, I could devote the next to responsibilities not involving a computer. If one day was heavy on phone calls, I could avoid scheduling calls the rest of the week to focus on something else. Creating a schedule allowed more balanced days and weeks.
By planning my outdoor activities for sunny days and making adjustments when the forecast changed, I could also use a schedule to my advantage regarding the weather. I avoided any feelings of guilt when I worked outside, knowing that indoor activities would get attention as well. I no longer missed opportunities to mow the lawn on a beautiful sunny day because of my obligations to work indoors.
I was pleased to learn that a schedule is conducive to creativity. In the past, when the lawn needed trimming, the cars were dirty, and there were multiple repairs to do around the house, I would feel a constant pull to do these things instead. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should be doing something other than writing, and I would experience constant guilt and distraction when I did sit down to write. But when everything had a dedicated time on the schedule, I no longer felt like anything was being neglected. The absence of the constant, anxious feeling that I should be doing something else allowed me the peace of mind that is necessary to write and be creative. 
My creation and implementation of a schedule were not perfect from day one however. One lesson I had to learn the hard way was the importance of scheduling ample time to complete a task. Rather than switching from one thing to the next because the allotted time was up, I needed a realistic amount of time to complete one thing before moving to the next. Too much time was better than not enough. If I finished a task before its time was up, I could move on to the next. But coming up short meant something didn’t get finished, or something else didn’t get the attention I had planned for it.
It didn’t take long to realize what I had gained from a daily schedule. With dedicated time for phone calls, I was now re-connecting with friends and family. I read articles and watched videos to brush up on my private pilot skills, and devoted time to other personal interests that I had been neglecting because these things no longer felt like a waste of valuable time.

If you’re still not convinced that a daily schedule is for you, and you may be right, you might at least consider integrating a routine into some portion of your day. A morning routine, for example, allows you to be productive and efficient with minimal effort before you’re even completely awake. Most of us do some, if not all, of the same things every morning; make coffee, exercise, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack a lunch, and brush our teeth. While they are essential, these are all pretty boring, mundane tasks that are tough to accomplish without feeling like you're on a hamster wheel. So why not automate them so you can knock everything out without much thought?
Even something as simple as choosing what to eat for breakfast can be a time suck if you don’t get a handle on it. How many times have you woke up, strolled into the kitchen in your warm, fuzzy slippers, fired up your Mr. Coffee, and then proceed to stand in front of an open fridge or pantry? The coffee finishes brewing, and you still haven't decided what to eat. You're wasting time that you could have spent in bed getting more sleep! One significant component of an efficient morning routine is eating the same thing every morning.
Cereal, fruit, avocado toast, pancakes, muffins, bacon, eggs; we all have our breakfast foods of choice. What you eat isn't the point here; it's the idea of eating the same thing every morning. Decision fatigue is real, don’t waste brainpower first thing in the morning in an attempt to come up with some fantastic meal that will position you for a successful day. Instead, figure out something you won’t get tired of, stock up on it, and proceed to eat it every morning. Now, your breakfast is ready at the same time as your coffee. Not only will you save time, but muscle memory will take over after doing this for a week or so, and you’ll make breakfast without giving it any thought. Want to save a few more precious minutes? Get a coffee maker with a timer and set it to fire up about the time your alarm goes off. One less thing to do in the morning while you’re still making sense of that weird dream you had.
What you do in the morning, and in what order is your decision. The point of a routine is to do the same things in the same order every single time. Try it for one week; by Friday, things will already start to be second nature.
I prefer a morning routine because I’m more likely to get through the process before disruptions kick in. But if you're not a morning person, perhaps a nighttime routine is the sweet spot for you. A nighttime routine can be fantastic for slowly shutting down the mind. When your head hits the pillow, you fall asleep rather than mentally drafting emails for hours before drifting off.
What helps some people wind down doesn't work for others, and an evening routine can vary quite a bit. That said, shutting down all electronic devices, lowering the lights, and removing other stimuli are universal when preparing for bed. Maybe you like to have some tea, shut off the television, read, or call a friend or family member to check-in. Whatever you choose, the key here is to do things in the same order, at about the same time, every night. And don’t forget to prep the coffee maker for tomorrow morning!

If choosing and committing to a routine seems just as unrealistic to you as a daily schedule, consider the end of the workday routine I discussed at the beginning of this story. I’m sure you never plotted that routine or even realized that you had one. You just wanted to leave as soon as humanly possible, so you learned how to make that happen without even thinking about it. And it's safe to assume you have no intention of abandoning it, because it's working! Applying this practice to other aspects of your day can be equally as helpful, allowing you to devote time and energy to something other than making non-stop decisions.