How to Make Habits and Routines Work for You

We all have routines and habits that we follow every day without realizing it or giving them much thought. What if those seemingly small actions have a huge impact on how your life turns out in the future? By recognizing and modifying unhealthy routines and habits, while building new ones, you can take charge of your life and more easily reach your goals. With the help of the SMART algorithm, it will be simpler than it sounds. 

Why Are Routines Important?

Routines are easy to overlook but very important to everyday life. They create the framework for all of our activities. Without routines, we would be encumbered with constantly trying to remember what to do next and how to do it. 

Routines help us rank the importance of the tasks we spend our time doing. When you commit a task to a new routine, you’re assigning it a higher priority so that you’re able to make sure that it gets done. 

The ability to feel like we’re in charge of our lives, not just drifting along through a day and reacting to things, is determined by how well we implement routines. Building habits and routines, though, takes time and effort. 

The payoff for building good routines and habits is that they make us more efficient, cut down on how many tasks get endlessly postponed, and even save us money while helping us move toward our goals. 

What Do Routines Look Like?

What do you do in the morning when you awaken? Probably a few predictable things:

• Go to the bathroom
• Brush your teeth
• Get dressed
• Make coffee and breakfast
• Walk the dog

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Or other similar tasks, with the point being that you no longer have to think about these things yet they get done quite reliably. That is the power of routines!

Priorities

It’s a good idea to prioritize the things that you do. Some things, such as paying bills or grocery shopping, are unavoidable. Postponing them or not scheduling them only makes life more chaotic. 

What are some things that you would like to prioritize and add to your existing routines? Here are some examples:

• Check your blood glucose and ketones before you brush your teeth in the morning.
• Check the pantry and fridge on Sundays to make sure you have groceries for the week.
• Weigh yourself.

There could be many more, of course. It’s always easier to add a new routine to an existing routine or habit because that way it doesn’t have to get programmed into your subconscious. 

It’s best not to add too many routines at once, so consider these tips:

• Don’t add more than one or two new things at a time.
• Try to only add new routines that are likely to be possible. For example, adding “run a 5k before coffee” isn’t realistic if you have trouble getting dressed before coffee.
• Be sure to allow for what else you’re doing at the time and where you are, or your new routine may not be very doable. 
• You should choose new routines for yourself, and not ask someone else to impose them on you.
• Accept that it might feel like a bit of a hassle or stressor at first. Just persist, and it will eventually become a habit so that there’s not much effort involved.

Make sure to include these variables in a new routine:

• When will you do it?
• How often will you do it?
• Why aren’t you already doing it?
• Do you keep forgetting to do it?
• Is there something going on that makes you resistant to fully committing to this change? If there is, you may need to confront that. Talk to your coach about this one!
• You can even set alarms on your smartphone to remind yourself. If you use an assistant like Siri, you can ask it to add a reminder to your calendar.

Now, when you look at the earlier example of a routine, it might look like this:

• Go to the bathroom
• Check your glucose and ketones, every morning
• Brush your teeth
• Get dressed
• Make coffee and breakfast
• Walk the dog

It can take three weeks to build a new routine into a fully functioning habit. Complex habits or routines can take much longer, but achieving the goal of making them routine is very worthwhile. 

Working With Priorities

There are two things that you may want to consider when working with your priorities:

• What are things that you need to assign a higher priority?
• What are things that you need to de-prioritize, to free up the time and energy for the first list?

As an example, you may need to increase the priority of meal planning, kitchen inventory, and shopping for your week of food, yet you feel that you don’t have time to do that on the weekend. Consider how much time you might spend idly scrolling through news and social media, watching endless YouTube reels, or binge-watching Netflix in the afternoon or evening. 

Can you reclaim some of that time? You may not need to stop these activities if they help you relax or are otherwise enjoyable. It may be surprising, though, to realize how much time is spent this way. 

Evaluating Possible Routines

• Is it something you really want or need to do?
• Is there a reason you haven’t already made it a priority? If so, you may need to confront that first.
• What would be the best way to begin adding this as a routine?
• Where and when can you start?

Fully Commit

One of the most important things to include is your full commitment. How do you know if it isn’t a full commitment? Look at the answers other people might give, and consider how you would answer:

• “Have you stopped eating sweets and grains?”
• “Yes, I’m trying to!” Now, is that the same as “Yes, I have”?

It may seem too analytical, but being 100% committed to doing something is far more effective than being 95% committed.  The motivational speaker Jack Canfield is credited with first pointing out this simple truth. The problem is that we always negotiate with ourselves over that last 5%, and can even use it as an excuse. 

When you commit 100%, it clears your mind because now it’s black and white!

Putting It Into Action

You may need to set timers and schedule specific activities, or you may need to make checklists and work through clearing them every day. We all have our favorite ways of accomplishing things. If you’ve always done it one way, you could try the other and see if that works better for you, as it may. 

When you first begin be consistent, yet forgiving. The most critical aspects are to keep moving forward and work at getting better. Condemnation doesn’t help that very effectively. 

Don’t focus on failures; keep your eye on the next step to help you move forward. Be tougher than your problems and challenges. Focus on solutions. 

Try sharing your new routine and task with someone else for accountability. Your coach can be this person, as can a spouse, partner, or friend. 

Examples of new activity goals:

• Prepare food for yourself every day.
• Maintain your biomarker testing schedule.
• Stay in touch with your coach, with a message at least every week.
• Make sure you get your sodium and water in.
• Normalize your sleep routine and get enough sleep.
• Plan downtime, like a vacation, to look forward to.
• Prioritize small intervals of “me time” to relax and focus.

Working With Your Habits and Routines Using the SMART Algorithm

The SMART algorithm can be employed to evaluate present routines and habits and to create better ones. 

The acronym stands for:

• Specific: You should identify what the habit or routine is.
• Measurable: Is there a way to measure it? If not, it won’t serve you very well to accomplish goals.
• Achievable: Is it possible to accomplish it? 
• Relevant: Does the habit or routine directly influence something to do with your goals?
• Time-based: When you build a habit or practice, it should have a schedule or deadline to be effective.

When you evaluate your current routines and habits using these metrics, you'll be able to tell right away which ones are hurting you or even costing you time and money. Most of the time, all that is required to bring about change is simply facing that reality. 

Another effective method for getting rid of unproductive routines and habits is by creating a new one to replace the old one. By doing this, you'll be too preoccupied with the new routine to give the old one any thought. 

If you’re struggling with a new routine, objectively consider why, and what else you can implement to make it easier. Reach out to your coach for suggestions, guidance, or support.