A Foolproof Guide on How to Improve Your Daily Routine
7 ways to get more out of your days
There are two kinds of people.
Some are always in a hurry, catching up on work, putting in late shifts, and running from activity to activity. Others seem to get everything done without cramming their schedules, staying up late, or letting stress factors take over.
Lifestyles might differ, but everyone has the same 24 hours.
That’s where daily routines come into play.
If you want to become more productive, alleviate stress factors, and push your endeavors forward, you need an effective routine.
As American philosopher Will Durant once said:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
Many people misattribute this quote to Aristotle, who talked about “virtues formed in man by his doing the actions” in the Nicomachean Ethics.
No matter the formulation, the message stays the same: small, consistent, daily actions compound into a productive routine. And this productive routine will help us succeed over time.
Consequently, before taking on grand projects, we need to become the masters of our daily habits. We need to build a daily foundation for success before setting ambitious monthly and yearly goals.
On this basis, here is a foolproof guide on how to improve your daily routine.
Identify your most effective core habits
The most productive people structure their days around a particular set of core habits. These are the “non-negotiables” — the activities that secure their productivity and, therefore, form a critical part of each day.
In a 2018 interview with the Economic Club of Washington DC, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explains how his days revolve around various rituals. As such, he likes to enjoy breakfast with his family, read newspapers, and avoid meetings before 10 am. He schedules the most challenging meetings between 10 am and lunch, and doesn’t plan any decision-making after 5 pm.
In his own words:
“I like to do my high-I.Q. meetings before lunch. Like, anything that’s going to be really mentally challenging, that’s a 10 am meeting. Because by 5 pm, I’m like I can’t think about that today, let’s try this again tomorrow at 10 am.”
There is no point in imitating Bezos’ routine, but there is a takeaway: structure your days around a few cardinal principles and activities.
Start by identifying the habits that make or break your days. Personally, my workout and my breakfast constitute “non-negotiables,” so I plan my days around them.
Plan your day the night before
If you want to improve your daily routine, start the night before.
Many people chase appointments and to-dos during the day. In the morning, they realize that a mountain of tasks awaits them, and they start to panic. They then rush from appointment to appointment without a solid plan.
That’s where pre-planned to-do lists come to fruition. Prepare for the next day before going to sleep. Ask yourself what your most critical to-dos are, and determine their ideal timing. That way, you’ll wake up with a sense of clarity. You’ll know what you have to do and when to do it.
As an example, your most important tasks for tomorrow might include a writing assignment, a client meeting, and a personal appointment. Let’s say that your core habits are a gym session, a 30-minute reading stint, and a nature walk.
In this scenario, you could try to complete your writing assignment between 9 and 11.30 am. After that, you can sweat in the gym before heading out for your nature walk — including lunch on a park bench. After lunch, you complete your client meeting, and around 4 pm, you attend your personal appointment. Your reading stint could happen after dinner.
Planning your day well is not wizardry. It’s about prioritizing certain activities and planning your days around them. Over long periods, you’ll realize that many of these planning methods will automate themselves.
Track your hours
Especially for first-timers, hour tracking is a powerful habit.
Bestseller author and Georgetown professor Cal Newport calls this technique “time blocking.” In a 2013 blog post, he writes the following:
“This type of planning, to me, is like a chess game, with blocks of work getting spread and sorted in such a way that projects big and small all seem to click into completion with (just enough) time to spare.”
As such, dividing your day into a chessboard-like structure is an excellent way to improve your daily routine. Schedule specific hours for particular tasks, and leave space in between to account for corrections and delays.
Separate your activities into positive/negative and organize your hours accordingly
For the time blocking tactic to work, you need to find out which activities positively affect your routine.
In other words, you need to identify the habits that help you advance and also the ones that hold you back.
Time-consuming minutiae like emails, administration, and lengthy calls can be a hindrance — but they are also necessary. That’s why you should dedicate specific time slots to these “negative” activities.
As an example, I set aside 20 minutes after lunch and 20 minutes in the afternoon for “administration.” During these stretches, I answer emails, blog comments, plan my travels and do other stuff that doesn’t concern my creative output.
By implementing this strict separation, I don’t need to worry about these minutiae during my day. As such, I can concentrate on the activities that directly further the growth of my business.
Implement rituals that further your stillness and concentration
Much like allocating time slots to “positive” and “negative” activities, stillness and concentration are integral to improving your daily routine.
Set aside a few hours every day to practice stillness. Whether it’s meditation, reading, or a hot bath, find rituals that help you become more serene and mindful.
Our uber-busy daily lives often lack quiet moments. These periods of calmness are, however, paramount to securing continuously high concentration levels.
By giving your thoughts time to breathe, you ready your mind for new challenges — preventing a drop in focus.
Give your eyes a break
Most of us spend our days looking at screens. We work on a computer, check our phones regularly, and watch TV at night.
To improve our daily routines, we need to give our eyes a break. That’s where the 20–20–20 rule comes to fruition. The idea is straightforward: for every 20 minutes of screen time, give your eyes a break by watching something that’s 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
The health benefits of the 20–20–20 rule are clear. According to Healthline,
“Eye strain from computers and other digital devices can be uncomfortable. The 20–20–20 rule may help you avoid eye strain along with decreasing your time spent looking at screens.“
Better still, the rule is also a surefire way to improve your daily routine.
By implementing these pauses, you automatically think about planning your days well. As such, you’ll force yourself to take a break and re-evaluate your activities — helping you get back on track when it comes to time blocking and finding stillness.
Revamp the first and last hour of your day
Finally, the first and last hours of your days are crucial to improving your routine.
The first hour is the one during which you encounter the day. Many of us carry our morning mood into the rest of the day — highlighting the importance of morning routines.
Don’t try to copy some billionaire’s morning rituals. Find your own through experience. Much like defining your core habits, try to determine which morning activities set you up for success.
For me, it’s a cold shower, breakfast, meditation, reading, and walking outside. Other people like to go to the gym at 6 am. The challenge resides in identifying your ideal morning rituals. Focus on activities that further your productivity, mindfulness, and enjoyment right after getting up.
The same applies to evening habits. Find your ideal evening rituals that ensure high-quality sleep and help you prepare for the next day.
If you want to improve your daily routine, take a look at your mornings and evenings, and check which changes could influence the rest of your days positively.
