The Importance of Routine

For the majority of my life, I have had a routine.  A routine as a student, a routine as an employee, a routine as a mom, and now, a routine as an empty-nesting business owner.

For most of my life, my routine was organized around other people – getting myself to work at the agreed time, and making sure my daughter Emily was at school before the bell rang. Now, it involves feeding the chickens in the morning and having a healthy lunch with my husband.

Routines are easily thrown off track when life doesn’t go as planned. For example, when my husband travels, I often find myself hungry at 2:00 because I forget to eat at noon, as we usually do when he’s home.

I've noticed discomfort each time I’ve transitioned from one routine to another. It feels disorienting as I struggle to find my new groove.

You Need a Routine

To be successful with clients and also to manage their own businesses, Virtual Assistants need to make sure that they also have solid routines.

While some might find the idea of routines constraining, they help manage stress, reduce the number of decisions made every day, and increase creativity and productivity.

Here are some tips for setting up a successful routine:

1. Choose the non-negotiables first. For me, that includes lunch, my daily walk, and writing this email newsletter, to name a few. Sometimes, the time of day needs to change, but the activity stays solid. Each event is slotted into my digital calendar as a reminder.
    
2. Put supportive systems in place. If part of your routine is to publish a newsletter for your business, create a place to jot down content ideas as they occur to you. Set aside time to write, and get help in the form of an editor or proofreader if you need it.
    
3. Be concrete about your commitment. If I say I’ll walk five times a week, walking usually doesn’t happen. On Monday it’s raining, Tuesday I’m busy, and by Wednesday I’ve forgotten. If I decide to walk every day or on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, that’s much easier. The question becomes will the walk be outside or on the treadmill?

Routines will come and go; that’s just a normal part of life. Pay attention to the transitions and be deliberate about your choices because, in the end, the routines we create (or don’t) add up to how we spend our lives and what we accomplish. Think about that for a hot sec!

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