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Stability and structure are both wildly underestimated concepts. Incorporating a daily routine into your life is hugely beneficial -- and extremely important/useful! A little bit of structure in your life goes a long way...more than you may realize! And don’t worry or feel overwhelmed, you don’t have to change your entire lifestyle, but even implementing small changes are helpful because it can lead to bigger positive changes.
A lack of routine in your daily life can cause you to feel unmotivated and even empty. Forbes reaffirms that stability in your life not only sets the tone for the day (especially regarding what you do during your mornings) and this stability can lead to feeling happier and more fulfilled as well as more productive and successful in the long run. Plus, staying organized is beneficial for your mental health and creativity.
The Blissful Mind states that structure allows for an improved focus and motivation! It doesn’t hurt to be prepared so there is less stress in your life. Ultimately, preparation leads to more accomplishments as you aren’t waiting until the last minute and who doesn’t want that?
1. Make Plans and Stick to Them!
The Blissful Mind definitely recommended to plan out your entire week every Sunday and to make plans the night before as well. Keeping a list and checking each task off as they are completed helps a lot with staying organized and keeping track of what’s completed so far!
Stay positive and motivated -- if you happen to slack off and don’t properly carry out your plans, don’t let that hinder you from trying again! You’re only human and, especially when you are initially implementing more structure, it might take some time and effort. Keeping a journal is also extremely beneficial for organization and reducing stress. If you’re interested in purchasing a journal specifically for developing positive habits, click here or here! Utilizing a journal to stay organized and keep track of daily tasks has been proven to be extremely helpful (you can read more about that here or here).
Lastly, if you’re not interested in making lists or journaling, another way to organize the mornings, afternoons and evenings ahead is by partaking in a block-by-block type of schedule or a batch/theme type of schedule (where you ultimately group together similar tasks to complete within one time period).
2. Realize the Importance of a Morning Routine.
The morning is the most important part of your day -- it completely sets the tone for the rest of your day. And even if your day ends up being completely terrible, at least you accomplished a few tasks in the morning already! Furthermore, Forbes recommends completing productive tasks in the morning, such as responding to emails. Doing this can help you to feel more organized and a lot less stressed out (especially if your inbox is jumbled and overwhelming, setting aside time to clean it out can help you feel clear-minded and ready to tackle the challenges of the upcoming day).
3. Self Care is Necessary!
Believe it or not, it’s easy to forget about self-care and to not make it a priority. Self-care should be the highest priority for you. While you’re making time in your schedule for important tasks related to school or work, don’t forget to make time for self-care!
A great way to implement a self-care routine could be developing a nighttime skin routine (or any nighttime routine that involves winding down and relaxing before bed, such as meditation, yoga, being creative or listening to music -- don’t do anything that will spike your energy, nighttime is when it’s time to relax)! The Blissful Mind points out that self-care can also be doing nothing whatsoever, and let’s not forget that the time when our brains start overthinking the most is when our heads hit the pillow -- it’s important to prevent that as much as we can by calming our bodies and minds down before bed.
All Business also stresses the importance of your mental health and taking breaks when you need to (try to remain aware of how both your mind and body are feeling). It’s perfectly acceptable and necessary to take breaks and get some peace and quiet -- just don’t let it derail your progress!
All in All…
It’s important to realize the importance of structure in your life -- if you feel that you don’t have enough structure in your life, start out small! There’s no need to completely change everything and overwhelm yourself. Small changes are actually just as important, if not more important, than the bigger changes. The Freelancers Union stresses the fact that things won’t successfully and effectively change overnight -- it’s better to implement minor changes and ease into the elimination of bad habits and the addition of more positive ones.
Don’t stress out about it if you don’t get it right the first time around and congratulate yourself even for the little changes. You’re on the right track!
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