Friday, September 13, 2024

ACTIVITY: The Ideal Routine Blueprint

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ACTIVITY: The Ideal Routine Blueprint

Identify an idealized, personalized routine that can help you plan your days.

Chris Guillebeau

Sep 13

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Every so often, I’ll suggest a short activity to help you feel less overwhelmed and more purposeful. You should be able to complete it in less than 15 minutes.

Today’s activity: design an ideal daily routine, one not bound by current constraints. This can help identify what activities truly matter to you and how you can incorporate elements of this ideal process into your actual life.

(This is a bit different from an exercise about your ideal, perfect day. Here we’re focusing specifically on an ideal routine, something you do most days.)

As Gretchen Rubin says: “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.”

This is one of the simple-but-profound Gretchen-isms (there are many!) that I think about a lot. Perhaps it’s because I tend to live by a fairly specific routine—not every day, but at least most of the time. I want to protect it because it’s working for me.

My Weekday Routine

My weekday routine consists of a few guidelines (not hard-and-fast rules, just parameters I try to follow without getting legalistic about it):

Be at my desk by 7am. Do a few small things, check on anything urgent, and then spend at least one writing session (30 minutes) before leaving to exercise. Enjoy my first cup of coffee.
Exercise by 9am. I run 5-7 miles most mornings, but sometimes I run a bit less and lift weights or go to a yoga class. One of the weekdays is a longer run, usually 9-10 miles.
Spend as many morning hours as possible with no meetings or calls. Breakfast and second cup of coffee after my run. A series of Pomodoro sessions, typically 30-40 minutes each, before taking a break and switching tasks.
The workday is built around three priorities that I identify the night before. There are also usually a bunch of small things, too, but I do my best to focus on the three priorities. This is sometimes hard to do! Often I only get to two of them, but three is the goal.
Specific priorities might include: 1 hour of book writing, record 3-4 podcast episodes, write 1 post for this newsletter, and so on. Each one is specific and measurable in the sense that I know when it’s done.

Note: “Write for 1 hour” is more helpful than “Write 1 chapter.” Chapters could take many hours! I sometimes go by word count as well, e.g. “Write 1,000 words”
Take an afternoon break for as long as I need. It’s usually about two hours or so, but sometimes shorter. If there are calls, I try do these then, though the late morning (after I’ve been able to work independently for a bit) also works.
Pick up with a late afternoon work session where I finish some morning work, get to small things I ignored earlier, but also try to do something creative like outlining or editing what I wrote in the morning.
Close my Apple Watch rings every day (this one actually IS a rule, I have an 1,900+ day streak. As long as I do the morning run, it isn’t usually a problem. But on recovery days, I have to work at it more)
No rules or guidelines for the evening. Sometimes I work late, but it really depends on a) what needs to be done, and b) how I’m feeling

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That’s pretty much it! Depending on your preferences, my routine might sound either overly rigid or too flexible. Either way, I understand—that’s why you need to figure out your own ideal routine.

Here’s How YOU Do It

Step 1: Reflect on Your Core Values

Start by pinpointing what truly matters to you—health, career, creativity, family? Your routine should mirror these values, guiding your daily actions.

Step 2: Pin Down Non-Negotiables

Identify the must-dos in your day, like work, exercise, or family time. These are the pillars around which you'll build your ideal routine.

Step 3: Segment Your Day

Divide your day into morning, afternoon, and evening. Assign activities that align with your values to each segment, ensuring a balanced distribution of energy and focus.

Step 4: Embrace Flexibility

Life is unpredictable. Design your routine with wiggle room for the unexpected, ensuring it’s realistic and sustainable.

Step 5: Start Small

Choose one or two aspects of your ideal routine to integrate first. Small changes are easier to manage and more likely to stick.

Step 6: Iterate and Evolve

Routinely reassess your routine. What’s working? What isn’t? Adjust as needed to keep your daily habits in line with your evolving goals and priorities.

***

*Is it sometimes helpful to break the routine and do something different? Absolutely! And other times we need to revise or rebuild the routine because something has changed. But both these actions point to the same truth: the need for a routine, or at least the general helpfulness of one.