The Magic of Routine

an add woman magic of routine

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Doing the Same Stuff

And expecting different results?

Nope.

Doing the same stuff and getting more done.

And what I mean by doing the same stuff is turning the same stuff you do over and over (or need to do over and over) into a routine.

Have you ever found yourself driving to work on your day off when you intended to go to the mall?

Or flipping the light on (or off) when you go into a room, even though the power’s been off for hours?

There are some things that we do so often that they are automatic. We don’t even think about them; we just do them.

You can take those habits and turn them into magic.an add woman magic of routine

No Magic Wand Needed

I can feel your skepticism.

Turn ordinary habits into magic?

Well, close.

Do you brush your teeth every day?

I bet you do.

What if, in the evening, after you’ve brushed your teeth, you take your hand towel, wipe your face and hands, and then wipe off the countertop and sink?

Then you can throw it in the hamper, and put a fresh towel up.

In the morning you will wake up to a clean sink and counter and a fresh towel. Magic!

(More magic tricks like this can be found in my course, From Chaos to Clean.)

Or let’s say that you’re like me. I have a habit of getting up and wandering around the house during commercials. What if, during your wandering, you picked a few things up and put them away?

More Magic

Here we are, brushing our teeth again. What if we did squats as we brushed? (It sounds horrible, I know.)

I prefer yoga to squats, so what I do is a few forward bends while I blow dry my hair. I also do a few stretches and moves while I’m waiting for the dog to do her thing and come back in.

We have a long standing tradition in our house of stuff on the stairs. It’s an actual thing.

By now the family knows – if it’s your stuff on the stairs, it goes up when you do.

The Point

The point of all of this silliness is to show you that we all have more time than we think we do (mere seconds are valuable), and we can put good habits into place by tying them to habits we already have.

I used to have to take a certain medication at night, and I was always forgetting. Then I moved it from the kitchen to the bathroom, next to my toothbrush. Problem solved.

Think about where you change clothes. For me, it’s in the closet because mine is big enough to do so. But if yours isn’t, you could easily change in front of it. And look! There’s a hanger right there, within reach. In maybe one second more than it would take to drop your shirt on the floor, you could hang it up!

So do some thinking.

What’s the most aggravating problem you have?

Now, how can you tie it to a habit you already have and solve it?

And for some interesting and helpful ideas on making more things automagical, you might want to read 5 Ways to Remove Your Brain.

Lacy Estelle

Lacy Estelle

Lacy Estelle is the writer of Lacyestelle.com and the Podcast host for An ADD Woman.

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