Escape From Routine Prison

Routines are great until they become a prison that we’ve trapped ourselves in. When routines get bloated, rigid, or oppressive, it is time to break free from routine prison. So how do we recognize we are in routine prison, plan our escape, and avoid putting ourselves back into routine prison?

Understand You’re in Prison

The first step to escape from routine prison is recognizing that you’re there in the first place. Routine prison is sneaky. It doesn’t announce that it has begun a construction project in your daily life. Instead, routine prison constructs itself stealthily. While we are going about the daily tasks of our lives, getting accustomed to the order of things, the walls are silently being built.

Once the stealth construction is built, we then realize we are trapped.

It’s no secret that I love my daily routines. In fact, I have many posts about my various daily rituals and routines. I love comfort, and my habits amplify my comfort by giving me predictability throughout the day.

They have also become a silent prison to me. When I cannot execute my routines, I question my worth, competency, and priorities. The rituals become the judge and dictator of my day.

Rigidity in my routines leads me to emotional distress and mental anxiety.

Travel and Routines Don’t Mix

Recently I’ve had a month full of travel. First, I traveled for business, then I had a road trip vacation with Dave, and lastly, I traveled to Boise to help my oldest son move home for the summer.

It was impossible to maintain the daily routines I love throughout this month of travel. Morning routines were dictated by when I needed to be at a meeting or a breakfast. I had to eliminate my afternoon coffee routine because drinking coffee in the car meant more stops on our long road trips. My bedtimes got later because I had social events to attend. Abandoning my daily routines was easier when I was in a new environment, but it got complicated when I arrived back home.

I wanted to jump right back into my regular routines during the brief windows I had at home.

That didn’t happen.

Re-Entry is Hard for Routines

When I finally got home between trips, I discovered that things had piled up while I was gone, and I needed to allocate additional time to get through them. In addition, some of my travel happened over weekends, so I was constantly feeling behind.

Plus, I was dealing with travel that went across time zones. It was only an hour difference between mountain time and pacific time, but it was enough to make me feel off in my sleep and wake times.

I was so excited to come home and jump back into my routines. But instead, I discovered that the daily routines I’d established were imprisoning me.

Now what?

Plan Your Escape From Routine Prison!

How do we escape from routine prison?

Distill the Essential Components in our Routines

I realized that my routines had become bloated and overly complicated. When I wrote “Morning Routine” in my bullet journal, that really meant two hours of tasks that I needed to get done before I started writing. When I sat down at my desk to write, I was exhausted and out of creativity.

This wasn’t working- especially since I wanted to prioritize writing this year.

I needed to distill my routines back down to what was really important. Then I could rebuild them in a new way that would better serve me in prioritizing my day.

Eliminate, Delegate, or Defer what is Non-Essential

Non-essential tasks had crept their way into my morning routine. To distill it into something enjoyable, I needed to get the non-essential out of the routine.

So what had my morning routine become?

When I wrote “morning routine” down in my bullet journal, this is what it really was

Bloated Morning Routine:

Get up
Drink coffee
Read
Check email
Check all my social media
Respond to all essential notifications
Tweet and retweet relevant things
Add to my IG stories
Check web stats
Eat breakfast
Walk dogs
Make bed
Exercise
Do another round of social media
Get distracted by email
Go back and do another round of social media
Realize that I wasn’t actually keeping my own schedule and feel frustrated
Get showered
Get put together
Get distracted with social media again while changing watch bands for the day
Go downstairs (finally)
Make tea for a writing session
Empty and load the dishwasher while tea is brewing
Pick up my iPad to write down a daily plan
Get distracted with email or social media
Realize my timer went off for the tea
Sit down at my desk
Try to figure out what I’m doing today- writing for my blog, collaboration, or book queries
Get frustrated because I don’t have much creative energy left

This isn’t an efficient or effective morning routine! So is it surprising that I’m feeling imprisoned?

This routine needs to be distilled down to its essential components. What could I do?

I realized that since I was out of creative energy by the time I sat down at my desk for writing, I needed to find a way to get writing faster.

Here’s what I did:

Essential Morning Routine:

Get up
Drink coffee
Read
Eat breakfast
Walk dogs with Dave
Write

All of the other things on my list can be done later on in the day or eliminated. I will still plan to exercise, check my email and social media, make the bed, shower, and empty the dishwasher. But, these tasks didn’t need to be done BEFORE I started writing.

I know that I am at my most creative right after the dog walk. When I can sit down and write then, the words flow out of me. If I try to force it later in the day or earlier, I write fewer words per minute. I’m also more influenced by what I’ve seen or experienced online. I find that the thoughts aren’t as fresh and creative.

Shortening the morning routine allows me to get to my priorities faster. And the last time I checked, my keyboard doesn’t care whether I have makeup on or not!

Modularize What is Left

Now that my morning routine has been distilled into its more essential tasks, I’m left with the remaining items. Where do I put them?

It actually doesn’t really matter where they go! In fact, I could do these things at any time in the day, and it would be fine. For example, there is no rule that I need to shower before emptying the dishwasher. There is also no rule that the dishwasher needs to be emptied before 10AM. I have flexibility and autonomy in structuring my day, so I could exercise at 11AM, and it would be fine.

So, I’m going to think of these daily tasks as modules. I can fit them in wherever I want in the day. I really like using the home tasks as a break from the computer work. When I feel like I need to get up from the desk, I can do 15 minutes of work in the kitchen and then go back to whatever project I’m working on.

Embrace Novelty During Your Escape From Routine Prison

Change is hard, and sometimes we need to add a little novelty to make it work. As I was trying to break free from my routine prison this week, I decided to mix things up. After the dog walk was finished, I got in the car and went to a coffee shop. I brought my noise-canceling headphones and decided to sit there and write until I had a post drafted. I had no idea how long it would take, but I was committed to the process.

It took less time than I thought to get a first draft written. Focus is a powerful thing. I was also working with my natural creative energy, so it felt more natural and less forced.

Going to a coffee shop every day isn’t convenient, but what it did for me was inject novelty into my bloated routine. I proved to myself that I could write and complete a task. For the rest of the day, I felt amazing. I was able to do other things throughout the day and did eventually get to the exercise and the shower!

Evaluate the Results

It is one thing to do the work to distill your routines, mix them up, and figure out if they are working. It helps to have a measurable goal to strive for. In my case, I decided that my goal would be to draft a blog post a day for five days. I know that this is a challenging but completable task. I ended up finishing the week with 4 3/4 posts written! I am really pleased with how close I got to my goal.

Perhaps your goal is to leave for work every day at a specific time. You could evaluate your results by keeping track of the times you leave each day.

Find some way to evaluate the results of your changes.

Be Prepared for Future Imprisonments

Once we break free from our routine prison, it’s essential to know that we will likely imprison ourselves again. Being aware that this can happen makes it easier to embrace a spirit of flexibility.

Our lives don’t stay the same, and it’s quite likely that we may need to break free again from routine prison. That’s ok! Giving ourselves the grace to change is a way to exhibit self-care.

The purpose of routines is to support our overall well-being, not imprison us. So beware of routine prison, and plan your escape carefully!