How to Stick to a Routine...and When to Make Adjustments

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Day 7 of the Makeover Your Mornings Challenge

Wondering how to stick to a routine? Or when you should make adjustments to it?

Creating routines and habits that you can follow first thing in the morning is awesome! It helps you get a start on your day without having to spend tons of energy and time thinking about it.

That’s a good thing when you’re still trying to wake up!

It can also be a dangerous thing if you’re focusing on the wrong things, especially if you’re doing things that don’t help you reach your goals.

When we get into a routine, it can be hard to stop and re-evaluate. Is it really working as well as it could be?

Even more importantly, with a routine and established habits, it’s too easy to keep going — even when circumstances change.

But that’s why it’s SO important to step back every now and then to review our morning routine and habits.

If you aren’t part of the Morning Makeover Challenge yet, you can sign up right here.

How to Stick to a Routine…and When to Make Adjustments

Set aside a half hour every few weeks — or even every couple months — to review your current routine. And to make sure you actually do that, put it on your calendar as a reminder.

It really doesn’t take long, and it will serve you well in the long run.

Our lives and circumstances change, so our routines should change, too. Just because something has worked well over a few weeks or months, that doesn’t mean it will continue to work well.

Which brings us to a good question….

When you sit down and review your morning routine — or any habit you’ve been working on — ask yourself this:

“Is my morning routine REALLY serving me well? Is it helping me work toward my goals?”

And if it is? Carry on, my friend. But if not, then it might be time to make some changes.

Tweak it until you figure out whatever does work for you at that particular point in time. Consider whatever it is that you love and what it is that you hate about your new morning routine.

Then change it accordingly until you love everything about it (while still working toward your goals).

Keep in mind that your morning routine will change and evolve over time as you change, and as the circumstances and people in your life change. All you can do is embrace the changes, right?

Roll with the punches. Look at change as an indication that you’re making progress.

Continue to improve your morning routine, and don’t be afraid to change up your goals as you move along.

So, what happens when you hit your goals?

Reward yourself! You might even have something in mind that you want, something to motivate you to keep going.

That thing might be a new workout outfit, a nice water bottle, that coffee mug you’ve been eyeing up, or a brand new journal.

Once you’ve reached your goal, re-evaluate and shift your focus to a bigger goal (or something totally different).

Let’s say you’re spending part of your morning working on getting the house organized. Eventually, it should be at a point where you only need to maintain the organization, so you can now shift your focus to something else.

Perhaps that thing will be exercising, reading or writing a novel, learning a new language, or whatever it is that’s important to you at that moment.

Keep on evolving. Keep changing. Use those precious first few hours of the day to establish some positive changes in your life.

Day 7 Challenge

Whether you use Google Calendar, a paper planner, or something else, take a moment to schedule a time in the future for reviewing your routines and habits (particularly those in the morning).

If you use a digital calendar, you could even schedule it as a recurring event. That way, you’ll never forget about it.

When the time arrives, take the time to think about what is and what isn’t working. Then rinse and repeat.

Concluding Thoughts

I wanted to take a quick moment to thank you for joining me in this 7-day challenge! Hopefully you’ve been able to make some meaningful changes to improve your mornings.

Below, I’ll recap some of the products mentioned throughout the challenge, in case you were considering any of them. Some of them are affiliate links, so if you make a purchase through my link, I might earn a commission (thank you!).

(Who knows, maybe you’ll even reward yourself with something from this list when you hit your first goal 😉

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or simply want to share your thoughts!