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How to Get Back into Routine After Summer
There are lots of reasons to build a daily routine. Routines can help you sleep better, manage stress more effectively, and be healthier overall.1 To put it simply: routines can help your days, and weeks, feel a lot less chaotic.
“Imagine if you had to think about every little thing in the morning, such as brushing your teeth and getting dressed,” says Lisa Jeffs, a Miami-based life coach. “You would be absolutely exhausted by lunchtime. Routines make things in your life so much easier, allowing you to move through your day with much more ease and allowing you the bandwidth for the more challenging things such as strategic thinking, interactions with your kids, et cetera.”
But it can be hard to stick to a set routine, especially after the warm summer months when kids have been out of school and you’re blowing through your vacation days. If you’ve fallen out of your routine since spring, don’t panic—there are ways to get back in order. Here’s how.
Keep It Simple
Don’t expect to go from no routine to a complex regimen on day one. Whether you’re starting a new yoga practice or weekly cleaning schedule, go slow. Jeffs recommends beginning with one practice at a time.
“I know it can be very appealing, especially for high achievers, to want to overhaul their entire life,” she says. “However, one routine at a time allows you to master that routine. Allow it to become a habit, because once it’s a habit it becomes so much easier. And then you can move on to creating a new one.”
Jeffs says forming a new routine—both motivating yourself to do it and sticking to it—can be a big challenge for many people. By easing yourself into it, you’re more likely to form new long-term habits.
Give Yourself Reminders
We all need a little help remembering sometimes, especially when we’re trying to form new habits. Before the routine becomes second nature, help yourself by setting out reminders.
This can look a few different ways. For example, you can set all ingredients for a healthy breakfast out on the counter before going to bed at night. Or, leave sticky note reminders on your bathroom mirror, on your front door, or somewhere else you’re sure to see it. Or you can keep it simple and use your Reminders app on your phone. Find whatever works for you.
Create Low Barriers to Entry
Your self-reminders can also pull double duty and make your life easier. Think about it: pulling yourself out of bed for a morning run is a lot easier when you don’t have to scour your closet for your workout clothes.
“You want to make sure that you understand your own energy levels and play into those energy levels,” Jeffs says. “If you are someone who wakes up in a groggy state, you want to make sure everything is laid out the night before.”
Be Flexible and Patient
If you do forget, or even if you just don’t feel motivated to follow your newfound routine one day, don’t beat yourself up. Habits don’t form quickly—a 2021 study found that, on average, it takes 59 days for behaviors to become second nature.2
So don’t think that, after a summer off, you’ll wake up and follow your new routine every day without slipping up. You should hold yourself accountable, but give yourself grace when you fall short, too.
Reward Yourself
That said, you should definitely celebrate when you do follow your routine for an extended period of time. Jeffs recommends picking out a reward when first starting your routine so you have it to motivate you from the beginning.
“What is something that you are going to be motivated by to continue this routine?” she says. “Is it going to be purchasing something? Is it going to be a night out somewhere? Is it going to be an outfit? Make sure that your reward is something that you actually want and desire, and that it’s motivating enough for you to stay the course.”
Don’t Abandon Your Routine Again
Once you get back into a routine, stick with it—even through holidays and vacations, Jeffs says.
“If you do need to change it, I recommend modifying the routine to make it fit into your holiday or a new season,” Jeffs says. “But I do not recommend cutting it out completely, as it just becomes a pattern of stopping and starting, which is very easy to fall into and can become extremely frustrating where consistency in that routine is necessary to get the results that you want.”
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