Day #315: Structured Routine

There are no benefits of “having a routine“, they’re only for “following a routine“. Structure and routine can help you become smarter by creating strong healthy habits. For example, if you structure your day to read an article that helps you learn something new, over the course of a year you will have learned 365 new things. Imagine what this equates to over a lifetime. Add more books, articles or podcasts to your day and your knowledge and intellect will grow exponentially. But take a step back, there are plenty of benefits of a structured life. Here are some of these aspects in which applying structure to your life will enable: 

1. Get your priorities straight – One immediate effect that one sees while following a routine is that things that are important are actually done. 
2. No more procrastination – Everyone in today’s world seems to be affected by this disease called “procrastination”. But, being in routine will never let this happen (provided you follow the routine, not only make routines).
3. Work, passion & learning together – A good routine must contain an equitable division of time for work (that earns you money), passion (that what gives you happiness) & learning (that which will help you grow). Once, you have all these things going on, you will never be unhappy about your life.
4. Keep yourself on track for goals –  When things are actually getting done, you will always be moving closer to your goals, be it a life goal, career goal, educational goal, etc. 
5. Bring variety to life – No one is unfamiliar with the fact that they are mostly living the life in such a way that every day looks the same. For example, general people’s day is :- wake up -> go to work/college -> -> sleep. In this routine, hardly someone will try to fill the ‘?’ with more than one thing. They will extend one activity to fill up everything between work and sleep like, watching some TV-series, playing games, browsing internet/social media, etc. In a proper routine, you will fill the gap with many things targeting different things, like learning something, enjoying, doing hobby stuff, spending time with people you love, etc.
6. Avoid wastage of time – Your routine should be full of things until sleeping time so that you don’t let your mind be idle and just do things that are a waste of time. If you don’t have anything to fill up your day, you are living life in the wrong way. There are so many things to do in this world that you cannot even do a fraction of them in your whole life. Learn things that you don’t know be it small things like driving, swimming, oration or skillful activities like a proper dance form, a sport, playing a musical instrument, etc.
7. You will be healthy – Every daily routine should contain proper time for eating (healthy preferably), sleeping, physical activity/workout. People interested in (and not interested in) mental peace and health should also include meditation/prayer, etc. Having your meals always at the same time makes your body efficient in food consumption (kind of like increasing your body’s mileage).
8. Be happy and satisfied – Once you start seeing that you are able to do everything that you wanted to do, you will feel happy and contended. You will become more friendly towards people. Your attitude will change, people will start appreciating your behavior.
9. Personality development – As you are giving time for your weaknesses, you will keep improving. You will learn new things, you will be disciplined, you will be becoming a better person in many ways. All this provided you are taking off some time for your development and learning.
10. You will be respected – (In the long run) If you see any famous/respected person, one thing is common. They were all consistent and dedicated towards their passion. Consistency is a must if you want to achieve something and routine will let you be consistent.
11. You will know “you” – The worst thing in life is to live it for decades and still not be able to know yourself fully. The process of making an effective routine for yourself will allow you to know yourself, your strength, your weaknesses, your fears and your talent. In turn, you will at least try to make yourself such a person that you yourself are satisfied with it.

But, all of this only exists in real world, if you are able to make a good routine that improves you. Be good at different things, don’t stick to a single hobby. The time that you allot for your hobbies and learning, should contain two or three activities over the course of a week. Always keep some time for your development, keep learning and try to BE AWESOME.

One’s daily routine is a choice, or a series of choices. In the right hands, it can be a finely calibrated mechanism for taking advantage of a range of limited resources. – Mason Currey 

—– Original Article was written by Raj Srivastava

Photo Credit: Instagram @s.dem_| Location: Meteora (Kalambaka)