Do it on the daily

Since I’ve been out of work, I must admit that the temptation to lay around and chill has been very strong from time to time. The thought of unlimited freedom sounds mighty nice at first. Stay up late, sleep in, eat whatever, whenever. What a life!

Realistically, this is just not feasible and it would get old quite quickly. Whether we care to admit it or not, we humans need some form of structure in our lives.

One of the things this little life challenge has allowed me to do is get back to establishing a daily routine.

When I was working I did have one, but at the end of my run I must admit it got pretty haphazard. Three to four hours of sleep per day tends to leave one in a less than organized state of mind.

Getting back into a daily routine allowed me to focus and not dwell on current circumstances to the point where I ended up in a depressed state. Even the smaller actions served a purpose and got me in the mindset of action over stagnation.

Upon waking, the first thing I do is head for the coffee maker. I get it set the night before so that all I have to do is literally press start. Currently I am using a Kuerig coffee maker, so it only takes a couple minutes to brew a cup.

Next, I take my cup of coffee and go outside and sit on the back steps and just enjoy the quiet of the morning hours for 5 – 10 minutes. Even if it’s raining, snowing or whatever, I take this time regardless. I find it’s good to have that few moments of reflection and silence.

Note: I don’t even think about checking my phone or anything until the above two actions have taken place. I spend enough time on the damned phone and computer. They can live without me, and I without them, for at least a few minutes.

When I do open up the phone/comp, I check emails, texts, etc. and reply to anything that needs an immediate response. Anything else can wait a bit, no worries.

Once I have taken care of any pressing matters, I set some time aside to write, read and comment. The amount of time depends on what other commitments I have on a given day.

After this, I set aside time to work out. One of the things I really let go of in past months was this simple pleasure. I aim to do something every day, but 4 times per week I set aside 45 – 60 minutes to exercise. I did not realize how much I truly needed and missed it until I resumed doing so. On the remaining 3 days I aim for 15 – 20 minutes of activity.

Late morning and early afternoon are when I schedule the majority of my appointments. Currently, those revolve around job searching, visiting recruiters, doctor’s appointments and the like.

Late afternoons and evenings are typically set aside for other pursuits like errands, family commitments and such. This will change slightly when I start my course at the local college next week.

In the evenings I normally set aside more time to write and read. After this, I enjoy some leisure time, dinner and so on.

I always try to end my day in silence much like I started it. I find that the quiet time for planning the next day and some more reflection truly help me stay balanced.

Your daily routine can be as structured of as forgiving as you please or need. There is no right or wrong answer. It’s whatever works for Y-O-U.

I think the most important thing is to give yourself some structure and the ability to take action every day. The old adage of “use it or lose it” definitely applies here.

If you haven’t made up a daily routine for yourself yet, give it a shot. Maybe it’s the one of the little components that will help you get back on track.

If ti doesn’t work, there’s always laying around and chilling out all day to be done.