Peace of Mind Organizing

It's okay to let go of routines occasionally

19 August 2011

I’m a huge believer in the power of routines. I try to stick to the ones I’ve established religiously, since I find that sometimes it’s challenging to jump back on the bandwagon once a routine has been disrupted.

That said, I think it’s fine to mindfully not do something in a routine when circumstances dictate it. For example, I’ve been keeping up my streak of clearing my inbox (down to zero) every work day. I can probably count the number of times I haven’t done this one hand since I started the routine in January. That’s because it’s easy to maintain and very valuable.

But yesterday I was working out of the house for ten hours and once I got home I had a two hour strategic planning meeting. My mind was numb by the end of it. I probably could have handled my email, but I just wanted to get out of the office and talk to my family.

So I told myself that it was okay to walk away from the computer with 11 emails in my inbox. No harm done. I’ll catch up this evening or tomorrow.

Similarly, I was going to give myself a pass on blogging this morning, because I’m still under the gun and have to be out of the house early. (I try to blog Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.) But it occurred to me that the message of mindfully skipping routines might be beneficial to readers, so I decided to take a few minutes and write this.

If you’re going to mindfully disrupt your routine, I’d encourage you to equally mindfully get right back on it as soon as you can. Routines have the power to automate and simplify your life. Let them help you. But don’t let them burden you.

P.S. I’m giving a talk on habits and routines at the Thomas Dunn Memorials on September 28. Click on the Events tab above for more info.

Tagged with: routines

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