Daily Routine

August 22, 2017

I Haven’t Been Able To Stick To Anything

I think it’s all because of my messed up evening routine.

I want to have a consistent morning routine, but I go to bed at different times every night. And, I never know how well I am going to sleep, so it’s hard to justify waking up super early (like 4:30 AM).

But, if I can generate an evening routine that basically revolves around when Finn goes to bed at 8 PM, I think I can get things consistent enough to have a solid evening and morning.

I think I need a long routine (normal days) and a short routine (after I get home a little later from something else).

The longer routine would involve the following things:

  • Reading
  • Cleaning
  • Planning
  • Prepping

The shorter routine would involve only planning and prepping.

As far as daily habits go, that would leave me with this as my morning tasks:

  • Writing
  • Meditating
  • Bible Reading
  • Exercising
  • Getting Ready

So I think I want to do this as my evening routine:

  • 7:00 PM - Bath with Finn and Reading
  • 7:30 PM - Bed Time for Finn
  • 8:00 PM - Bedtime Routine

Bedtime Routine:

  1. Cleaning
  2. Prepping
  3. Planning
  4. Reading

I’m not putting a timeframe on any of these tasks, mostly because they will change from night to night. Some nights there will be very little cleaning and lots of reading. Other nights there may be lots of cleaning and no reading. I think prepping and planning will take similar amounts of time each night.

Things to prepare for the next day

  • Exercise Clothes / Shoes
  • Work Clothes / Shoes
  • Work Bag
  • Pocket Items + Work Badge
  • Water Bottle (In Fridge)
  • Lunch (In Fridge)
  • Bottle For Finn
  • Coffee
  • Set Stuff By Door

I think that’s it. This list will probably change.

I Want To Be Consistent

I still haven’t decided whether or not I will be going to work and exercising, or staying home and exercising.

There are a lot of advantages to going to work, sans the drive. It feels weird to drive 40 minutes as soon as you wake up.

I’d almost prefer the drive be after I complete some of the morning tasks that I need to do. The only way to figure out what I like is to test it thoroughly. Do it for a week one way, and do it for the next week the other way.

During my commute, I’d like to either have some educational material or some spiritual material playing. I have a daily bible audio app that I will be testing out. I figure this is a good way to get in the word daily while still using my time wisely. I could do Bible in the morning, and a sermon, podcast or audio book on the way home.

Building a solid daily routine is tough. Eliminating distractions and things that can stop the routine is hard as well. This will need to be an effort on both my and my wife’s part.

I desperately want to be consistent. I want to be reliable. I want to be the person I know I can to be.

I would like to start by getting up at 6 AM, following going to bed at 11 PM. I want to start getting less sleep. I want to be able to run on 6 - 6.5 solid hours, meaning I will need to have good healthy routines in place to stay alert and fresh.

It would be nice to do 11 to 5, that would mean I could pretty much have an evening routine even after doing things in the evening with family and friends.