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Routine is boring for some but is it the key to helping you manage chaos?

“Routine is boring for some but is it the key to helping you manage chaos?”

The word ‘routine’ gets a bad rap. It brings about images of boring, repetitive actions that often include activities that just have to be done. Sometimes this is true, however, we can also take a lateral approach to how we view those routine activities and even see the value in creating routine.

In a world where we often feel time poor, stretched between our work and personal lives and feeling like there’s never enough time to do the things we enjoy, we have the opportunity to view routine as being a stabilising factor. Using routine to your advantage is more than just practicing good time management. It’s about allocating boundaries around how we spend our time and what we hope to gain from investing ourselves in those activities.

Think about how you structure your month. If you have regular appointments that you must attend they become the pillars in your schedule. Everything else gets moved in and around those pillars. Those appointments are routine, but they also act as stabilisers to the rest of your allocated time. Using this theory, adding more routine by allocating time specifically to certain tasks or activities doesn’t make our lives less interesting but rather it creates more stability.

If you feel like chaos has taken the wheel maybe routine is your answer? Recognise your routine pillars and see if you can add one more at a time until you feel like the chaos is now under your control. Routine should be our friend, not an acquaintance we only involve ourselves with if forced to. This week is a great time to re-evaluate your relationship with routine, chaos, and boundaries.

Kathleen is the AUSactive dedicated Mental Health Consultant Clinician with the Partners In Wellbeing program. She provides FREE counselling and mental health advice to all AUSactive members and their staff and families. She can be contacted on 0456 380 307 or [email protected]

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