You may know I’m a big advocate of routines because for me, they make life simpler. And while I appreciate that this is not a belief shared by all, I'd like to advocate for creating routines or habits in your life.
Let's consider one in which we all partake: brushing our teeth. Our parents taught us from a young age that we need to brush morning and night. And because we do it day in and day out, it becomes something that we perform with ease. We generally don’t need to think about it, we just do it, probably at the same points in our day, every day.
The joy of a habit is that it is performed with very little brain power. You don't need to decide whether you will or won't brush your teeth today, you just do it.
That said, not every routine or habit is done every day and that may be okay. You probably don't change your sheets every day, but you might do it on a set day each week. Determining the timing for a habit may be driven by the habit itself and / or by how you optimally respond to habit formation.
Gretchen Rubin has written and spoken lots about habits in her books and podcast. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life, according to her. And she has transformed how I think about them, particularly in relation to what I do when I want to create them or break them. As we approach the end of the year, and indeed the end of the decade, it seemed like this might be the opportunity to take a moment for consideration of this invisible architecture.
When I embarked on introducing monthly habits earlier this year, I said I would commit to something new every day for a month. This is in part because I know consistency is key to see progress, but also to help develop the activity into a regular practice. Over time, due to experimentations with routine and also in better understanding how I meet inner and outer expectations, I have come to learn that habits are strongest for me when I perform them every day rather than say 4 days a week.
When I committed to green smoothies every day in February, achievement was mine during the allotted time period. However, when the new month came and I moved from green smoothies to something new, I wanted to keep up with the smoothies a few times a week. In doing this, I discovered it was easier for me to keep them going when I have them every day. When I recommitted to them this autumn, daily consumption was the approach I adopted. I don’t have to think about whether I’m making one today or had one yesterday. I just do it each morning, after I shower and before breakfast. And I'm sharing that regularity in my Instagram stories.
Because I’ve been so consistent with them of late, although there was a hiatus during my recent Thanksgiving trip, when I arrived back in London, making a smoothie was one of my first things I did when I got home.
Broadly speaking, my skincare is the same day in and day out: cleanser, toner, eye cream, essence, serum, moisturiser, sunscreen. The consistent, every day approach works well for my mind and my skin.
My skincare routine has also taught me that I need to have patience with my vitamin C and retinol application, which is why I keep a calendar in my bathroom to track days on and days off. This helps me remember when I need to apply it and when I last applied it. Because this step in the AM (vit C) and PM (retinol) can't be performed on autopilot, I need some help to know when I need it and when I don't.
What habits keep you going? What habits do you want to establish?