Greetings Lori,
I'm so glad to have you back!
Thank you so much for visiting the forum and reading the article about
routines .
Here's one routine that I�ve followed off and on for years. Now I�m trying to make it a standard part of my life, to get up around 4:30-5 am every weekday. And I have a goal to go to bed at the same time every night 9:30 pm. I haven't been as successful at the going to bed part as the getting up. I�m still on the journey with that.
Also I start dinner and begin to prepare the children for bed at 6 pm. That�s also a very, very important routine that I�m pretty good about adhering too. What I�d like to add are study routines and exercise routines. Then I�ll be guaranteed to get these things done.
I like routines because they�ve taught me to trust myself. I won�t EVER, EVER, EVER be late for work or for any other important ongoing events or activities if I routinize them.
I think you can be even MORE creative if you have routines. For example I�ve found that having a routine in the morning with my children alleviates a lot of confusion and unpleasantness. We have the routine�breakfast, bathroom, dressing, shoes, etc--down pat to the point where we have time to enjoy music, play games and even read a story or two before school! If I were rushing around and chaotic, we couldn�t do these creative things that get the day off to a good start.
Another part of this is to keep track of your time. I found an EXCELLENT website that helps you to track your time, it�s called
www.toggl.com. I�ll write more on this in upcoming articles.