For a few weeks now, I’ve felt like I was adrift. While considering my daily routine and struggling to get back on the horse, I came to a deeper insight. A daily routine without purpose is monotonous. If I’m going through my daily repeating task list with no aim or goal, I should feel bored and lost. If the tasks that I’m accomplishing day in and day out aren’t oriented towards some larger goal, then how can I expect fulfillment?

Using that lens, I took a closer look at my schedule and daily task list. On it, I saw lots of cleaning. Every Monday I do the laundry and clean the entire house. Each day I clean the kitchen and sweep the floors. Cleaning is my responsibility in my family and I relish a clean house. In order to fulfill my responsibility and have a clean house, I have to work at it every day.

I enjoy writing and publishing on this blog. I need to take time each week to plan, write, edit, prepare, and publish.

I want to live a healthy life. I need to maintain a healthy sleep cycle and exercise for an hour each day. I need to avoid sugar and drink water each day.

I want to be a constant learner, so I need to take time each day to read.

I want to be a great father, so I need to take care of my children and play with them.

As I take a look at these goals, I start to see the contours of my day. I want to get an early start, so I need to get to bed on time. Waking up early with nothing to do is annoying. Waking up with purpose, and understanding how that enables me to get all that I want to get done, gives tremendous meaning.

Routine is more than just a cycle. Routine is your goals, broken down into daily steps, and assigned a specific time to work on them. Woven together, these days bring meaningful progress over time.

It’s easy to feel stuck or adrift when everything is routine. When you start to look at the bigger picture, your goals and the direction that your life is going in starts to come into focus.

Tags: Productivity