I tend to think of good habits and routines more as rhythms and practices. They help ground us when life gets messy.
When we don’t have predictable rhythms, everyday stress tends to pile up fast. That’s when simple decisions—like what to eat or when to work out—start feeling like a mountain to climb.
I’ll be honest: I get bored with mundane tasks too. After a long day of meetings, the last thing I want to do is cook and clean. But I’ve noticed that when I have supportive routines in place, I feel less overwhelmed and more present.
Having daily and weekly routines that reduce uncertainty and decision fatigue can be a simple way to feel more grounded and less overwhelmed when other stressors that we can’t control crop up. They can help us show up with more intention instead of reacting on autopilot.
How Habits & Routines Can Help Reduce Stress:
- Predictability calms the nervous system: Uncertainty is a major driver of stress.
- Reduces decision fatigue: meal prepping or deciding what to wear for the next day or week frees up mental energy.
- Daily movement or exercise: physical activity helps regulate cortisol, release tension, and improve mood. (Tip: even a short walk makes a huge difference.)
- Bedtime and Wake Routine: having a consistent bedtime and wake-up routine helps your body recover from stress.
- Self-Reflection: consistent practices like journaling, mindfulness, or meditation helps reduce rumination which is the source of a lot of our stress.
- Time-blocking: Structuring your day can prevent overwhelm by ensuring you have time for focused work and transitions.
- Evening and morning routines: your evening routine can help reduce a great deal of stress the next morning. Prepping breakfasts and lunches the evening before can lower the overwhelm of getting everyone ready for the day. Having intentional practices like meditation or prayer can give you a sense of grounding.
How the Lack of Good Routines & Habits Increase Stress:
- Decision fatigue and scattered focus: without routines you end up having to make dozens of small daily decisions that can drain mental energy and become the tiny triggers that build up and increase stress.
- Unpredictable schedule: Not having a consistent routine can make you feel rushed and in a hurry.
- Neglecting your health: basic things like good nutrition, drinking enough water, and sleep can easily fall through the cracks.
- No intentional time to recharge: when your day doesn’t include breaks for rest stress can accumulate over time.
- You’re mind is in overdrive: when we don’t have consistent routines we have a hard time quieting our minds so we can rest.
- Reacting instead of being proactive: a lack of rhythms to our day makes it easy to get swept up in the demands from others leaving us overwhelmed and out of control.
Practices and Rhythms to Set You Up for Success:
- Evening routine: cleaning up, prepping what you can for tomorrow, winding down with reading and gratitude and no screens.
- Morning routine: journaling, meditating, prayer, stretching
- Weekly planning: setting your priorities, schedule downtime, meal planning
- Intentional transitions: schedule breaks between meetings or tasks so your brain and body have time to breathe.
- Daily movement: walks, workouts, yoga, etc. The benefit of movement is it helps your body release any built up stress.
Ready to create rhythms & routines that actually support you? You don’t have to figure it all out on your own. Schedule an on-the-house strategy session to explore how coaching can help.