Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
Routines are my absolute favorite word, but you either love them or you're working on getting there. And either way, I strongly believe routines can be a springboard for improving your home, yourself and your life. I'm Ashley Brown. And this is the routine and things podcast. And in each episode, I'll share practical tips and simple ways for you to consistently live your happiest life. One routine at a time. Trust me, you're going to want to keep listening, because you're well on your way to getting and staying happy.
Ashley Brown 0:31
On e of my least favorite memories as a mom happened when I was a stay at home mom. This day in particular, I had so many things to do. I was behind on laundry I needed to schedule my daughter a doctor's appointment and the house was a mess. I mean a hot mess. And funny enough, even though it's not funny, when I got to the end of my day, nothing had been done. You know those days. Thankfully, I had a God moment and realize I have fallen out of routine. Yes, this routine oriented girl had fallen out of routine. And honestly, it took me a while to get back on track. Because routines have always naturally falling into place for me in the past. But this was very different. I had to intentionally rebuild my routines one by one. And although it took time and patience, the impact routines had on my life was incredible. And I learned so much along the way. This is why I'm so excited to share with you that your girl did a thing.
Ashley Brown 1:45
I wrote a book, The Routine Building Handbook, you're all in one habit builder for increased productivity, inspired work, and lasting success. The Routine Building Handbook is an easy to use Practical Guide for starting, creating and maintaining routines to help you decrease stress, improve your sleep, and build a productive, joyful life. It gives you all the tools you need to introduce structure predictability, and stability, including a customizable habit building roadmap, ideas for weekday, weekend, morning and night routines. plenty of examples of realistic daily and weekly routines, and advice for staying flexible. You can now preorder the book, which comes with some amazing bonuses for a limited time to preorder The Routine Building Handbook, you can head to Routineandthings.com/book or click the link in the show notes.
Ashley Brown 2:44
Hey, welcome back for another episode of the Routine and Things Podcast. I'm so happy that you're joining me. I'm your girl, Ashley Brown. And today we're going to be talking about how to reevaluate your routines. How excited are you for this episode? Because I'm super excited to dive into this, because I'm answering a question that I have gotten on many occasions, how to reevaluate the routines that you currently have, especially if they're feeling like they don't work anymore. So we're going to be talking about that today. So when it comes to reevaluating your routines, I will say that it's basically like reevaluating anything in your life, reevaluating a relationship. Y'all know how sometimes that be. Reevaluating your friendships, that comes up to sometimes. Reevaluating your life, you know, so it's really basically the same process is that we're reevaluating routines. And so I'm going to take you step by step through that to give you some tips on how you can do so because I think it's gonna be really helpful.
Ashley Brown 3:51
First, before I get into things I want you to note, you can definitely preorder the book if you so choose. I would love for you to support. For you to support not only Routine and Things and myself as an author, but more so support your daggone self, you know, support you in your routine building so you can live life with more ease and more intention and just be a lot happier in life. Because this thing called life can get hard at times. And I really feel like this book can be a really safe space for you to go to when you're feeling that especially in certain capacities. So you can do so you can preorder the book by going to Routineandthings.com/book or it will be linked in the show notes. Let's get into things though. How to reevaluate your routines. So first, let me start off by saying that in certain moments, it's going to be really helpful for you to reevaluate routines.
Ashley Brown 4:43
And I feel like you know, one moment that is usually really evident that you need to reevaluate what your routines is when life feels stressful when something seems to not be going right with the routines that you have when you're feeling really frustrated about how things are flowing in your home or just in your Life, this is a really huge indication that you need to reevaluate your routines. But I feel like that's really in your face. But I really want you to know this usually the times where you definitely need to reevaluate your routines. Because if you're not having any stumbling blocks, if you're not feeling super stressed, if you're not having high anxiety about how the flow of your life or days are going, then it's no need to reevaluate your routines. So just think about, you know, is it right now something in your life that's causing you immense stress and can have routine help with that?
Ashley Brown 5:33
And can you switch up a current routine that you have that can better support you? Now, I will also say that when it comes to reevaluate in your routines, you want your feelings, but also facts, which is data to drive this. So of course, we're going to feel those ways, maybe stress, maybe anxious, really frustrated at small things sometimes. But also, we want to make sure not only with the feelings that we have is that we have data and facts that show that yes, this routine needs to be reevaluated and changed and switched up. And I talk about that in another episode. But I want for you to think about that is the actual data that proves how you're feeling is substantial enough for you to change your routine? When it comes to actually changing up your routines and reevaluating them. I'm going to take you through three steps to do this. And this is kind of like a mini routine for this if I'm being really honest.
Ashley Brown 6:30
So step one, when it comes to reevaluating your routines, you want to first choose one routine to reevaluate first step, you have to just choose one, we don't want to reevaluate 2 3 4 5 routines one at a time. This is even in routine building, when you are thinking about building a routine, you want to create one routine at a time. Build one routine at a time. Why do you want just reevaluate one at a time? Because it's going to cause you to not be as stressed when you're going about reevaluating. And it's going to be easier for you to reevaluate that routine, change it and then move on with your life. And you're going to be able to more so maintain this routine if you only reevaluate one at a time. And so when you go to change it, you don't have to be doing so many routines at one time.
Ashley Brown 7:19
So one routine at a time to reevaluate. And this can be the routine, because you may be like, okay, Ashley, I need to reevaluate multiple routines. Because first of all, the New Year is coming up right now. But you might just be in a season of life, where you know, a lot of things aren't working. And you're like, Okay, I need to reevaluate many routines. What do I do in that instance, you want to think about the routine that is going to be most beneficial for you right now. Or think about the routine that is going to be easiest to get up and going like reevaluate and get up and going and moving again, because the worst thing you can do is choose one a very complicated routine, if you're trying to choose between many, stick with the simplest routine to reevaluate and then go with that one, because I think that will be really helpful for you.
Ashley Brown 8:13
But what routine is that for you? And just, you know, think about that for a second. Because usually it's one that kind of hits you in your gut. And you're like, Yeah, I need to reevaluate this one example of this. So many times when we're reevaluating a routine throughout the year, one routine that comes up, especially if you're a mama, one routine that usually comes up is your children's routine, especially when they are out of school. So this can be them coming home for like a holiday break, for an extended period period of time, this can be them coming home for a summer break, right? And so these transitions, right, because that's usually when you're going to change up a routine when it's a transition in your life.
Ashley Brown 9:00
This transition is a point where you want to reevaluate the routine, this will be a clear indication that you want to reevaluate your children's routine, because their routine now of being in school is going to be completely different when they're home. They're not in school when they're home, right. And so it's going to be very different. And so this is a really great way for you to think about when it's important to reevaluate your routine. So that could be for you, you may have something that's really evident that you're like, Oh, I may need to reevaluate my children's routine because the holidays are coming up or the holiday break, and they're going to be at home. So let me reevaluate this routine, because I know that's going to change dramatically. Okay, so that's just an example there. But the first step is to choose one routine to reevaluate.
Ashley Brown 9:44
The second step is to pick apart your current routine. Okay, yep, we're gonna pick it apart. And this can be done. I love to do this by writing it on paper. I will sometimes type it into my phone or my computer depending on what's in front of me and I will write through step by step what that routine looks like, on a list and I just list step by step, what is this routine? And then that's when I'll go through line by line. And I say, okay, should this stay or should this go? Is this helpful is not helpful in the routine, you want to make sure that what stays in the routine is actually necessary to be in the routine, or that its actually working for the routine, and working for you. And so you can really look at assessing what the routine looks like now and how it will have to change. That's essentially what you're doing.
Ashley Brown 10:39
So if we were doing this, for example, the kids going on holiday break, then you would write out their current routine now .They wake up, they get dressed, eat breakfast, I take them to school, they're at school all day, they come home, they do homework, we eat dinner, we have family time, and they go to bed. That's your kids routine. And that's like summing it up, it can even be shorter than that. But that's essentially your children's routine, you're going to write that out in the list, or type it out. And then you're going to go line by line, because what doesn't work in that routine for this holiday break? what doesn't work is they're in school, the step of them being in school ain't happening. So it's no reason to leave that in there, we need to take that out. And you can either just take it out completely, and not substitute it with something even though I don't think that's the smartest. I don't think that's the smartest idea because your children will just drive you insane.
Ashley Brown 11:38
But you can also or and you can also switch that or replace that with something else. So maybe when they go to school, you're like, okay, in that space, what they're going to do instead is they're going to have TV time. And then we're going to do some type of activity and then go for a walk have some outside time. And then that's when we pick back up where we left off where it's dinner and you know, family time or x y & z. So do you see how that basically works is that you take out what's needed. If they're not going to be in school, take it out, replace it with something else. Or like I say, maybe you had in the routine, they do homework, they don't need to do homework when they're home for holiday breaks, you could just take that out, and it doesn't need to be replaced with anything else. And so just think about reevaluate your routines. And that way just in this step is picking apart the routine going line by line.
Ashley Brown 12:32
But first, you have to know what the routine looks like. And that can sometimes be the tricky part. But this is a great thing about reevaluating routines is because you get to understand what is truly in your routine. And are all the things necessary. One thing about routines and like picking them apart is like you can get back to being really simple. And keeping things really simple. Because sometimes we can get to overcomplicating our lives and doing this reevaluation can indicate that and can show that and then you can be like, You know what, let me just keep it simple here. And so that's something I will tell you, as always keep your routine simple, because it's going to keep your life simple, you're going to feel a lot better. But that's step two, pick apart your current routine.
Ashley Brown 13:18
The last step, once you do that is to test the flow of the routine. Oh, man, this is really important. Because sometimes we just want to jump into it and just go like gung ho and just be like, I'm keeping this routine. That's not the wisest choice to make. Because sometimes when you revamp your routines after reevaluating them, you may see when you actually go to do the routine, it doesn't work how you thought, because what's on paper sometimes doesn't translate to reality, okay, and so we want to make sure that you test your flow of the routine, see if it works, see if it works, you know, for example, with the kids see if the new flow or holiday break actually works, because maybe you can move that to when they're at home for summer break, maybe I don't know, but you can see if that works. And if something didn't work, you tested it, it didn't work, your children didn't do it.
Ashley Brown 14:12
Or they were more involved in something else. Like maybe you were like, Okay, I want them to watch TV and instead, they didn't want to watch you they wanted to go outside at that time, then maybe you can switch and be like, Okay, we're gonna go outside outside at this time tomorrow, and maybe save TV time for later. It's like those little tweaks that sometimes you have to make, but it's okay. I give you permission to change up the routine because that's what testing it helps you do is know that you can change it up if you need to see if it works and keep it going until it no longer is needed. Okay? That's something sometimes routines are short lived, like for this example, when children home for holiday break. That's short lived. And so you want to keep the routine until you no longer need it. And if the routine is short lived then just go back to the normal routine, when it's time, that's all you have to do is just switch back to a normal routine.
Ashley Brown 15:06
But if you reevaluate your routine, you realize that the normal routine wasn't working like it just wasn't, or that the normal routine was too complicated or didn't have a certain component in there, like it wasn't really that fun, or it didn't allow for some flexibility, then you can go ahead and change that up, you know, so I want for you to think about that, it's really important that you reevaluate your routines, especially when you're feeling a change or when transitions happen. Transitions are a huge indication to change up your routine, I don't care how small how big the transition is, it can be that you started back at work that you need to change up a routine, it can be that your child isn't feeling well that you need to train up a routine, any type of transition, it can be you moved into a house, a new house, many times with transitions, you're going to need to change up the routine. So this is how you reevaluate them.
Ashley Brown 16:01
These are the steps that you take. And I hope that that was helpful. I break this down as well in The Routine Building Handbook. That's why I love this book so much. And I think it's going to be super helpful for you because it's a resource you're going to pull out constantly with just throughout life because it has those practical tips, and answers a lot of questions that you're going to have as you go through life, and you're reevaluating routines, and you're trying to build routines. And just with the transition of life, this is a book that is going to help you with that. So to preorder, I would truly love the support, you can order it for yourself, order it for a friend, but preorder The Routine Building Handbook. Link is in the show notes or you can go to Routineandthings.com/book.
Ashley Brown 16:46
So as we end today, I just want you to know that reevaluating your routines is just a part of life, it doesn't mean that anything is wrong with you, you are so worthy and so perfect just the way you are and is just something needs to be changed. And maybe a transition happened maybe now life feels a lot more stressful, but know that you can reevaluate and switch up things if need be. Last but not least, your routine wisdom for today is you may need to reevaluate your routines right now, you may need to. So think about that. Ponder on that for some time for today and see if you need to reevaluate. Take that sheet of paper, take out your phone, start typing it out, because you're going to see a lot more ease come into your life when you change up routines that need it.
Ashley Brown 17:32
Thank you for joining me today, be sure to subscribe to the podcast as well as rate and review the show. This is something that I always ask you to do because it really helps to support the show and to support other women who are looking for this type of information to make their lives a lot happier and healthier. So thank you so much. Also share this episode with someone you know today. And until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing, stay happy and I will talk to you next week.
Ashley Brown 18:03 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoy today's episode, take a screenshot and share it on social I would love to know you're listening and for tools to help you start maintain and enjoy your routines. Be sure to head to routineandthings.com. Here's to staying happy.