Ashley Brown 0:00 [Intro]
You know you're in need of routine. But maybe you haven't started one yet. In this episode of the routine and things podcast, I'm sharing three very common beliefs stopping you from starting routines and what you can do about it. Be sure to pay attention to this episode because you will take away so much, let's get started.
Ashley Brown 0:32
something I've become more and more passionate about over the last four years is living a somewhat organized life. With running a business, teaching part time, and two little girls running around, I would not be able to stay on top of most things if I hadn't established routines that support me in staying organized. And through that journey, I've found that I love helping other women do the same that is teaching them to establish their own healthy routines to support them through any season of life. That's why I am so freaking excited to bring you the Rock Your Routine Summit, a free virtual four day event that will help you build a better family routine to lessen overwhelm, get organized and feel more in control of your life. The Rock Your Routine Summit is our very first summit. And my ultimate goal is to ensure you take action towards starting a routine that will give you back time, energy and peace of mind as a working mom. The summit will run from April 17th through the 20th. Each day will be filled with amazing speakers who are ready to help you establish better family routines. Plus, there will be a pop up Facebook group where you'll be able to connect with other working moms. I hope you are just as excited as I am. To learn more about the Rock Your Routine Summit and to grab your free ticket, be sure to click the link in the show notes.
Ashley Brown 1:52
Welcome back for another episode of the Routine and Things Podcast. Today we are talking about three common beliefs stopping you from starting routines. Because maybe you know, like, you know, hands down a routine would be very, very helpful for your life. But maybe you haven't actually started one. So what's stopping you do you know, maybe you're like I didn't know anything was stopping me. But if you're listening to this, I'm pretty sure you know something is getting in the way. But maybe you're not sure about what that thing is. And so I want to share what common beliefs can stop us from starting the thing that we know we need a part of our lives and specifically today we're focusing on what's stopping you from starting the routine you need for your life. Okay, let's go ahead and get into it.
Ashley Brown 2:44
It's going to be a short and sweet episode. So when we're talking about beliefs, three common beliefs that I see the first one is you need to have it all figured out before you start. And this was me, oh my gosh, like I'm laughing because I'm this way still to a certain extent that I feel like I need to have, I need to know about things before I start. But I've gotten better. Like I think it's important for you to know what you're doing before you start. But sometimes we take it a little bit overboard. And we want to know every little thing that could possibly happen once we start so that we can try to avoid doing the thing when it gets there so that we don't have no hiccups. And that stops us that might be stopping you.
Ashley Brown 3:33
You're like no I need to have it all figured out. I need to know what could stop me once I start this routine. I need to know every little detail about what might pop up what roadblocks might come how I'm going to avoid this with my kids how I'm going to get my family on board. How am I going? You want to know every little nitty gritty piece before you start the routine. And that could be possibly stopping you from starting the routine that you need to get going ASAP. Okay, so that's one thing an example of this because I was thinking about this and I was thinking back to when I was wanting to start an exercise routine because I had gotten off from my exercise and this was like some months back.
Ashley Brown 4:18
I had gotten off of my exercise and I was like okay, I really want to start back honey I sat up here and I was like you know what? I just need some new clothes. I need some new workout clothes. I done went on line. I done went clicking around putting new workout clothes in my cart on Asos if you have not shopped at ASOS A-S-O-S I love their clothes by the way. If so, that's just a bonus for you. But I was shopping on Asos picked out some clothes or the clothes. It took two weeks for the clothes to get here. Look what happened. I didn't start the exercise routine until about three to four weeks later. I stopped myself from starting that routine because I was like Oh no, I need some better clothes. Girl you have shorts and a sports bra upstairs in your closet. What are you talking about? So I just feel like sometimes we can feel like I need this thing or I need to know this or I can't start before I have this or before this is figured out?
Ashley Brown 5:18
No, no, because some things need to be figured out in the process of doing it. Some things can't be pre thought about beforehand is best if it is figured out along the journey figured out along the way. And so if this is stopping, you don't let it all you need to know is what is included in a routine, what makes a routine work. That's really it and to start the daggone routine. And whatever comes you can figure it out along the way. We have a lot of resources here at Routine and Things, but you can figure it out along the way. It's no need for you stopping yourself from starting a routine, because you don't know all the moving parts in the beginning, you know, so I just wanted to share, that's one common belief that comes up and pops up that can lead you to not start the routine that you need right now.
Ashley Brown 6:10
So if that's you cut it out, start that routine girl. Second common belief that I see is that you're scared that you won't be able to stick to it. This is a very common one. Because you know how it goes. Some of us feel as if we are not consistent individuals. And you know, I get up on my high horse about this all the freaking time about that you are consistent. You just might not be consistent with your routine, but you are a consistent person in general. And when you believe this, you will have more success with sticking to your routine, you might be scared that you're not going to stick to it. So you feel like what's the point? I see it all the time. It's like what's the point of starting this routine? If my life changes so much, I'm not gonna be able to do at the same time on the same day a week, blah, blah.
Ashley Brown 6:56
And it's like, okay, I'm not starting what how does it feel when you don't start that routine? Or the fact that you don't have that routine a part of your life? How does it feel because if your life isn't feeling good, if it's not flowing? Well, if you feel like it's not as manageable as you would like it to be start the routine because it does not have to be picture perfect, you do not. Consistency, let me just share this with you. Consistency does not need to mean every day, it does not need to mean every day for you. Consistency is how much you need to do the routine in order for it to support your life. That could be three days a week, that could be five days a week, that could be seven days a week, it depends on how much you need the routine for your particular life. That's what consistency means.
Ashley Brown 7:42
And consistency is not that you don't miss a day, every once in a while. Please, if that was the case, and I wouldn't be consistent, I miss my routines or sometimes I choose not to do my routines on certain days. It just depends on what's going on in my life. But you know what I choose my routine more often than not. So when it comes to you being scared about not being able to stick to your routine that is hindering your progress with the routine because you're letting fear get in the way of your progress. Do not allow fear to block your progress. Do not allow fear to hinder you from starting a routine that could truly benefit you in the season of life that you're in right now. We can kick fear to the side we can say fear and go go sit next to somebody else.
Ashley Brown 8:24
First of all, just don't go sit next to nobody just get out of all of our faces. You know what I mean? Is like don't do it today fear because fear will block us sometimes, but you can stick to your routine, let that fear go is going to be all good. So that's the second common belief that I see. And then the third common belief that I see when it comes to not starting a routine that you know is needed is that you believe that your life is too stressful or busy to start a routine right now. You are allowing stress and busyness to stop you from starting your routine. And here's the thing about routines. They help alleviate stress, they help to reduce busyness. So by you avoiding or just not starting the routine, you're actually causing yourself more stress, and you're letting that stress and linger in that busyness linger by not starting the routine because you might feel like wait, like I don't really have the time to be starting something right now.
Ashley Brown 9:26
Or I'm too busy to start something new right now. Or I'm just too stressed. I don't know how to start something when I'm stressed. And I get it. I get it. When you're stressed, you can't think clearly. That's why you're like I'm not going to start it right now. Because when you're stressed when we are stressed as people our heads are cloudy, we don't make the best judgment calls when we're stressed. That's why many times we will lean into not doing certain things are beneficial because our minds are filled with stress. So we're not making the best judgments for our life, that's why I'm here to share with you start that routine girl. Because if you're stressed, you need it, you need that routine. Routines really help reduce stress directly or indirectly, it doesn't really matter why you're stressed.
Ashley Brown 10:13
To be perfectly honest, a routine can help you to alleviate stress, no matter where it's coming from, whether that's directly resolving a problem that you might be having that's causing you to be stressed. So maybe, for example, what's causing you to be stressed right now is your kids don't go to bed at a relatively good time for you to get time for yourself. And so what you could do is, if that's causing you stress, you can start a bedtime routine for your kids and get them into a rhythm of going to bed at a certain time. And that will help to reduce your stress. Or maybe your stress is not produced by something that you feel like a routine could help with. So for example, maybe right now you're stressed because you're like, your marriage isn't going the best in your opinion, right?
Ashley Brown 10:57
Or maybe you and your partner aren't getting along as well. And that's stressing you out in your life. If that's the case, a routine can still help you. For example, maybe it's helping indirectly. So you start a routine for yourself, maybe a good old bedtime routine, where you're nourishing yourself, you're pouring into yourself at night. And you know what start in that routine can help alleviate stress, because what it can do is it can open your eyes to seeing life in a different perspective, depending on what you're doing your bedtime routine. If you have gratitude practice a part of your bedtime routine or meditation or prayer, maybe that will open up your mind to be like, You know what things might not be the way that I want them to be, but I'm gonna be okay. And we're gonna be okay. And that could help because it's alleviating the stress that bedtime routine.
Ashley Brown 11:46
So yeah, whether it's indirectly or directly routines alleviate stress for you. And so that's something that you want to just make sure you keep at the forefront of your mind. If you are stressed right now, if you're going through it, if life seems a little bit gray, or a lot gray, if it seems cloudy, if you can't really see the light at the end of the tunnel allow routines to support you allow routines to support you. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. So that's what I wanted to share when it comes to three common beliefs that will stop you from starting routines. Those are the major three that I see constantly. They're not helpful for you, these beliefs are not helpful for you, they're hindering your progress. They're stopping you from enjoying life.
Ashley Brown 12:30
They're stopping you from getting on track to where you know you want to be and where you know, you deserve to be. So don't let these thoughts hold you back. Start that routine, get started with it. If you need help, we have a lot of things at routineandthings.com and coming up very, very, very soon. Next week is the Rock Your Routine summit. The Rock Your Routine Summit is a free four day event. It's virtual, where it's going to help working moms build better routines to help decrease overwhelm, get organized, help you to feel more in control of your life, which I want for you to feel like you have a sense of control over your life because you do you do so that's there for you. You can click the link in the show notes for that. But I hope that this episode was helpful for you. Until next time, continue to enjoy wherever you are, whatever you're doing, Stay happy, and I'll talk to you next week.
Ashley Brown 13:23 [Outro]
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed 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.