This is another one of those articles that is as much for me as it is for you, dear reader. The past few weeks have been a blur, where the only theme has been a very obvious lack of structure. Some days I am starting my day at 11pm after an ill-timed nap, unable to sleep until evening the following day. Others start off at a more reasonable 7am but end up being lost to aimless scrolling on Twitter and Instagram. Unsurprisingly, I’ve been missing almost all the lectures I can afford to then binge watching them days later at 1.5x speed. All this is to say that I DESPERATELY need to create a routine for myself, and soon. However, something about these winter months has made this task a lot more difficult than it was five months ago. For inspiration, I turned to YouTube and spoke to some friends on how they have been creating structure in their own lives. Read on to see their advice.
- Schedule things to get yourself out of bed.
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For better or worse, I’m far better at holding myself accountable to other people than I am to myself. Until I’m finally able to fix this, I’ve decided to schedule things in the morning with other people whenever I can- sleeping in is a lot worse when you had planned a to meet with someone else during that time.
- Make the most of the limited sunlight.
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If you struggle to wake up when its dark outside (and you can afford to sleep until its light out), ease yourself into a routine by waking up when the sun rises. Once you get used to this, you can start waking up earlier and earlier until you have reached your desired wake-up time
- Get active.
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Exercise is great for a lot of reasons. Most relevant to today’s discussion, it tires you out during the day so that you actually want to go to bed when nighttime comes around. Even a walk around your neighbourhood is enough to achieve this.
- Plan your day the night before.
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This will give you a sense of purpose, both while you go to bed and as you wake up the next morning. Less mornings spent doing nothing/ trying to figure out what you should focus on for the rest of your day means more time to actually get shit done.
- Give yourself some incentive to get out of bed in the first place.
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What would make it worth it for you to get out of bed in the first place? Starbucks? Brunch with your roommate? A new workout you have been wanting to try? Whatever that thing is for you, plan it into your schedule the night before. Hopefully you’ll be less tempted to press snooze the next morning.