The only thing more frustrating than the sound of your alarm going off at six a.m. is remembering the list in your phone of everything you need to accomplish that day. You are barely a functioning human being yet and you are staring down a daunting list of chores and homework assignments waiting to be done. Not to mention, you wanted to shave your legs, put on a face mask, and go to hot yoga today too. Now, not only does your list of responsibilities seem impossible, but your self-care for the day has just turned into a chore as well. By the end of the day, you got your responsibilities done, but once again, your self-care got pushed to the side. Ugh!
Sound familiar? Trust me when I say, I know the feeling. For many people, the chaos of daily responsibilities gets in the way of completing self-care. As confirmed by Everyday Health, self-care is a crucial component of a healthy life. Without it, stress levels soar through the roof, self-esteem plummets, and your body becomes neglected of the care it needs.
You may be thinking, ‘Then what do I do when I can’t (for the life of me) stick to a daily routine?‘ Well, I am so glad you asked! As the resident Queen of Routine, I have taken it upon myself to present a technique that can change your daily routine, and therefore, your life. (You’re welcome). This technique is called the “Three Things” Technique, and it first became popularized on everyone’s favorite app, TikTok. Thanks to @taycrums, I (along with 500k other people) was enlightened with this simplified self-improvement strategy.
The “Three Things” Technique focuses on incorporating self-care into a busy schedule in an effective yet manageable way. An ideal self-care routine may include skin care, a morning run, meal prep, hot yoga, washing your hair, waxing your eyebrows, and cooking a nutritious breakfast. However, a realistic self-care routine does not include all of these things. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Self-care is best completed when you stop trying to do so much of it. Therein lies the magic of this technique. Instead of repeatedly trying to accomplish everything in one day and feeling disappointed when it does not happen, pick three things.
Whether those three things are the bare minimum (e.g. washing your face, brushing your teeth, and choosing an outfit) or they are more advanced (oil pulling, dermabrasion, and an hour of pilates), the point is to narrow down your self-care to three priorities that can realistically be accomplished alongside your daily responsibilities.
Trust me, I would not present this routine to you unless I knew for a fact it worked. Believe it or not, I was not always the self-proclaimed Queen of Routine (shocking, I know). There was a time when I struggled to find the motivation to exercise every morning, forgot to brush my teeth half the time (we’ve all been there), and left the house in sweatpants approximately seven days a week. Not to mention, my nails were a disaster, my hair-washing schedule was nonexistent, and I had more hair on my body than I would like to admit. By starting somewhere small, I was able to slowly incorporate more and more practices each day that care for myself.
While I can’t tell you my self-care routine is perfect every single day and I never miss a beat, I will humbly admit that the progress I’ve made is remarkable. On a consistent basis, I work out, do skin care (twice), read, style my hair, and manage to get to class with a presentable outfit. Other days might include hair-washing, touching up my nails, or waxing — it truly is always different.
If you take anything away from this article, let it be this: the “Three Things” technique works best for you when you do just that — make it work for you. As your energy, nutrients, hormones, and moods change, your “three things” will switch or even become four or five things, and that is perfectly fine. In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret about this technique: it’s not actually about completing three things. While three things are a great place to start, the long-term goal of this method is really to shift your mindset back into taking care of yourself. Why? Because I said so (and you deserve it).