Establishing a New Daily Routine

By Brittany Prijatel, Sports Psychology Consultant

With the new year comes new changes. I would like to give you 6 ways to help you identify changes that you want to make and how to fit them into a current daily routine or schedule.

1- Have a clear idea of what it is that you want to incorporate into your daily routine.

• How much time do I want/have to commit to this activity each day/week?

2- Map out what your current schedule is like during the day/week.

• It is always easier to do this with someone else so that you do not criticize and instead you analyze. There are many ways you can map out a daily routine. One way is to start with a piece of paper and write the hours from 7 am to 11 pm down the side (Hours may vary depending on your schedule). Then block out the time for each activity you are doing that day. Then you can easily see where time is going, where to add in the things you want to incorporate and what to adjust.

3- Approach it with a problem-solving attitude.

• You can figure out how to incorporate changes to your daily routine even with a busy schedule. Using the “how can I?” approach vs. the “why haven’t I?” will empower you to create the routine you want. It is very common for our mind to wander to all of our problems instead of working to create solutions.

4- Trial and error are okay, look for balance!

• It can be easy to choose something and start trying to incorporate it into your schedule and sometimes that adds stress. Although, all that tells us is that it might not be the right time to work on that activity. For example, I decided that I want to exercise more. So I schedule a time in the evening to work out after my day. As the day goes on, I am stressing because it has been a long day at work and then I still have to go home and work out. I am already tired, so I get DE-motivated, and I don’t want to work out. What I take from that is it might not be a good time for me. I need to keep an open mind to explore other options and times to incorporate working out into my schedule.

5- Be flexible.

• As you look to incorporate any change in your life, you need to be flexible and open-minded. You need to find what works best for you and your schedule. I encourage everyone to check out our goal setting blog to make sure you are setting your goals correctly. It might turn out that to get more exercise, you decide to take walks outside or around the building during your break at work. This option helps you be more active throughout the day, and you can then think about taking less time to work out later in the evening.

6- Recruit support.

• No matter what you take on, having the support behind you can help navigate your path along the way. As with any case, we want each person to know that the entire staff here at Cognitive FX supports you as you look to make the changes that you want in your life and your daily routine.

We know that it can be hard to change your daily routine. When you come through EPIC Treatment, we establish/ed a routine. We gave you specific times to meet with specific specialists and times to rest and take breaks, and times for physical activity, and time to work on your vision, and cognitive functioning. Just as you go through a routine during treatment, we hope that you can establish a routine after treatment. The great thing is that routines can empower us to do the things we not only need to but want too.