How to Set Up a Routine that Helps You Achieve Your Goals

In my first blog this year, I tried to convince you that setting goals is not the most efficient way to accomplish anything in life – I hope I succeeded 😁. In that blog, I told you to learn how to set up a routine instead of simply writing down goals that can sometimes be lofty and unreachable, irrespective of how SMART we try to make them.

Now, I’ll show you how to set up a routine that will stick with you for as long as you want. These tips will help you create routines that capture the very important aspects of your life, maximize your potential, help you stay focused, and push you toward your most ambitious achievements.

Why Routines Are Essential

In addition to the benefits of working with routines, which I stated in that previous post, setting up a routine helps you banish decision fatigue and procrastination. You’ll no longer waste precious mental energy trying to figure out what to do next or waiting till you feel the time is right to get started on what you want to achieve. Instead, a routine helps you know exactly where to focus your attention for maximum impact.

When you create a routine and stick with it, you make momentum-building effortless. You see those times when you failed to accomplish your goal or reach your vision because you did not ‘feel motivated?’ Routines take care of that. Once you get your routine going, you will no longer delay your goals because of a lack of motivation. Of course, you know that also brings an end to all the not-great-at-all stuff a lack of motivation usually hurls about, like procrastination, loss of focus, and diminishing productivity, enthusiasm, and creativity.

When you successfully set up a routine, each item or step within the routine will automatically fuel the next step. Like a snowball effect, your success in achieving your goals becomes inevitable.

But hey, setting up routines is not merely about filling your day with tasks. It’s about prioritizing the right actions that move you toward your long-term goals – as you’ll see soon. Now, how do you create a routine?

Understand Your Long-Term Vision

Right about now, you can set your goals or determine your long-term vision. What do you want to do? But hey, don’t just stop at simply writing down a list of things you ‘wish you could achieve.’ Ensure your goals are things you really ‘need’ to achieve. Even routines can be complicated when there is no proper anchor for your goals.

So, start from the broader picture. Who are you? What exactly do you want to achieve? Why do you want to achieve it? How much impact would achieving your goals make in your life? Would it make your life easier, more joyful, or more productive? You need to anchor those long-term goals on something constant in your life and at least 80% within your locus of control.

When your goal is within your locus of control, you determine the elements that indicate success, and you don’t need many external factors to achieve it. Hence, if your goal sounds anything like ‘impress my boss’, your routines might still fail here because you have no control over what ‘impresses your boss.’ His wife, children, or self-esteem (things beyond you) could still depress him, irrespective of your efforts.

In essence, it is crucial that you understand and clearly define where you want to go (with respect to where you currently are in your life) before creating a routine. Doing this will give your daily routine enough purpose to stand the test of time.

Now, break that vision down into smaller, easier-to-achieve steps. These smaller steps will be the focus of the daily routine you are building.

Map Your Non-Negotiables

Now that you know your goals and what you want to achieve, you want to focus on the non-negotiables. Your non-negotiables can be goals that are crucial for your overall well-being or the smaller steps within your goal that are pivotal to your success in achieving that goal. These are also items you are out to shield from goal terminators.

So, your non-negotiables could be your daily walk around the block, your morning devotion or fellowship with God, or your being able to clock out of work at an exact time (read the previous blog for context). When you’ve mapped out these non-negotiables, you want to create time for them every day or every week, depending on the kind of routine you want to create. By doing this, they start to become automatic, and as time goes on, you will require less willpower to do them.

Anchor It to A Constant Activity In Your Life

In the first step above, we discussed anchoring your goals to a constant phenomenon in your life. This can also take the form of attaching those actionable steps to another relatively constant activity in your life or something you get to do instinctively, without planning.

For example, the routine you want to set up could be spending 30 minutes with God daily. In this case, you can anchor it to your waking up (something you must do every day) and say something like, ‘I will spend 30 minutes with God first thing right after I open my eyes in the morning. After a while, you may even start to find it odd when you do anything other than spending time with God first thing in the morning.

Use Time Blocking for Maximum Focus

Time blocking is one of the most powerful techniques for building a routine that leads to goal achievement. This means assigning specific time slots for different activities. Without deliberately blocking out time for the activities you’ve mapped out as your non-negotiables, they’ll eventually end up on the back burner of your life – and all the processes we’ve completed above will go to waste.

So, instead of trying to multitask or squeeze every activity you can think of into one chaotic day, allocate focused periods for deep work on each item. For example, you could have a 50-minute block for reading, followed by a 30-minute block for exercise before 9 am every day.

The key here is to ensure that you make time for those goals and non-negotiables and avoid distractions during these time blocks.

Get an Accountability or A Reward System

Anchoring the items you want to set up as a routine on the unchanging activities in your life alone may not be an effective accountability system. Now, you want to take things a notch higher by recruiting someone to keep you accountable for your non-negotiables or employing technology. Alarms? Calendars?

If accountability systems won’t suffice for you, you can think about rewarding yourself each time you stick to your routine. So, maybe giving yourself a little treat at a spa whenever you read through an entire book each month could get you into the habit of reading.

In James Clear’s Atomic Habit, he explained how someone had created a system where his television could only be powered on if he continued to pedal his exercise bike – because he badly needed some exercise. So, he ended up rewarding himself with some television time (something that doesn’t require motivation of any sort) whenever he exercised. You can do something similar (but you don’t have to invent anything, please 😅) with any of your non-negotiables.

Be Firm but Flexible

Hold yourself accountable until you have successfully set up that routine. But don’t go too hard on yourself. Setting up a routine does not mean your entire day will be full of goal-inclined activities. A routine is also not immune to the unpredictable nature of life.

Give yourself a breather once in a while – especially when sticking to a routine starts to take an unhealthy toll on you. You are looking out for consistency, not perfection. So, don’t forget to factor in joy for every activity you want to include in your routine.

Review and Reflect

Every week or after a given interval, take time to review your progress with your routine. What worked? What did not work? What could you improve for better results? What do you need to change for better efficiency?

This reflection time helps you sift through your activities to ensure they stay aligned with your goals and the various dynamics in your life.

Conclusion

Setting up a routine for goal achievement is not merely about trying to get everything done. It is about building consistency in the right direction (which is towards your vision). 

With a clearly defined vision, non-negotiable smaller goals, proper anchoring, time-blocking, and accountability or reward system and flexibility, you’ll be surprised how small regular actions compound into massive success over time.

So, what are you waiting for? Start building your routine today, and unlock your potential for extraordinary achievement. I’d love to know what routines you’d love to start. You can also write to me at meb@intentionallivingwithmeb.com, I’ll be happy to help you work through your non-negotiables and how you can anchor them into your life.