Ditching a daily routine has revolutionized my productivity

IT IS ENERGY, NOT TIME, THAT MATTERS As the screaming alarm jolts me awake, I grumblingly kick off the warm sheets, only for the freezing tiles to make me want to jump right back in. But

routine, gotta stick to the _routine. _Zombie walking to the bathroom, I mechanically go through my ablutions. As the egg boiler’s chirping, I wonder at my black coffee’s juxtaposing sour

taste and caramelized aroma. A sulphuric stench emanating from the boiler makes me sigh deeply. Rotten eggs, what a perfect start to the day. Making do with the 2 good eggs, I throw the rest

to the spotted mongrel basking in the morning sun. Somehow plowing through my 30-minute online learning session, I grab my bag and head to class. The rest of the day is then — back-to-back

boring lectures, afternoon meal prep, a torturous lab session, meal prep again, a decent workout, shower, yet another meal prep, more learning. Finally, sleep time. I don’t feel sleepy but

routine, gotta stick to the routine. Good sleep or not, I’ll have to wake up at the usual 6:00 AM tomorrow. Because, you know, _Routine_, gotta stick to the routine. TIME MEANS NOTHING The

above is a glimpse of a day in my life back in my sophomore year of college — when the productivity bug had bitten me for the first time. Those few months were torturous enough for me to

quit and descend into a “binge-watch, chill, and game” lifestyle. I got back into a routine only to have little success again. THEN, I QUIT DAILY ROUTINES, POSSIBLY FOREVER — which I’m glad

I did as I’m leagues more productive and happier than I used to be. As touted as they are, daily time-based routines don’t take one crucial thing into account — _energy. _As Tony Schwartz

and Jim Loehr say in their book _The Power Of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time__,_ > “THE NUMBER OF HOURS IN A DAY IS FIXED, BUT THE QUANTITY AND > QUALITY OF ENERGY 

AVAILABLE TO US IS NOT,” ENERGY MEANS EVERYTHING. When I am bursting with focus and energy, binge-writing 3 drafts feels like a cakewalk. But after an exhausting day? One article looms like

a mountain. So what made my productivity hit the skies? Shifting from a time-based routine to an energy-based _lifestyle._ BUILDING YOUR OWN ENERGY-BASED “ROUTINE” The first step to shifting

from a time-based daily routine to an energy-based one is ditching the idea that routines are supposed to be orderly “time-tables”. AN ENERGY-BASED ROUTINE ISN’T A ROUTINE IN THE TRUE SENSE

— it’s more of a dynamic to-do list you try to check off every day. Every night before bed, mentally commit to 3, _only _three tasks for the next day — 3’s a sweet number as you’d neither

be over-committing and scattering your focus nor be cutting yourself short. > The goal is to complete the day’s list — when, for how long, and > in what order you tackle the tasks is 

inconsequential. ROUGHLY PLAN THE ORDER AND TIMES IF YOU WANT TO, BUT DON’T FORCE YOURSELF TO STICK TO IT. Tackle the tasks based on your mood, energy, and inclination. AN ILLUSTRATIVE

EXAMPLE Let’s say the tasks are working out, writing an article, and segregating your documents. You mentally decide to work out in the morning, write in the afternoon, and sort the

documents in the night. But then, you wake up sore and groggy the next morning. You also don’t want to glare at electronic screens first thing in the morning — so working out and writing are

_out._ Segregating the documents since it’s light work would be perfect. An afternoon nap leaves you gushing with energy so you get a banging workout in. A sumptuous dinner and a steamy

shower get your creative juices flowing. And the result is a brilliant article. NOW, WHAT IF YOU HAD OBSTINATELY STUCK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN? The result would have been a crappy workout, a

bland article, and unorderly sorted documents. > You just don’t know how your energies will align through a day. A PITFALL YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF The biggest pitfall is using the excuse,

“_I don’t have the energy_” to not complete the day’s tasks. Here’s where defining a Minimum Viable Day (MVD) comes in — assuming the worst possible day, how many of the to-do list items

would you still want to complete? With my to-do lists being of size 3, the MVD number for me is 2. Choose your own number after some realistic analysis. The crucial part is—DON’T DISCARD THE

LEFT-OVER TASKS, JUST ROLL THEM ONTO THE NEXT DAY’S LIST. So if you completed 2 out of 3 tasks today, you’d have 3+1 or 4 tasks tomorrow. The goal is to even this out over a week or a

fortnight. > Falling short a few days is okay, as long as you negate them with > equal surplus days. FINAL THOUGHTS Neither is a time-based routine all bad nor is an energy-based one

all good. IT’S A TRADE-OFF. With the former, you get more discipline and a higher certainty that you’ll get your tasks done, albeit shoddily on some days. With the latter, work’s going to be

fun and higher quality, but with lower certainty. To decide what’s best for you, ask yourself one simple question — HOW SELF-DISCIPLINED AND ACCOUNTABLE AM I ON A SCALE OF 1–10? If the

answer is in the high 8s or 9s, you’re better off with energy-based routines. If it’s in the low 4s or 3s, the time-based ones are for you. If it’s the mid 5s or 6s, experiment with both and

see what fits best. _THANKS FOR READING! IF YOU ENJOYED THIS, CONSIDER JOINING __A BETTER LIFE__. It’s free! You’ll receive my best posts and a value-packed weekly__ Sunday Self-Scaler__ to

kick your week off to a splendid start. You might also like,_ DAYDREAMING IN YOUR CHAIR IS ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO WHY AND HOW TO LEVERAGE THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF

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