The Secrets to Successful Organizing & Productivity Routines during Chaotic Times

You had regular habits BCV (before COVID-19). They may or may not have worked well for you, but you had them nonetheless. Now we’re in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of those routines have been blown to smithereens! At the same time, new practices have been created out of necessity. What can you do to create a doable schedule that works now and is easy to modify in the future as things change?

Decide your non-negotiables. Think of your whole day as well as an entire week. What’s most important to you? It might be exercising at least five days a week. It could be getting into bed at 10:00 p.m. It may be spending time each day in a spiritual practice. It might be making time for fun activities. It’s different for everyone.

Bottom-line: we all have non-negotiables that keep us sane, even when times get chaotic.

The challenge with sudden, unexpected life transitions, is that when we feel out of control, we usually crave our routines, even if they didn’t work 100% of the time. That’s why it’s so crucial to define your non-negotiables. What can you absolutely not live without doing?

Rank everything. Yep, I’m talking about prioritizing.

Let’s say BCV you went to the gym every morning at 6:00 a.m. and exercise is one of your non-negotiables. Of course, during COVID-19, gyms have been closed for weeks. So you’ve figured out other ways to get your exercise. However, everyone in your household has a different schedule as well. As a result, exercising at 6:00 a.m. isn’t feasible.

If working out is really important, you’ll find another time in your day to exercise. It won’t “be the same” as working out at 6:00 a.m., however nothing is the same as BCV! So you’re prioritizing the exercise.

There may be other activities that start out as non-negotiables. However, as you discover your “modified reality,” they’ve decreased in importance, at least for the time being.

Keep it basic. Whether you’re modifying a current practice to fit in with current circumstances or trying to create a new routine, keep things simple. There’s a lot going on! This is the time to make things as easy as possible.

Let’s say that BCV you did 30-45 minutes of cardio and 30-45 minutes of weight lifting. During hectic times, you may have to modify your approach. Maybe your cardio becomes 20-30 minutes and you lift weights for 15-20 minutes. Alternatively, you could do 30-45 minutes of cardio 3 days a week and 30-45 minutes of weight lifting 3 days. While not your preferred practice, it still provides you with regular exercise, which is what is important to you.

Give yourself grace. Even in the best of times, routines experience a blip here and there. During a life transition, especially an unexpected one, those blips may be a little closer together or more disruptive. You will need to give yourself a little more compassion.

Now I’m not talking about compassion becoming its’ own habit such that you stop the habit entirely! I’m talking about giving yourself permission to modify or skip something one day with the intention of picking it up again the next day (or the next time it would be done in the regular scheme of things).

Evaluate and refine. Creating a new habit requires some experimentation. What “sounds good on paper,” doesn’t always work in real life. So it’s important to try something for a little while, then adjust and try again. You will discover what works best for you with a little bit of effort.

I know these five steps may make habit development sound simple. I hate to discourage you, but it takes effort. And this is where understanding a little bit about your brain comes in.

Your brain likes the path of least resistance. So when it spots a pattern – doing the same thing two or more days in a row – your brain with stick with that until you convince it otherwise! Your brain doesn’t distinguish whether or not the pattern is helpful or the one you want. So if your goal is to get up at 6:30 a.m. to exercise, and the first two mornings you hit the snooze button, your brain will be more likely to convince you to snooze the following day too rather than getting up.

Since a habit takes anywhere from 30 to 90 days or more to develop, you want to make every part of the habit as easy as possible. As such, place an alarm across the room and put your exercise clothes by the alarm. If you think you’ll be tempted to go back to bed even after you turn off that alarm, place another one in a different part of the room to go off two minutes after the first alarm.

During life-disrupting situations, you want new routines as quickly as possible so that you feel some control in your life. So you need to experience small successes consistently to develop the habits you desire. With compressed time for making the new habits, you want to ensure that you develop your non-negotiable, highest priority habits as simply as possible.

Since time is of the essence during a life-disrupting event, you can discover other ways to organize your time during a life transition. Receive The Top 10 Ways to Manage Your Schedule During Life Transitions for free when you sign up for our digital Life Transitions Organizing Bulletin. Unsubscribe at any time.

*While we’re fixing a technology issue, please send an email to admin@LifeTransitionsOrganizing.com Simply put Send me The Top 10 Ways to Manage Your Schedule During Life Transitions in the Subject Line and hit send!