Develop a Routine for Your Homebased Business

We all know someone who lives by a rigid routine…they get up at the same time every day, eat the same breakfast, do the same thing, then wrap their day up and go to bed, only to get up and start the whole thing over again. Routine is boring, we say. And yes, it is. But routine doesn’t mean rigidity. In fact, it can mean the exact opposite, giving you room in your day for excitement, spur-of-the-moment activities, and creativity. 

Routine provides a framework for your business. It makes it so that you don’t have to “get ready” to work; you know what has to be done and when, and even how. It takes the guesswork out, saving you precious time that you can now devote to more creative thinking. 

There are other benefits to routine. It instills discipline. If you know what needs to be done and do it first thing in the day, there’s never any need to expend energy on planning when it will get done. And it doesn’t allow procrastination to rear its ugly head. 

Routine also allows you to work with intention. You condition yourself to focus on the task at hand and not worry about all of the things waiting in the wings. Likewise, your work becomes more meaningful because you understand its necessity and purpose in the big picture of what you’re trying to accomplish. Sure, routine might not be the most interesting part of your work, but it’s part of the building blocks needed to get to the fun stuff. 

Do you have a routine in your business? Is it a daily routine? A weekly routine? Or even a monthly routine? Your calendar is your greatest partner when it comes to setting up and working an efficient routine. Block out times for the big things that must get done each day, each week, each month. Then you’ll have room in your schedule and, perhaps more importantly, in your brain, for the new activities…even the unexpected ones. Plan your calendar and then work that calendar…until it becomes routine. When you no longer have to devote energy to thinking about where, when, and how, you’ll know that your routine is working for your homebased business.