Which comes first, the routine change or the vision for the new routine?
I’ve had it happen both ways. The years I spent writing music from 4:30-6:00am, I came to a clear conclusion before I set my alarm for the first time. The vision came first. Other routines are only visible when looking back; my daily writing habit here has settled into sitting down around 9pm and crafting my daily post. That wasn’t my intention – indeed, my last intention for my writing habit was years ago, to do it immediately after putting kids on the bus in the morning. The routine had other ideas.
That’s the routine I seek to change now, because I’d like to not still have this on my to do list at the end of every day. I’m creating a vision for morning writing time, and hoping that with a few weeks of trials a new routine will develop that matches my vision and the needs of the routine itself. It’ll be easier now, since I am not quite as busy as I will be a month from now.
I’m often guilty of wanting to have a clear vision of a routine before I take the first step; accepting that the routine has a sort of mind of its own makes it easier for me to start.