Like most of you, I've found the past few months have been a bit unsettling. Most of the routines and rituals established were now gone, and new ones had to come in.
I was already struggling with finding the right balance of working and not-working, and with the closure of our physical centres, we needed to come up with a plan. That meant more of the working thing.
I was hearing contrasting stories from my friends and the community. People were either over-worked, or had absolutely no work to do. While these seem like polar opposites, and they are, the consequences were similar. To name a few,
- watching too much TV
- staying up far too late
- and waking up at random hours
- not having a routine
- feeling burnt out
- eating randomly
Lucky for me, I had a habit that allowed me to anchor my day - to train. A simple thing I've learned over observing my patterns over the past decade is things tend to go well when I have activity as part of my day, and they tend to go not-so-well when I do not.
Instead of trying to correct or set right too many things, I just ensured that my keystone habit was rock-solid. I trained regularly in the morning. No fixed time actually, but I got it done.
Some days, I'd do it before 8 am. Most days, I'd finish up some work from 5 am to 9 am, and then train. But I'd train.
This anchoring ensured that
- I went to bed reasonably on time
- I woke up at around the same time
And that was about it. Slowly, the rest of my day fell in place.
I still struggle with the occasional bad day where I find that I am too busy. But most days, especially the days when I do not put a strict time limit on my gym-time, go real well.
If you are struggling with your day, find your anchor.
A walk at 6 am to watch the sunrise is enough. It means you will go to bed before 11 pm. It means you get to start your day and get on with whatever you need to do by 7 am. Things will fall in place.
Don't overthink the anchor. Either you know it. If you don't, just steal my idea until you have a better one.