Time is one of my most precious, most coveted resources. As a busy mom who needs to take care of herself, I need to accomplish all of my parent and work responsibilities and still make space for my health. I do this by creating “robot routines”for things I do frequently so that I can finish them quickly. I follow the same steps each time until my body is trained to do them automatically and it becomes a habit. This allows me to free up space in my day to support my health. Here is how to create “robot routines” in your life:
- List out all of your routines that you do daily or frequently. A routine is made up of a sequence of actions. Here are a list of my routines:
- morning routine
- picking what I’m going to wear
- weekly meal-prepping
- weekly meal planning
- after-school routine
- bedtime routine
- Write down the steps to complete each routine. Keep it simple. Be health-minded but don’t go crazy because creating a routine filled with extra steps to be healthy will just stress you out. Here are the steps to some of my routines. Repeat these steps each time you run through the routine.
- Morning routine: wake up – go to the bathroom – drink a glass of lemon and salt water – make breakfast and pack school lunch – pack my lunch – wake the girls up – put breakfast and vitamins on the table – get dressed – drive the girls to school
- Weekly meal-planning: choose 7 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 4 dinners
- Get everything you need for your routine and make sure it’s in the place where it belongs. You will train your body on each step of a routine until it becomes a habit. Your body will automatically know where to go to get the food, lunchbox, toothbrush, etc you need to compete the step. If something isn’t where it’s suppose to be, you’ll either waste time finding it or you won’t be able to finish the routine because you have to go out and buy it. Here are the things I need to complete my morning routine:
- toothbrush, toothpaste, face cleansing oil, toner, face serum, moisturizer
- lemon and salt for water
- all ingredients to make breakfast
- all ingredients to make lunch
- full stock of vitamins
- gas for the car
- Make your “robot routines” healthy. One of the easiest ways to make space for health in your life is to ask yourself how could you make your “robot routine” healthy? You can do this by:
- using non-toxic products with recognizable ingredients
- choose whole foods, lots of vegetables, and protein that has spent time on pastures eating grass.
Chrissy xo