Routines are the key to success. Whatever we can create a routine for, and thus put on auto-pilot, will get done without us even realizing we are doing it.

I learned about routines from Marla Cilley, better known as The FlyLady.

Think about the things you do every morning when you get up. Those are routine because you do them every morning. When was the last time you forgot to get dressed before going to school or work? See, getting dressed is routine.

Perhaps you have a routine for getting ready for bed each night. Have you driven somewhere and gotten there without realizing you had gotten past certain landmarks? That is kind of scary but your brain knew so well what it was doing that it did it and you didn’t have to think about it because it was automatic.

One of the things I like to make automatic is paying bills. When I set them up to pay automatically, I don’t have to worry about them being late of having to pay late fees.

When I get out of my car it is my routine to lock it. Some have asked why I beep it when I could just click the locks inside before I get out and the doors would lock behind me. I tell them that doing so makes me aware that I still have my keys with me and lets anyone watching know that it is locked and they may as well not bother it.

Routines can save us time and money. You already have routines, but perhaps they are not productive routines and you need to work on establishing better ones. FlyLady recommends choosing your clothes the night before and gathering everything up. This saves a ton of time and is especially helpful when something goes wrong and you don’t wake up with your alarm.

If it is your routine to clean your car and fill it with fuel every Friday, that frees you up the rest of the week from having to worry about fitting this chore into your schedule. It is also a great way of getting ready to enjoy your weekend no matter what you have planned.

You might want to write down your routines and ask yourself if they are working well for you. You may not even realize what your routines are but just record what you catch yourself doing without thinking about doing it. What could you tweak in your current routines to make them serve you even better?

Do you do certain things on a particular day each week? That is also a routine and there is comfort in having them. You know there is a time for everything that way.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Routine
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.