When it comes to your routines, especially practicing new routines, flexibility is the way to win!
By that, I mean be flexible with the routine itself, be flexible with your expectations, and finally be flexible with how you measure success.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a family routine, a new routine for yourself, or a routine that you expect the kids to participate in.
Flexibility is the key!
If you think to yourself, “The only way I can do that is if it happens at this time of day or on this particular day.” Sure, that day or time of day may be the hope or the eventual goal. But while your routine is still new to you, if it doesn’t happen at that exact time, try a different time. Who knows? What you think might be the perfect time for a certain part of your routine may actually still work hours later or earlier, or even the following day!
If you are setting up a new morning routine with the kids that you want to be sure is well practiced by back to school time, be flexible! Sure maybe the kids are sleeping in a bit more than they will be able to once school starts, but if the routine is done as the first thing they do, then you can slowly change the time with earlier bedtimes, and morning wake up alarms. At least the routine itself is practiced.
It’s not worth beating yourself up to the tune of failure. Sometimes, we set our expectations such that the only way to measure success is if the task happens as we wrote it down or imagined it in our heads. But success is accomplishing the task, end of sentence! Wanting to do it at 5:00am might be the goal, but if it’s happening at 7:00am or even 10:00pm, but is actually happening – that is still a win!
So, as you set up your new routines or new routines for the family, remember that flexibility is worth a lot!
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