Routineology

On Monday, I had two podcast episodes back to back in my podcast subscription feed that were, ironically, both about the topic of routines. I am a big fan of routines in general, so these were fun to listen to!

They were very different styles and sort of tackled different angles of routines.

1- Best Laid Plans – Routines and More with Ashley Brown

This one was short and sweet, and focused more I think on routines in a broader sense. The guest, Ashley, has a whole business revolving around “Routines & Things” and she sells products like fun notepads, etc. to help people organize their own routines better. I listened to this one on my walk to the gym and enjoyed it! The guest sounded so sweet and I always love listening to people talk about their basic, daily routines. I don’t know why- maybe I am just nosy. LOL! But I love hearing about this stuff. 🙂

2- 5 am Miracle- How Routineology can Transform Your Life with Dr. Angel Iscovich

This one took a little different approach, and I found it pretty interesting! The guest is a doctor who has studied centenarians, and apparently has discovered a big link between longevity and routines. He has a new book coming out on the subject called The Art of Routine– will have to check it out.

He says that two overwhelmingly, the centenarians have two things in common:

1) They all do things (something/anything) very regularly.
2) They all live in very stable environments, physically and socially.

In the episode he talks a lot about how it really doesn’t matter WHAT you do, as long as you do it very regularly. (I guess even “negative” behaviors can count! It’s the “routine” aspect that is key). It does make sense…if you think about it, the natural world is very regular. Seasons, sun up, sun down, circadian rhythms, etc. He says our bodies are literally wired for regularity, stability and rhythm.

I feel like this is definitely true! At least for me, I know I feel best when I have a high amount of regularity in my life. I felt my worst, in many ways, when I had a totally random hospital schedule- days, pm shifts, some weekends, some weekdays…I felt like I could never get in a groove. I think about this a lot. The stability of a Monday-Friday job has been very welcome, to me. (Though there are certainly perks to a varied schedule, too. For me, though, I just feel better with a more consistent schedule and life).

One other thing I found interesting, too, was the idea that when it comes to diet, it might not matter as much WHAT we eat, so long as we eat it very regularly. Some people have great success on vegan, paleo, low carb, intermittent fasting, whatever….and sometimes the diets are literally the polar opposite from another. But yet people can have “success” (health, weight loss, whatever you’re after) on pretty much any of them. So, he argues that maybe it’s the consistency (and our bodies adapting to the specific make up of that diet) that actually is the key factor.

Who knows! But I found the episode thought provoking while I took a shower and did my makeup the other day. 😀 He points out, too, that the same reasons that routine is so beneficial to babies/young children hold true for adults. He gives an example of psychiatric patients that are admitted to a psych hospital, and says the first thing they do to help them is to try to stabilize the patient’s life as much as possible. Schedules, routines, etc. Human nature (actually, all living things, really) just respond so well to this.

Anyway, if you like routines…have a listen to either/both! 🙂

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for kids that are old enough to stay home alone. What a life game changer this is.