Monday’s are for writing. Lunch is at eleven. Tacos are for Tuesdays. 

Some may say that I am boring and rigid. That I lack excitement and spontaneity. None of that is true. However, I am routine and particular. It is these traits that build better habits and provide the ability to work efficiently both in my personal and professional life. 

Oversleeping, a holiday that falls on a Monday, or an altered last minute schedule change has the power to throw my entire day out of whack. This past Tuesday became a writing day. I woke twenty minutes later than normal. The day and my routine were potentially doomed. I was off schedule and hadn’t consumed enough coffee before my early morning meeting. Luckily my commute to the kitchen table was less than two minutes and the words flowed onto the screen with little effort. By lunch time, I was back on track and even had the taco meat thawing.  

Routines are important for my sanity but also for workflow and time management. They are based on our daily habits. Good habits create effective routines, while bad habits allow for inefficiency and a sense of chaos. Picture the individual on your team that arrives five minutes early everyday. They check their emails and messages. They create a task list and formulate a plan for the day. Their time management skills are impeccable and they get the job done everyday. Compare that to the person that isn’t ready to work until ten minutes after their shift starts. Yesterday’s tools are still scattered throughout their bay. The parts for the day’s job are haphazardly strewn across the bench. They are unorganized, do not have a sense of direction, and likely will waste time simply trying to get through the day. Negative habits and lack of routine cost your company time and money, and will ultimately impact the customer. 

Routines allow for the workflow to be analyzed. By completing the same tasks in the same order everyday it can become obvious where improvements can be made. Can part of the process be automated? Emails that don’t need to be read, just stored, can automatically get filtered and eliminate the need to manually move them. Is there a quicker way to achieve the goal for a particular task? Instead of individually entering orders, bouncing back and forth between things, carve out ten minutes at the beginning of each hour and bulk the work together. Can someone on another team that does similar work benefit from another’s way of doing things? Compare and allow for collaboration. 

As leaders it is our responsibility to promote good habits and effective routine, while identifying bad habits that lead to lack of a regimented workflow. While the hiccups of life are bound to creep up, having a solid plan will make them manageable and temporary. You might even have a back-up plan!  

Monday’s writing, done. Better start thawing the ground beef for Taco Tuesday!