What Your Daily Routines Might Be Missing

You have been focusing on improving your morning and nighttime routines, adding in 
healthy habits and removing toxic ones, but still don’t feel any different. Why is that? 

The problem might not be in the habits you choose to add to your daily routines, but in 
what is still missing from them. 

Here are some common things that daily routines are often missing, and can make a 
drastic difference in how much you benefit from them.


Flexibility

Believe it or not, your daily routines might not be failing not because you don’t have the 
right habits, but because you either have too many or it is too strict. What you really 
need in a good healthy lifestyle is flexibility. This allows you to create daily routines with 
habits that help you work toward your goals, but with the flexibility of adjusting to 
changes in your schedule. 

If you are sick one morning and can’t do yoga or relax enough for meditation, your 
entire day isn’t ruined. You haven’t failed yourself and there is nothing wrong with taking 
rest. We get so caught up in these daily routines that we feel like if we don’t do them 
perfectly every single day, we are no longer “that girl” and the entire day is a wash.

Have some flexibility in your routines, looking at the habits you choose to add as a 
menu of options, not a to-do list. Choose habits that can be optional, selecting habits 
that help you on that day or to work whatever goals you have. 

No two days will be identical, so you really need to have more flexibility in your routines.


Purpose

A good daily routine also has purpose. Don’t just choose habits for your routine that are 
similar to another routine you saw on Instagram or Pinterest. If waking up at 4:00am 
every day doesn’t work for you and causes more stress than if you woke up at 5 or 6, 
then you can skip this part of your routine. 

Every aspect of your routine, from the time of day and the habits that are included, 
should have a specific purpose. Maybe you are someone who doesn’t benefit much 
from journaling, so instead of writing in your journal in the morning, you choose to use 
that time for sitting intentions in your daily planner. If this activity is more aligned with 
your goals, then it has a better purpose and better fits into your daily routine. 

Look at each habit you have added to your routine, and write down the reason you are 
doing it. For those habits that don’t have a purpose, cross it off and skip it or replace it 
with something else.


Accountability
You might have the perfect daily routine (for you), but what you are missing is some 
accountability. If you are good at choosing habits to do every day, creating a routine that 
works for your schedule, and making sure it has a specific purpose, but still don’t keep 
up with it for very long, you probably need more accountability.

This doesn’t have to be public accountability, if you prefer to keep it to yourself. You can 
just have a daily checklist or habit tracker where you check off the habits you did each 
day and whether or not you completed that daily routine. Again, this checklist can be 
used as a menu of options, not a strict to-do list where you must complete every task, 
every single day.

It might also help to get accountability with support from others if you don’t mind sharing 
your routines and habits. This can be posting it on social media, talking to friends who 
are trying to do something similar, or having a blog where you talk about your 
experience.


Balance

Building habits and creating daily routines that are sustainable is about balance. Don’t 
try to do too much, too quickly. You will be much more successful if you add new habits 
to your routine one at a time, as opposed to completely transforming a morning routine 
with 7 new habits all at once. It is so much for you to remember, and you won’t be fully 
focused on any one thing.

Everything in your life should have balance, flexibility, and purpose. You want to make 
choices that have a positive impact on your physical and mental health, that increase 
your productivity, and make you happy. If you lack balance in your routines, you will 
probably just feel frustrated and overwhelmed and very unhappy with your life. 


Adjustments

You are the one who is in control of your life, and you get to call the shots. This means if 
a daily routine isn’t working, you can change it up! You are not destined to do the same 
thing forever, just because it was working for you when you first chose those habits. 

Be honest with yourself about what habits are improving your life, and what habits you 
aren’t really seeing many benefits from. This differs for everyone, so it’s okay if a certain 
habit just isn’t your thing, even though your sister or co-worker or best friend absolutely 
loves it.

