Give Yourself Time to Adapt to a New Routine

Change is unavoidable and an adjustment period is necessary.

Image created via Midjourney

I’m a very routine-driven person. My days run a predictable course of getting my kids off to school, work, and household responsibilities. My time is divided into neat little blocks and I know what to expect most days.

Benjamin Franklin famously followed a daily routine that was broken down into six blocks of time:

• 5–7 a.m. Rise, wash and address Powerful Goodness! Contrive days’ business, and take the resolution of the day; prosecute the present study, and breakfast.
• 8–11 a.m. Work.
• 12–1 p.m. Read, or overlook my accounts and dine.
• 2–5 p.m. Work.
• 6–9 p.m. Put things in their places. Supper. Music or diversion, or conversation. Examination of the day.
• 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Sleep.

If Franklin was able to maintain that routine for years on end, I envy him. While I don’t have the mental fortitude to work in four-hour blocks of time, I would relish the predictability. In real life? My daily routine is constantly changing.

At a minimum, my daily routine changes twice per year: at the start and stop of the school year. I’ve also changed jobs in the past…