3 tips for getting more satisfaction out of your routine

Get up. Start work. End work. Eat dinner. Get a few things done. Sleep. Rinse and repeat.

Sometimes it can feel like weeks, months, or even years, fly by without feeling like much has happened.

As a time management coach, I help clients make many tasks in life automatic so that they can accomplish more in less time and with less effort. To optimize our efficiency and effectiveness, routine is a necessary part of our lives. The only issue is when you’re so systematized that you’re not fully experiencing the joy and meaning in your life. You’re just checking things off the list. 

But what if there could be some simple, accessible ways to slow down the passage of time and fully engage in your life? I’m here to offer you good news: There are.

With these three simple tricks, you can start to feel like you’re experiencing your days instead of speeding through them.

Savor the Little Things 

Life’s simple, everyday moments can be incredibly satisfying, if you let them. But so often, we’re rushing through an activity or multitasking through it so much so that it simply passes us by.

Researchers encourage mindful attention where you take notice of what’s happening in familiar experiences to sensitize  yourself to the joy they offer.   

I’ve found that some small, intentional choices can make a big difference in my life. One ritual that I’ve incorporated when the weather is nice is to sit outside during lunch and eat without doing anything else in particular. This little break to just stop and notice the grass, the trees, the flowers, the birds, and anything else around me helps me to fully experience the beauty of the season.

Another choice that I’ve made is when I hold my daughter at night before bed to keep my phone away from me. It’s not a very long time—just about 10 minutes—before I lay her down in her crib for the night. Although the time is short, I find it’s some of the moments that I stop and appreciate the gift of her precious life the most. She’s growing so quickly, and I don’t want to miss out on enjoying my daughter because I’m doing something else while I’m with her or always trying to head on to the next activity.

How about you? Is there an area where you could stop multitasking and more fully enjoy the precious moments around you?   

Sprinkle in Novelty

Another way to extend the feeling of time is to sprinkle in dashes of the out-of-the-ordinary that break up your routine. When you’re only doing your habits, your brain blends together the experiences from day-to-day. But when you do something distinctive, you experience the novelty effect where your brain has a higher state of attention and stores the experience as a separate and distinct memory.

This could look like signing up to attend larger events like going to a new work conference or taking a vacation to explore a different locale. Or you can add in novelty in much smaller ways throughout your weeks to help you feel like life isn’t passing by in a blur.

On the professional side, small moments of novelty could look like adding in some networking lunches or events where you connect with new people and see new places. Or it could look like learning a new skill that you haven’t tried your hand at before. Or it could look like setting up your computer at a new coworking space or coffee shop.

On the personal side, you could attend a local festival instead of watching Netflix, check out a new restaurant in town instead of going to the place where you’re a regular, or try out a new workout class instead of going to the one you’ve attended for years.

It’s completely fine—and even good—to have routines and do standard things you enjoy. But mixing up your experience every once in a while can help you slow down your subjective experience of time.

Is there some novel experience you could insert in your life this week?

Stop Trying to Keep Up

In a time not so long ago or far away, there were no smartphones, no apps, and no streaming services. And life was well, good.

Another way to slow down time is to take away the pressure that just because you could do something that you should. Just because someone you follow posted something doesn’t mean you need to read it. Just because some major world event is happening doesn’t mean you need to be an expert on it. Just because a new season of a show came out that you like doesn’t mean you need to watch it now—or ever.

Most of the content created in the world is entirely optional for you to read or consume. Letting go of the need to engage 24/7 can dramatically increase your feeling of being relaxed and like you have more time.

In my personal life, I’ve placed boundaries on social media use. I don’t even have accounts on some social media apps, and for the ones where I do engage, I try to limit myself  to a few times a week. When I get the itch to engage more often, I try to pick up a book instead. It’s a lot more satisfying to get through a relevant book than to scroll endlessly through a feed.

Do you pressure yourself to keep up on content where you don’t have an actual responsibility to engage? If so, how could you lower your standards to open up more time and space to just be?

A lot of life is routine. That’s not a bad thing. But by trying out these strategies, you can slow down your perception of time and experience deeper satisfaction in the moments.