When you have too many commitments and responsibilities, maintenance tasks like drinking enough water, exercising and sticking to a mindfulness practice are the first things to go. All of these things are sources of energy and stress relievers. You need them to maintain a high level of activity and mental health. Otherwise, the stress can build up quickly and lead to burnout.

There are three components to habit formation or creating a “habit loop” — the cue or trigger, the routine, and the reward. This is true of both healthy and unhealthy behaviors. Without mindful planning, we tend to do things that have a high reward in the moment. Doing things like using substances or restricting your diet when you’re stressed might make you feel better initially. For long periods of time, though, they’re not sustainable. 

The key to building healthy habit loops is to make healthy behaviors feel rewarding or make a point to focus on the inherent rewards. It’s also important to set reminders you’ll pay attention to, especially in the beginning. You might have to remind yourself of what will happen if you don’t follow through and do your routine.

Try the following eight strategies to create a routine and find peace in a busy schedule:

• Set intentions, not goals — Setting quantitative or measurable goals doesn’t always make you more likely to succeed. If you know you’re going off track, it can actually backfire. Once you feel like you’ve failed, it’s easy to give up. Instead, set intentions for how you want to respond to stress and how you want to be. If you have a bad day and don’t meet your intention, it’s no big deal. You can try again the next day. 
• Visualize your future self — Can you really see yourself sticking to a routine and feeling energized and empowered? Or do you tend to judge yourself and treat habit-forming like a test of willpower? Take some time to get relaxed and allow yourself to dream. Focus on the effects you want to create and how you want to feel when you’ve got a new routine in place.
• Ritualize self-care — Building a habit “because it’s good for me” isn’t always a great motivator. When you set new routines, consider how you feel on a daily or weekly basis. Ask yourself what’s going to make the biggest impact and when. Make sure your routines serve a function and prioritize it. Your habits don’t have to look like everyone else’s. They need to work for you.
• Experiment — Your new routines may not work out exactly the way you expect them to. That’s OK. When you realize the habit isn’t sticking, see if you can change something to make it easier or more rewarding. This can help you feel less discouraged and give you a fresh start.
• Set reminders you can’t ignore — In the moment when it’s time to do your routine, you have a choice to make. It can be easy to make excuses, procrastinate or get distracted. How can you make your reminders more effective or harder to ignore? Maybe you set multiple alarms on your phone, or maybe you ask someone to keep you accountable. Maybe you put your keys on top of your healthy lunch in the fridge so you won’t forget to grab it on your way out the door. Get creative.
• Track your activity — Having a visual representation to track your routine is helpful for some people. For some, it might not be. You could create a sticker chart and put it on your fridge or use a bullet journal. Set a realistic goal in the beginning, like filling in 60% or 75% of your chart. Then try to improve.
• Recognize the rewards — Consider adding a gratitude practice to your new routine. Once a week, or every day, take some time to recognize the results of your effort. When you feel rewarded, you’ll be more likely to stick to it. For self-care tasks that don’t feel so rewarding, like doing laundry, try adding an element that makes them more enjoyable. Have a sweet treat when you get the first load in or listen to your favorite music while you wait. 
• Don’t be too hard on yourself — Don’t judge yourself or beat yourself up when you miss a day. Try to exercise some self-compassion and think about what went wrong. Maybe something unexpected came up, or maybe you just didn’t want to do it. Accept what happened and see each slip-up as an opportunity to course-correct.

Use mindfulness to find some peace every day

If you’re barely hanging on, taking care of yourself may seem like one more thing that you don’t have the time for. However, these are the times when self-care routines become critically important. It can be as simple as getting away from your desk to take some deep breaths at least twice a day. You don’t have to do it first thing in the morning. However, doing mindfulness early in the day can set the tone to help you stay calm and collected. Find a mantra or some affirmations that inspire you to make it feel really good.

Do you struggle to create habits that are actually helpful? Working with a psychotherapist may help you understand your thought processes and behaviors better. A therapist can help you learn about mindfulness techniques and self-care practices. They can also be a great source of accountability.

Building new habits and routines is a big part of treatment at Lightfully. Our licensed clinicians help people with core life processes in four areas: thoughts, emotions, behaviors and relationships. In our programs, you’ll get plenty of guidance on self-care strategies that work and support to help you make them your own. 

Are you approaching burnout or considering higher levels of mental health care? Contact us today. Let’s talk about some potential solutions for long-term mental wellness.