Building routines

Start with steps you already do

Begin with three or four things you already do most days but want to do more regularly, like drinking a glass of water, taking your medicine or looking over today’s tasks. A step is either done or not done. Doing the steps every day builds the habit of opening your routine.

A simple routine you actually finish is better than a big one you skip. Add more once it feels automatic. A daily habit takes about two months to become automatic, and missing one day doesn’t make a real difference.¹

Do it right after something you already do

A routine is easier to keep when you do it right after something you already do every day. The thing you already do reminds you. A plan like “after breakfast, I’ll do my routine” makes you much more likely to follow through.²

A morning routine could come right after getting out of bed, making coffee or showering. An evening routine could come right after getting home, eating dinner or brushing your teeth. Pick whatever already happens at the same time every day:

• If you eat at regular times, do it right after a meal.
• If you go to bed and wake up at regular times, do it right after waking up or right before bed.
• If you go to work or school, do it when you arrive, at lunch, or at the end of the day.

“I should do my routine” turns into “I do my routine after breakfast.” You’re not building a new habit from nothing. You’re adding to one you already have.

Start with one or two

Glide doesn’t limit how many routines you can have. But every routine takes some of your attention each day, and it’s easy to take on more than you can keep up with. Start with one routine. Add a second one when the first one is part of your day and you feel you have room for more.

Some people find several short routines easier than one long one. Short routines are easier to remember, and there’s less time to get distracted in the middle. If you often lose track halfway through a routine, try splitting it in two.

Choose metrics that tell you something

A metric is a number you track as part of a routine. Pick one or two that show how you’re really doing, not just whether you did the routine. Some examples:

• Sleep, in hours
• Exercise, in minutes
• Meditation, in minutes
• Energy, on a scale of 1 to 10
• Weight

One number you track every day tells you more than six numbers you stop tracking after a week.

Set the scale

Each metric has a lowest value, a highest value, and a direction: whether higher or lower is better. These decide the colors in your history. Don’t use the most extreme numbers possible. Use the range you care about.

For sleep, if less than 4 hours is a bad night and 8 hours is a great one, set 4 and 8. Then a 5-hour night and a 7-hour night look clearly different. If you set 0 and 24, every night would look about the same.

Why the numbers help

A number tracked once is just one data point. Tracked every day for a month, it tells a story. Without metrics, a routine only tells you whether you did it. With metrics, “I did my routine” turns into “I’ve slept about five and a half hours a night for two weeks.” That’s something you can do something about. More on why Glide uses numbers.

One question per reflection

A reflection is a question inside a routine that you answer while doing the routine. Ask just one clear question. “What went well today?” is easier to answer than a blank page, and once you’ve answered one question, the next one comes more easily. Your answers go to your journal.

When a routine isn’t working

• You keep skipping it. It might be too long, at the wrong time, or tied to the wrong part of your day. Cut it down to the basics and build it back up.
• The metrics stay empty. The question might be hard to answer at that time of day. Answer it later, change it, or track fewer numbers.
• The numbers don’t tell you anything. Swap them for numbers that show how you’re really doing.
• It feels like a chore every day. It’s probably too much. Three steps you do are better than ten you dread.

A routine that isn’t working isn’t a failure of willpower. It’s usually a design problem. Figure out what’s wrong, change the routine, and try again.