Why use a daily routine app? Having a routine can help with productivity, organization, and task management. Daily routines have always helped better manage stress levels, anxiety, and mental health. This is why now more than ever, during a global pandemic, it’s important to maintain a healthy daily routine.
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Why is a daily routine important?
Amid a global pandemic, the entire world is still trying to adjust to the new normal: working from home, having restless children in the house all day, stressing about the health of parents, uncertainty regarding when things will return to how they were pre-COVID.
Many people forget about self-care during this difficult time. We must make sure not to stress about things we have no control over, and work on the things we do have control over. Creating a daily routine around things that you can control in your life like eating habits, sleep, and exercise, can have a positive impact on your quality of life.
What to include in a daily routine?
Be sure to have a course of action by using a daily routine app to outline both professional and personal responsibilities, and include habits you’d like to turn into part of your daily routine. When outlining responsibilities, we tend to overestimate what can be done in a single day, so look through your list and decide what you’d like to prioritize and what can be postponed to a different day. And don’t forget to add self-care as part of your daily routine. It may seem frivolous, but it’s difficult to get through trying times without taking care of yourself along the way. Applying self-care to your routine gives you the energy needed to take on difficult obstacles life throws at you.
Use the CareClicnic app as your daily routine app. You can set reminders for your routines, as well as the length of time you’d like to spend on each routine.
Separating work and home
Sticking to a routine is a good idea for your mental health (read our article on daily mental health planning here). Even if you are not working out of an office due to the pandemic, you should still change out of your home clothes, and still set times to take your breaks. Doing this allows you to have some type of normalcy during an abnormal situation. Create a workstation in your house, even if that means putting a desk setup in your den or kitchen, but keep it away from your bedroom, which should remain a personal space. Try to keep your laptop or tablet in your makeshift office when you are working, don’t move to the couch or bed during work hours, unless it’s break time. This allows you to separate your work life from your home life.
Start and finish your work during your normal work hours, don’t take a long intermission halfway, just because you’re home and can get back to it later. And don’t put in any more hours than you should, just because the distinction between home and office is a lot more blurred. It’s important to set a clear boundary between the two, just as there was before the pandemic.
Workout at home
Using your daily routine app, remind yourself to eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, and make sure to set time for exercise. These are the three pillars of health and wellness. Go outside for a jog as you exercise for the day, or take a short walk on one of your work breaks. When you are cooped up in the house all day, getting outside, even for a few minutes a day can do wonders for your mental health. And if you feel nervous about being outside, or you would rather be indoors, you can still get your workouts in.
Trainers use Zoom or Facetime to keep in touch with their clients and motivate them even while socially distanced. If you are not too fond of one-on-one sessions, and you’d rather be in a group workout class, you can find some instructors using group video chat apps to reach many people at once. If you used to be part of a gym, try contacting them to see if any of their classes are available virtually, or search for workouts on YouTube. As long as you use a daily routine app, you’ll stay on track of things.
Adjust your daily routine
During normal circumstances, physicians, therapists, teachers, sociologists, and almost everyone will advise you to limit your screen time. However, we are not living under normal circumstances at the moment, and some psychologists are advocating for more screen time. Not all screen time is created equal though. No one is advocating spending longer hours binge-watching Netflix, creating your dream closet on Pinterest, or trying to find your perfect match on Tinder. Instead, more screen time can be spent on socializing with friends and family using video call applications like Skype, Zoom, Facetime, and Google Hangouts.
Our social life, which has been impacted the most due to the pandemic, is a vital component of our mental health. After all, we humans are social creatures, and removing social interaction from our lives can lead to depression. So use your daily routine app to remind yourself to make two calls a day. Try making one to a friend, and one to a family member. Don’t forget to include your grandparents on your list of family members to call, since they’re more at risk than younger generations, they tend to isolate themselves more than others. It can get very lonely for them, and a call from you will make their day.
What is Zoom fatigue?
In today’s world, those who are working from home are beginning to experience Zoom fatigue. Our workdays are filled with back-to-back video meetings, whether it be on Zoom or another app. Previously, when we were able to go to the office, we could easily walk up to a coworker’s desk to have a quick five-minute conversation about something work-related. Or even a non-work matter. However, since that is no longer possible, what were five-minute conversations before are now being booked into our calendars as 15 or 30-minute meetings. This has led to many experiencing Zoom fatigue, one Zoom meeting after another. So it’s important to block some time in your calendars for yourself, whether it’s to get some work done or just to take a break.
Regarding screen time, it’s important to devote some time every day for news consumption, but be sure to keep it at a minimum. It’s good to keep up with current events, but most of the things we see on the news can be negative. Especially when we hear about new cases and deaths being reported, or the continuation of lockdown measures. It will cause unnecessary distress, during what is already a stressful time. So set your daily routine app to remind yourself to consume current event content for no more than 30 minutes. This is enough time to watch or read-up on enough information to stay informed, without stressing yourself out.
Responsibility in your daily routine
Some people use alcohol or other substances to either kill time, eliminate boredom, relieve stress, or lift their spirits. Having a drink at the end of the day, after you’ve finished work isn’t a big deal. It may even be a good idea to get on a video call with a friend or two and share a drink together virtually as a social event. Think of it as a virtual happy hour. The social aspect is good for your mental health during an isolating time. However, be mindful of how much you’re drinking, and make sure it doesn’t become a form of self-medication that will haunt you after the pandemic is over, and life goes back to normal. If you’re not careful and self-aware, you may end up developing substance abuse. If you have a history of substance abuse, it’s wise to avoid alcohol, marijuana, or any other substances altogether.
Mindfulness in your daily routine
As Jon Kabat-Zinn said, “Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experiences.” So try to incorporate mindful activities as part of your daily routine. Breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, or journaling can really help you to take control of your anxiety and practice mindfulness.
Take on a new challenge! With a lot more time on your hands, since your commuting time has been eliminated, it’s great to pick up a new hobby or develop a new skill. There are free online courses you can take, or YouTube tutorials you can watch, teaching you how to do everything and anything, from mastering Photoshop to learning how to knit. There are certain subscription apps like Skillshare, which allow you to take courses from experts in any given field. Some universities are even offering free classes. You can take this time to learn how to develop an in-demand skill, like coding. Who knows? This is a great way to keep yourself busy and engaged. This can be the beginning of a new and lucrative career for you. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade!
Be kind to yourself and others
If you happen to fall a bit behind on work, skip a few workouts, and overindulge in ice cream two nights in a row; don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not easy to be as productive in such a strange time, especially when we don’t exactly know when things will get back to normal. Know that you’re not alone in this; no one is handling the quarantine with ease, or perfection.
Make sure you listen to your body and watch out for signs of burnout or depression. These can manifest as physical symptoms like, pressure in the chest or an increase in heart rate.
As soon as you feel unwell, talk to someone and make sure to take a break and spend some time on yourself. And if you’re handling this strange situation that we’re all in better than others; keep an eye out for friends, family, and colleagues who may be struggling. Let them know they’re not alone and maybe even provide them with some ideas and help on how they can cope.
CareClinic – your daily routine app
The CareClinic app can be your all in one tool to help manage and track your daily routine. Along with making sure that you follow a routine, it’s important to create and set a routine and the CareClinic app can help you with that. It can be very easy to forget about things or ignore small steps that you may need to do daily in your routine. But an app like CareClinic can help keep you on track. CareClinic offers many features that you can take advantage of to make it easy for you to set up and follow a routine. You can set up a routine for yourself or your family members, and teach them to track themselves or track on their behalf.
Diary Entry
Take advantage of the mobile diary that CareClinic offers. You can take a moment to note down how you are feeling or what you are thinking in any given moment. Had a rough meeting and feeling down, make note of that in your diary. Over time you will begin to notice differences in how you are feeling and your daily routines. You can then go back and see that maybe you were feeling down on a certain day because you had a rough meeting. You can even set reminders for yourself to make a diary entry at certain times. Maybe you’d like to write down how your day was at the end of the night, like a journal. Writing down your thoughts and feelings can help you relieve stress.
Symptoms
You can easily track all of your symptoms with CareClinic. Make note of that Zoom burnout you are feeling after 3 straight hours of meeting. Maybe you have a headache or back pain from sitting all day. You can keep track of all of your symptoms and see what causes them. That way you can adjust your routine so that you can eliminate the factors that cause these symptoms.
Activity
Track your daily activities with the app. You can enter any exercise, whether it’s as simple as going for a walk, yoga or more strenuous such as lifting weights. You can track how long your activity lasts and even build a training program in which you can track the reps and sets of each workout. The app also allows you to set reminders for yourself so that you are ready to go when it’s time to work. Setting reminders can help you build your routine which will help keep you motivated and keep your stress levels down.
You can even keep track of your screen time, and set blocks for yourself so that you can see how active on screen you have been. Try to better manage your screen time the next day so that you don’t burn out.
Therapy
Many different types of therapies are available for us today, whether in person or virtual. The app can help you track any therapies you may be signed up for. Whether it’s seeing a therapist or getting a massage, you can track your appointments and set reminders so that you never miss a session. This will help you stay on top of things and schedule sessions so that you can reduce your stress.
Nutrition
Set up meal plans for yourself so that you can live a healthier life. You can track exactly what you are eating and when and the nutritional details of your meals. You can then look back and see what your meal was and how it made you feel. Set up reminders for yourself so that you never miss a meal and are always properly nourished so that you can live a healthy lifestyle.
Takeaways
Now more than ever, it’s important to create a daily routine to lead a more productive, efficient, and healthy lifestyle. This will in turn, decrease anxiety, depression, and stress, which will allow us to live a happier life. Even during a global pandemic. Some of the things to include in any daily routine include healthy eating habits, sleep, and exercise.
However, during quarantine, it goes beyond these basic habits. There must be a clear distinction between work space and time, and living space and leisure time. It’s more important than ever to separate work time from personal time. We must aim to increase our screen time by virtually socializing with friends and family and building a new skill using virtual courses. And we must set aside some time every day to practice mindful habits like meditation, yoga, or journaling.
“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.”
-Mike Murdock
