A Daily Routine Lead by Values

How to allow your values to guide your daily routine

I struggled to find a schedule that worked for my art practice. The constant life shifts made it difficult for me to stick to a set schedule each day. I didn’t ever feel like my schedule fit into a tidy container. I have the feeling many of you feel the same. We all deal with change daily and must have a willingness to adapt to what life brings. The problem becomes, when we adapt so much that we don’t fill our days and lives with the things we value the very most. I found myself in this circumstance. Putting aside what I loved the most time and time again so I had to rethink this “ideal” schedule and start embodying my values.

I have broken down my day into six categories based on my values. My goal is to check each category off the list each day. Some days this looks like five minutes of one category and two hours of another or sometimes simply five minutes of each is all I can carve away time for in a day.  On the next page, you can look through this guide and decide how you would make changes to allow for your own personal and creative growth. Do any of the tasks you do or want to do fall under these categories already? Do you have a different value to add? My most important value not on the list, is my family. I know that my family takes priority over everything. But I also know, I needed to create this list in order to value myself and my own growth. What can you change to align with your values?

I would recommend spending a week tracking your days. How much of your day is filled with what you value? How much isn’t? How can you make adjustments? I know I constantly have to reevaluate how I fill my day but more often than not my values remain the same. Give yourself time and space for what you value the most each day so that you can create a life that you truly value and fill it with meaning.

RECOMMENDED BOOK ON ROUTINES: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Franz Kafka