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Routines. Routines speed up your life. Time will blow by quicker if you are covered in routines. What is worse, your days will become blurred - each day - too

Routines. Routines speed up your life. Time will blow by quicker if you are covered in routines. What is worse, your days will become blurred - each day - too similar to the next - for you brain to hold on to distinct memories. Example: if you drive to work the same way each day - you will often not even remember the drive by 10am. That hour will be gone forever. However, if you were to take BART instead for the first time, that one particular day will last a lifetime. Try moving. Move to a different town, force yourself to get new friends, take three saxophone lessons. Your days will last. alternative: Alarm beeps, Wake up, drive your kid to school the same way, drive your commute the same way, work with the same people, tell the same jokes, work on similar problems all day, watch netflix all weekend. You will wake up at 45 when someone in your family passes. Change things up.

t-shaped 6y ago
Exactly. I realised this a while ago that if I keep having the same day everyday, I'm not going to remember anything about my life. Everything would be insignificant because it happens everyday. It came to my mind when I started to lose track of my week. Did I have pasta on Tuesday or Wednesday? What time did I come home last Thursday? Why can't I distinguish one day from the other? Because everyday is the same. Now I track my days and its much much better.
agumonkey 6y ago
The neurology of time is a topic hard to read about.
- ido 6y ago
  Do you mean it's emotionally hard? Or hard to understand?
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    neither, my post was utterly incomplete.. hard to find writings about :)
LUmBULtERA 6y ago
Huh, I had not thought of routines in this way before. I like my morning routine of waking up and drinking coffee as I read the days interesting things on HN and elsewhere, but then I go about the rest of the workweek routines. The idea it actually speeds up my life ... it does. Days blur together, then weeks blur together. Before I know it, months and years can go by with only a few truly memorable moments. Good thought.
- nicbou 6y ago
  Life went on fast forward when I worked 40 hour weeks in a corporation. Yesterday feels exactly like 6 months ago. It was 6 months of cereals, podcasts on the train, internet arguments to kill time and Youtube nights. The days are indistinguishable. On the other hand, when I travel, I vastly overestimate how fast time goes by. Last week feels like a previous life.
graeme 6y ago
Huh, interesting. I recently made a morning and evening routine. I think it made me happier: I sleep better, I get more stuff done, am less stressed. But the days feel shorter. So, this seems like maybe at least a couple days in the week should be “random days”.
- alexanderdou 6y ago
  I think there's a balance here, as with everything. If you're too far on the <---"unstructured" end of the spectrum, you hop from one thing to the next and take things as they come. You sleep at constantly fluctuating times, you eat meals of convenience, etc But if you're too far on the "structured/run-by-routine"--> end of things then you get what is described in the parent comment So it's like "how do I introduce the minimum routine that will set me up for good days without being stultifying". (just to be clear, hopefully I'm not coming off as lecture-y, I'm just kind of writing/thinking out loud what your comment kicked off in my head)
lewisjoe 6y ago
This implies the primary intent of life is to collect memories. Memories die too. If not with you, probably with the grandkids. These days when I enjoy a moment, I don't even bother clicking a picture. The goal of life is to have as much of those moment as possible with a confidence that you won't be searching for interesting memories when you get older. I maybe wrong. Maybe in the end, memories are all that matters but I'm about to find out.
- borroka 6y ago
  I used to think similarly. Then, a couple of years ago, in my mind I started to go back to my past. I now often think about my childhood, my grandparents, I look at the photos I took or other people took when I was doing what I loved doing, and I swim in those memories, which are mostly joyful, no need to remember what we don't want to. And my life now is made less of moments that won't remain and more of a continuum of life that started with my family, with my dreams, some of them fulfilled and some yet to be or never to be. It gave me perspective, new strengths, the understanding that most events disappear into nothing; 5, 10, 15 years of school and we barely remember the names of our classmates. Of the three years of middle school, I remember three episodes at most. Where did those pains and laughs and dreams go? I only know that the dreams remain.
mellosouls 6y ago
Yes - this is the same reason that life "goes slower" when we are kids. New experiences. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-time-seem-to-speed-up-with-age/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-time-see...
wintermutestwin 6y ago
I disagree. Routines help to ensure that the more mundane aspects of life take less time and leave room for more interesting pursuits. Routines support living a life of integrity - I show up on time and I can keep my commitments easier when I have a steady routine. Routines help to reduce decision fatigue so that I have room for more important decisions. It seems that you are arguing that following routines makes you a zombie, but my experience is quite the opposite. I find it easier to savor the mundane things in life when they follow a routine. I think that it may be a personality difference where some people thrive on routine and some thrive on extreme novelty. vive la differance?
- bschne 6y ago
  Maybe, but I think it's important to distinguish what your routine covers and what it doesn't. I agree with gp when whole days are all the same and optimized to death for more productive time. But I'd agree with you if you optimize the necessary errands, and fill the rest of your time with more interesting/meaningful activities.
- nicbou 6y ago
  Routine is a great counter to ADHD. On long motorcycle trips, I sleep in a different place almost every day. Routine is essential if I want to be on the saddle by 11AM and not forget anything anywhere. At home, routine ensures that the groceries and cooking are done before I get hungry and that I get 8 hours of sleep every day. When it's thrown off by jet lag or other events, I make mistakes that ripple through my day. The only risk is to get lost in routine and tune out for a large portion of your life.
KineticLensman 6y ago
It's great to introduce change like this. But micro-routines - drills - can be life-savers. They stop me from locking myself out of the house, losing my lens cap, mis-starting my chain saw, etc.
Xcelerate 6y ago
I’ve noticed this independently and agree with it (at least for me personally). For some reason, the more fixed and typical my schedule, the slower time goes by in the short term but the quicker it goes by in the long-term. For example, with the pandemic, almost every day is exactly the same and they all feel excruciatingly slow. But when I sit back and think “it’s already almost September”, it seems like the months just flew by and I can’t really remember what I spent all those months doing. I purposely try to mix up my days as much as I can because it seems to change my perception of time, but it’s been a bit hard to do that this year without really being able to go anywhere.
- bschne 6y ago
  I just read a chapter in Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain", which goes into exactly this - boredom or uneventfulness drags out time in the present, because nothing keeps your mind occupied, but contracts it in hindsight, because longer units of time like days are basically the same and "collapse" into one in your memory. Excitement / novelty on the other hand do the opposite - time seems to go by faster in the present, but you make lots of distinct memories, so looking back it all appears longer.
cercatrova 6y ago
Routines slow life down, for me at least. I get things done every day that each week when I reflect on it, I realize just how much I got accomplished. The individual days feel short but the week feels long. In the other mode, if I'm a zombie most days, while the day itself feels long, the week feels short.
peter303 6y ago
Exact opposite true too. The lack of routine during covid lockdown made days blur into one another.
ip26 6y ago
Routines are a tool. An exercise routine may not be memorable, for example, but the routine might be how you manage to keep doing it. I run the same loop at least once a week. Because it's routine, I can just throw on my shoes & go. No need to engage my brain at 5am. This helps keep me exercising. Variety will keep life fresh. But routine will help you get through the same old stuff that still needs to get done.
Teknoman117 6y ago
Yep. The time between graduating college and now (admittedly only 4 and a half years for me) has blown by. My fondest memories from the last few years are those weeks I spent travelling internationally. Hopefully I'll be able to travel again at some point after the pandemic, people aren't all to keen about Americans right now.

t-shaped 6y ago

Exactly. I realised this a while ago that if I keep having the same day everyday, I'm not going to remember anything about my life. Everything would be insignificant because it happens everyday. It came to my mind when I started to lose track of my week. Did I have pasta on Tuesday or Wednesday? What time did I come home last Thursday? Why can't I distinguish one day from the other? Because everyday is the same. Now I track my days and its much much better.

agumonkey 6y ago

The neurology of time is a topic hard to read about.

ido 6y ago
Do you mean it's emotionally hard? Or hard to understand?
- agumonkey 6y ago
  neither, my post was utterly incomplete.. hard to find writings about :)

LUmBULtERA 6y ago

Huh, I had not thought of routines in this way before. I like my morning routine of waking up and drinking coffee as I read the days interesting things on HN and elsewhere, but then I go about the rest of the workweek routines. The idea it actually speeds up my life ... it does. Days blur together, then weeks blur together. Before I know it, months and years can go by with only a few truly memorable moments. Good thought.

nicbou 6y ago
Life went on fast forward when I worked 40 hour weeks in a corporation. Yesterday feels exactly like 6 months ago. It was 6 months of cereals, podcasts on the train, internet arguments to kill time and Youtube nights. The days are indistinguishable. On the other hand, when I travel, I vastly overestimate how fast time goes by. Last week feels like a previous life.

graeme 6y ago

Huh, interesting. I recently made a morning and evening routine. I think it made me happier: I sleep better, I get more stuff done, am less stressed. But the days feel shorter. So, this seems like maybe at least a couple days in the week should be “random days”.

alexanderdou 6y ago
I think there's a balance here, as with everything. If you're too far on the <---"unstructured" end of the spectrum, you hop from one thing to the next and take things as they come. You sleep at constantly fluctuating times, you eat meals of convenience, etc But if you're too far on the "structured/run-by-routine"--> end of things then you get what is described in the parent comment So it's like "how do I introduce the minimum routine that will set me up for good days without being stultifying". (just to be clear, hopefully I'm not coming off as lecture-y, I'm just kind of writing/thinking out loud what your comment kicked off in my head)

lewisjoe 6y ago

This implies the primary intent of life is to collect memories. Memories die too. If not with you, probably with the grandkids. These days when I enjoy a moment, I don't even bother clicking a picture. The goal of life is to have as much of those moment as possible with a confidence that you won't be searching for interesting memories when you get older. I maybe wrong. Maybe in the end, memories are all that matters but I'm about to find out.

borroka 6y ago
I used to think similarly. Then, a couple of years ago, in my mind I started to go back to my past. I now often think about my childhood, my grandparents, I look at the photos I took or other people took when I was doing what I loved doing, and I swim in those memories, which are mostly joyful, no need to remember what we don't want to. And my life now is made less of moments that won't remain and more of a continuum of life that started with my family, with my dreams, some of them fulfilled and some yet to be or never to be. It gave me perspective, new strengths, the understanding that most events disappear into nothing; 5, 10, 15 years of school and we barely remember the names of our classmates. Of the three years of middle school, I remember three episodes at most. Where did those pains and laughs and dreams go? I only know that the dreams remain.

mellosouls 6y ago

Yes - this is the same reason that life "goes slower" when we are kids. New experiences. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-time-seem-to-speed-up-with-age/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-time-see...

wintermutestwin 6y ago

I disagree. Routines help to ensure that the more mundane aspects of life take less time and leave room for more interesting pursuits. Routines support living a life of integrity - I show up on time and I can keep my commitments easier when I have a steady routine. Routines help to reduce decision fatigue so that I have room for more important decisions. It seems that you are arguing that following routines makes you a zombie, but my experience is quite the opposite. I find it easier to savor the mundane things in life when they follow a routine. I think that it may be a personality difference where some people thrive on routine and some thrive on extreme novelty. vive la differance?

bschne 6y ago
Maybe, but I think it's important to distinguish what your routine covers and what it doesn't. I agree with gp when whole days are all the same and optimized to death for more productive time. But I'd agree with you if you optimize the necessary errands, and fill the rest of your time with more interesting/meaningful activities.
nicbou 6y ago
Routine is a great counter to ADHD. On long motorcycle trips, I sleep in a different place almost every day. Routine is essential if I want to be on the saddle by 11AM and not forget anything anywhere. At home, routine ensures that the groceries and cooking are done before I get hungry and that I get 8 hours of sleep every day. When it's thrown off by jet lag or other events, I make mistakes that ripple through my day. The only risk is to get lost in routine and tune out for a large portion of your life.

KineticLensman 6y ago

It's great to introduce change like this. But micro-routines - drills - can be life-savers. They stop me from locking myself out of the house, losing my lens cap, mis-starting my chain saw, etc.

Xcelerate 6y ago

I’ve noticed this independently and agree with it (at least for me personally). For some reason, the more fixed and typical my schedule, the slower time goes by in the short term but the quicker it goes by in the long-term. For example, with the pandemic, almost every day is exactly the same and they all feel excruciatingly slow. But when I sit back and think “it’s already almost September”, it seems like the months just flew by and I can’t really remember what I spent all those months doing. I purposely try to mix up my days as much as I can because it seems to change my perception of time, but it’s been a bit hard to do that this year without really being able to go anywhere.

bschne 6y ago
I just read a chapter in Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain", which goes into exactly this - boredom or uneventfulness drags out time in the present, because nothing keeps your mind occupied, but contracts it in hindsight, because longer units of time like days are basically the same and "collapse" into one in your memory. Excitement / novelty on the other hand do the opposite - time seems to go by faster in the present, but you make lots of distinct memories, so looking back it all appears longer.

cercatrova 6y ago

Routines slow life down, for me at least. I get things done every day that each week when I reflect on it, I realize just how much I got accomplished. The individual days feel short but the week feels long. In the other mode, if I'm a zombie most days, while the day itself feels long, the week feels short.

peter303 6y ago

Exact opposite true too. The lack of routine during covid lockdown made days blur into one another.

ip26 6y ago

Routines are a tool. An exercise routine may not be memorable, for example, but the routine might be how you manage to keep doing it. I run the same loop at least once a week. Because it's routine, I can just throw on my shoes & go. No need to engage my brain at 5am. This helps keep me exercising. Variety will keep life fresh. But routine will help you get through the same old stuff that still needs to get done.

Teknoman117 6y ago

Yep. The time between graduating college and now (admittedly only 4 and a half years for me) has blown by. My fondest memories from the last few years are those weeks I spent travelling internationally. Hopefully I'll be able to travel again at some point after the pandemic, people aren't all to keen about Americans right now.