Personally it takes me a couple days to re-cement a routine after missing a day. Which means I can maintain my routines as long as I don't miss more than a day

Personally it takes me a couple days to re-cement a routine after missing a day. Which means I can maintain my routines as long as I don't miss more than a day or two a week. I used to schedule a weekly rest day with no routines and no checklists, but now with kids I just let those days fall as needed. The real issue is skipping several days in a row. If I drop my routines for a weeklong vacation it takes more than a month to build them back. One thing I've discovered for myself is that the routine doesn't decay as quickly if I at least maintain a placeholder. For example, even if I don't have time to do an exercise routine I can usually do five pushups. Even if I can't meditate for ten minutes, I can still sit and breathe for a minute. Even if I can't do all the dishes before bed, I can scrape them off. That makes it much easier to resume the routine. It doesn't deepen the rut but it does prevent it from being washed away.