Making & Keeping New Routines

Fun fact: I rarely had to study in school.

This isn't as much of a brag as it may seem. The US school system is different than most of my students' in that tests were made to be finished in the alloted time frame. Secondly, I worked well with the structure & challenge of school environments. There were assignments everyday, tests every couple of weeks, and finals at the end of the semester. And lastly, I have a good memory for lectures, which is primarily what is covered in tests. Audio-based learning has always been my strong suit.

(Of course, I did my homework and whatever assignments were expected. I would read the textbook if needed. But that was less to study on my own & more because I had to for my grades.)

Once school ended, my curiosity for learning didn't stop. After university, I built my study life around work, which I believe is common for many people.

First, I built habits and chores into my work routines. When I worked in Japan & Korea, I could easily add 'get groceries' to a biweekly rotation. I knew I had to study language, so I did a bit on my way to and from work & then during weekly lessons. Exercise was added in as walks to and from work or other activities. I chose stairs instead of the elevator. Those simple choices were easy when I was building around a schedule dictated to me by someone else.

Once I moved back & began working from home, all of that structure disappeared again. While I worked for the university, my scheduled hours had flexible start & end times (just a weekly 40-hr requirement and a request to tell our boss when things changed dramatically). I didn't have to commute; I walked from one room to the next & turned on my work laptop. I also realized I had a sizeable chunk of time where I didn't have to look busy when I'd already finished more work than I'd been assigned.

I will not lie; I floundered. I'd never needed to learn & cultivate self-discipline to do what feels like basic adult behaviors. Now that I didn't have a daily excuse to leave my home, I had to actually think about exercise. I didn't have lessons so I had to begin to learn how to study without having a teacher dictating practice times or learning goals. Even making time for friends became increasingly challenging.

So I pivoted. How do people form habits? What tools and techniques work for me? And how can I build them into what I naturally do to make life feel easy but full of personal satisfaction?

This is what's worked for me:

adding new habits to old ones (I want to drink more water, so I put my water bottle next to my French press so I fill it up when I make my daily morning coffee)
to do lists that include creative project ideas (it keeps the list from weighing me down)
scheduling in activities, not habits (it stresses me out too much)
choosing to walk instead of drive, even in winter (which is a very different in many cities in the US & Canada vs when I lived in east Asia. It also gets to -20~40 C here, so it's a hassle)
reducing 'friction' to recurring habits (eg: if you want to drink more water, put water glasses around where you sit. add 'fill water glasses' up to your nightly routine)
set the bar JUST above the ground (this seems counter-productive. What it does is give yourself a burst of accomplishment, which often motivates you to do more. This feeds back into a positive loop.)
ride the wave of motivation (instead of forcing myself to get everything done evenly, follow the natural ebb & flow of my personality)
track larger goals withoutperfection in mind (I will stop a 30- or 100- day challenge as soon as I fail it. So instead I give myself a "pass" percentage closer to 90-95%, since it allows for my nature & keeps me on track to finishing.)
reward difficulty to me instead of general difficulty (drawing for 30 minutes is easy; doing 50 squats is medium; driving for 30 minutes is HARD because I despise doing it)
loop in friends but don't tie yourself to them (many of my friends have personal goals they want to accomplish in 2026, but while we keep each other motivated, their accomplishment or failure doesn't change how mine will end up)
romanticize things (light a candle when you read. Put on a hype-up playlist when you clean. Silly things add some a whimsy & humor into your life that's indispensible)