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Some­times things start to go side­ways the moment you wake up

But sure­ly you, like me, have at some point devi­at­ed from your usu­al rou­tine — acci­den­tal­ly and against your will? You hap­pen to over­sleep, you arrive at the office lat­er than usu­al, and it is as if the rest of the day gets out of hand and you have to strug­gle much more than usu­al to make the day turn out alright.

Dis­rupt­ed rou­tines make you more tired

If you rec­og­nize this, you are not alone in expe­ri­enc­ing such days. Indeed, in a study enti­tled ​”Stum­bling out of the Gate: The Ener­gy-Based Impli­ca­tions of Morn­ing Rou­tine Dis­rup­tion”, McClean et al. found that a dis­rupt­ed morn­ing rou­tine tends to lead to increased fatigue and a reduced sense of calm dur­ing the day, which in turn low­ers your com­mit­ment to work and makes it hard­er for you to achieve your goals.

But what if it happens?

Break­ing the morn­ing rou­tine comes at a cost. But what should you do if you have one of those awful morn­ings that just gets out of hand? Well, McClean and col­leagues advise you to go back to your nor­mal work­day rou­tine as soon as pos­si­ble. Do not try to make up for lost time by break­ing more dai­ly rou­tines, because you will only make the prob­lem worse. And, if you are a man­ag­er, be care­ful when com­pen­sat­ing for the devi­a­tion from your rou­tine so that you do not do any­thing that forces your col­leagues to devi­ate from their rou­tines in turn, which would spread the neg­a­tive effects through­out the organization.

Do this

The next time some­thing hap­pens that forces you to devi­ate from a rou­tine you enjoy, do not cry over spilled milk, but get back to your nor­mal rou­tine for the day as soon as you can.

If you are a man­ag­er with staff respon­si­bil­i­ties, you could also con­sid­er set­ting up a morn­ing rou­tine that involves your staff — check­ing in with each of them (phys­i­cal­ly or dig­i­tal­ly), for exam­ple. That way, you can eas­i­ly help restore order to the per­son who has had a bad morn­ing and help them feel that every­thing is ​“back to nor­mal” ear­ly in the day.

A good start means bet­ter momen­tum — all day long

If you fol­low the morn­ing rou­tine you have estab­lished over time, you will not have to deal with a bad start to the day as often as you oth­er­wise would. Should a rou­tine-destroy­ing mishap still occur, you can get the day ​“back on track” if you return to the rou­tines you are used to at the first oppor­tu­ni­ty. A good rou­tine will catch you if you fall.

What do you do?

What do you do to quick­ly get your day back on track if the start is not what you want­ed? For me, as for every­one, things go wrong some­times so your best tip could be my sav­ing grace. Please write to me and share!

(Have you noticed oth­er small irri­ta­tions pop­ping up dur­ing the day that dis­rupt your rou­tines? Try cre­at­ing a bug-list for your work­day!)