The Best Routines Are the Ones You Keep Returning To

We often talk about the importance of having routines, but how do we develop them in the first place? And how do we know whether a routine actually works for the life we're trying to build?

I believe routines begin with planning. Not necessarily elaborate schedules or calendars filled with activities, but intentional consideration of what matters to us, what we're responsible for, and what we want to accomplish.

Plans create routines. And the best routines are the ones you keep returning to.

Plans Create Routines

When we make plans, we're making decisions about how we intend to use our time, energy, attention, and resources.

Some plans are relatively simple. Others require hours of research, thought, coordination, and decision-making. We can plan for tomorrow, next week, next month, or the next five, ten, or twenty years.

There's no universal planning horizon.

Planning for a distant future doesn't mean knowing exactly what will happen between now and then. It means considering what we want that future to look like and what we can begin doing today to move toward it.

In a sense, planning requires us to temporarily live in the future.

We mentally place ourselves in circumstances we haven't experienced yet. We imagine possible outcomes, consider what could happen along the way, and identify what might be required of us.

Then we return to the present, bringing that information with us.

But imagination alone isn't a plan. At some point, we have to translate what we've envisioned into decisions and actions. And when those decisions require consistent attention, routines begin to emerge.

Make Future Plans With Past Knowledge

One of the most valuable resources we have when planning for the future is knowledge we've already acquired.

Think about your typical day.

You probably already know approximately how long it takes you to get ready in the morning, which responsibilities require daily attention, when you're most productive, and which activities tend to take longer than expected.

You've learned these things through experience.

Why would you disregard that information when planning tomorrow?

Of course, we won't have prior experience with everything we want to accomplish. We may be planning for an unfamiliar career, a business we've never operated, or a stage of life we haven't reached.

That's where research, observation, conversations, and learning become part of planning.

You don't have to have experienced a particular future to begin preparing for it.

Use what you already know, learn what you don't, and continue developing the plan as new information becomes available.

Recognizing What Matters

Before we can establish meaningful routines, we need some understanding of what deserves our attention.

This is central to my Major Z framework.

Major Z represents an intentionally envisioned future state: the life you're ultimately working toward, with the outcomes that matter to you aligned.

For some people, imagining that future comes naturally. Others may have never seriously considered what they want their later years to look like.

Your Major Z may begin as a broad idea and become more defined as you gain experience, explore possibilities, and make decisions.

Meanwhile, you have Macro Zs: the ongoing areas of life that require your attention, protection, and care. As you examine your responsibilities and aspirations, you begin identifying Minor Z projects and the Micro Z actions necessary to move them forward.

Over time, patterns emerge. Certain values repeatedly influence your decisions. Some responsibilities require ongoing maintenance, while others develop into projects with identifiable outcomes.

You begin to recognize what deserves regular attention and what needs to happen next.

The Best Routine Is the One You Keep Returning To

Once you've identified what matters and developed plans to support it, the next challenge is execution.

And execution frequently involves repetition.

Consider someone operating a business. They may regularly review their finances, respond to customers, examine analytics, develop products, and evaluate priorities.

They don't need to invent an entirely new way to operate their business every morning.

The structure can remain familiar even as the specific tasks change.

Through repetition, we begin to discover what works. We learn which activities fit comfortably into our days, which commitments compete for our attention, and where adjustments are needed.

Eventually, the routine becomes more established.

That doesn't mean every day will look identical. Nor does it mean the routine is permanent.

The value of a routine isn't that you never depart from it. It's that you have something meaningful and workable to return to.

Routines Help Us Navigate the B–Y Zone

Within Major Z, I refer to the lived space between where we've been, where we are now, and where we want to go as the B–Y Zone.

This is where life happens.

It's where we make decisions, carry out plans, manage responsibilities, encounter opportunities, and experience circumstances that may or may not be within our control.

And this is where routines become particularly valuable.

Recently, my mother visited for a week. During that time, my son's normal bedtime routine changed. He slept with his grandmother instead of in his own room, and our days were filled with activities outside our usual schedule.

This wasn't an unexpected disruption. I knew she was coming, and I intentionally made room for those experiences.

When she left, I returned my son to his usual bedtime routine. It was familiar to both of us. Once he was asleep, I returned to my computer, opened my planners, and continued working on my own commitments.

I could have chosen to take the evening off, too. That wouldn't have meant abandoning my plans. The following morning, I still would have had an established routine to return to.

That's an important distinction.

A strong routine doesn't require life to remain unchanged. It helps us maintain continuity when life does change.

Our routines don't eliminate uncertainty or prevent interruptions. They provide a familiar foundation as we navigate the B–Y Zone, helping us maintain stability, manage responsibilities, and continue working toward what matters.

Give Your Plans Somewhere to Live

There's another important component to this process: having a system you can return to.

Our lives contain competing priorities, unfinished projects, appointments, obligations, ideas, and decisions. Trying to hold all of that information in our heads makes it difficult to see how everything connects.

This is one reason I developed a Major Z workbook.

I wanted a place where I could organize the areas of my life, the projects I was pursuing, and the actions I needed to complete.

My dashboard gives me a high-level view of what's happening. The supporting worksheets contain the details, including current commitments, timelines, progress, and completed work.

When I finish a Micro Z, I can move it into my completed work and continue with the next action.

I don't have to rebuild my plan every time I sit down to work.

I return to it.

And because the information is organized, I can better recognize how decisions in one area may affect responsibilities and plans in another.

The system doesn't make decisions for me. It gives me a clearer basis for making them.

Keep Returning

You don't need to know exactly what the next twenty years will bring to begin planning for them.

You don't need to identify every future project or anticipate every obstacle. And you certainly don't need a perfect routine before you begin.

Start by considering what matters to you. Think about the life you're building, the responsibilities you have, and the future you want to work toward.

Use what you've already learned. Make plans that reflect your circumstances. Give those plans somewhere to live, and return to them regularly.

As you execute, observe what works. Pay attention to what repeats. Make adjustments when necessary.

Most importantly, don't confuse an interruption with the end of a routine.

Plans create routines. Repetition helps establish them. Returning to them helps us continue building the lives we've intentionally envisioned.