Alexander Peterson | Contributing Writer
For college students over the past year and a half, life has been anything but routine. Now, as the world slowly goes back to normal, college students here at Eastern were asked how keeping up with a routine is able to make their hectic lives easier.
Routine is a way that many people in general keep their lives moving in a linear motion. By keeping a routine, students are able to easily remember the tasks that they are meant to perform in a day; this gets challenging when the day-to-day tasks can differ greatly in a week. “It helps me get things done without having to consciously remind myself.” Said Carly Gessaro, a junior here at Eastern Connecticut State University. She also plays softball for the Warriors so, it is safe to say she has a full plate here at school. The concept that she brought up is one of the greatest benefits of creating a routine for yourself. Being able to take your long routine of things out of your head and make it into something tangible, like a list is one of the best ways to fall into a healthy routine and stop stressing about all of the things that you have to do in a day. This effect can also be achieved by repetition. If you are not too keen on lists, by simply staying on task all day every day you can start to take the most important steps of your day and move them out of your short-term memory and into your long-term memory. Moving that information from your short-term, to your long-term memory is the final step in processing any information. This makes the memories more stable and harder to forget. So, when it comes to making a routine, the more items that you can keep in your long-term memory, the less they will seem like chores, or burdens and the more it will simply start to feel routine.
Routines can also be a type of reward system for some college students. Completing tasks on your routine always feels good and gives a boost to your dopamine center, and so it can act as an incentive to get the next task done. “Routine keeps me on time and feeling accomplished” said Eastern graduate Michael Lauretti. This sense of accomplishment can be one of the main factors that pushes students to their next goal, all the way until they can reach the end of their day, and inevitably do the same thing again tomorrow. Even starting your morning routine off with something as simple as making your bed, gets your day off to an accomplished start before you have even really done anything. That can be the slight push that you need that gets you through your entire day. Making your bed also highlights another response when posed the question how does a routine help you? Antonio Cazassa, a sophomore at Eastern Connecticut State University said, “It (Routines) help you focus on the little things instead of stressing over the bigger picture.” By only worrying about the next thing on your routine, it prevents you from taking too big of a step back and looking at your whole life, when it can be detrimental to the things that actually have to get done today and not concerns you have about ten years from now.
One thing is key in order to have an effective routine, Consistency. Without consistency it makes it much easier to mess up, or even forget entire parts of your routine. Keeping up with your routine day in and day out is the best way to make it stick. Eastern junior, Osa Uzamere said, “(Routines) make things simple and efficient, and keeps me disciplined.” By knowing exactly what you need to do on a day-to-day basis you can make the most effective plan in which to accomplish those tasks. Efficiency can be an important principle for a college student, a lot of the times it may feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, but by maximizing the efficiency of your routine, you can always ensure that you are getting the most done that you can. Nick Ruiz, who is also a junior at Eastern shared a similar comment, “(Routine) makes everything go smoother.” Having a set routine, a lot of the time can help escape any unnecessary bumps that might occur throughout your day, for example: by having a set time every day that you chose to do work, you can minimize the risk of having to complete assignments last minute just by keeping a consistent routine. Mostly if not every student that answered the question said that it helps them get their work done in some form or another and so the proof is in the responses. Without a routine, students find it more difficult to get their work done.
Routines can be helpful in every facet of your life not just in school, it can help you start to work out more, or help you start your diet. Any way you wish to apply a routine to your life can be beneficial to you if done the right way.