Locked Into Routine
By: Kirsty Hutton
Tags: Mental Health, Routine, Productivity, Motivation, Coffee

I go to the same coffee shop every day, except on Tuesdays when I’m in a different part of town — then I go to a different coffee shop.

I take my laptop, order my usual coffee, and get to work quietly. The staff know my name, I know them, and I’m comfortable there.

But what happens when the routine has to change?

I’ve written about decision fatigue in the past, and how there is some science behind the idea that automating certain decisions can leave your mind free for other things. Steve Jobs and his self-imposed ‘uniform’ is the example often given as the success story for not busying your mind with insignificant decisions.

The apparent science behind decision fatigue helped me to normalise and explain my love for the predictable. It was a way to understand that changes and decision-making were, in fact, exhausting (and more so for some than others).

Us routine lovers can get a lot done by removing these small decisions, but does it leave us out of practice for when a decision needs to be made? I think so. But I also think I won’t change any time soon.

My usual coffee yesterday was “ruined” when I couldn’t get a seat at my favourite part of the cafe. The waiter offered me three options; join the “boys” at a table in the cafe (a couple of his friends who I didn’t know), sit out the back at what is practically the bar, or sit in the area without a front wall, effectively sitting outside.

I chose the latter, froze, and didn’t get much work done. (Because all I could think about was how cold I was and how I wasn’t in my usual section of the cafe.)

And then it happened again

Often on the weekends I go back to the same cafe in the afternoon for a wine. Again with my laptop, but this time to do some more creative work. Since my morning work time had been interrupted by the change of scenery I hoped the afternoon would be better.

It was worse!

They had roped off the normal section of the cafe in preparation for a function. The waiter did say I could sit in there for another hour or so, but I really didn’t want to be the weirdo sitting behind the velvet rope.

So again, I sat in the cold section of the cafe. I didn’t enjoy it and made a mental note that I needed to find a new local.

Today I went back to an older local of mine. I used to be a regular there when they had nice, friendly French waiters, but over time they all went home and the staff were replaced with less happy people. Also, the WiFi is unreliable and that bugs me.

While I could focus and get some work done, it was harder than usual. We’ve all got different levels of tolerability to routine and change. I like routine and things I know, so I don’t need to process the difference.

My sister (who has the same parents as me and was raised the same) can handle anything. She’s adaptable to change and it doesn’t phase her. She also knows me well enough to give me a heads up that she changed laundry detergent before I visit because she knows I’ll notice the different smell.

The self-awareness key

I was in my thirties before I realised how much change bugged me, but once I did things got a little easier. Yes, my cafe being busier than normal was enough to spark a blog post, but it didn’t ruin my entire week.

The key is to plan as much as possible, and to plan for slight changes or deviations from the path. This reduces the amount of effort actually going into the new decision. So while maybe I’ll go to a different cafe, like hell I’m getting anything other than a long black with hot milk on the side! (A very “Melbourne” way of ordering coffee, and not as weird as it sounds to the rest of the world.)