5 Reasons to Create a Daily Routine As an Adult Learner (And How to Stick to It)

Key Insights:

• Creating or bringing back a daily routine as an adult learner — even amidst your other obligations — may help reduce stress, improve sleep quality, boost productivity, and more.
• Think about the routines you currently have, then decide if there are any others you’d like to create to help you get closer to your professional and/or personal goals.
• To help your new daily routine stick, remind yourself why it’s important, put it on your schedule, and give it time to become a habit.

If you’re juggling work, family, and other obligations with completing your healthcare program, it can be easy to let your daily routines lapse. Maybe you no longer take time for a healthy breakfast every morning, or you might notice that your once clockwork-like bedtime is getting later and later. While it’s understandable to let daily routines slip when you have a lot going on, making them a priority can provide some compelling benefits for adult learners.

5 Ways a Daily Routine Can Help Adult Learners

Here are five reasons to prioritize keeping a routine when going to school as an adult, and why they’re important:

#1: It can aid in stress management

A survey of 6,000 adult learners found that roughly 51% had full-time jobs, and another 21% were employed part-time.¹ Add this to taking care of a family and working toward a healthcare diploma or degree, and the stress can start to build up.

Having a daily routine can give you a sense of predictability in your day.² Even if you’re unsure what new challenges you may face in the hours ahead, habitual behaviors are familiar — you know what to expect. Predictability helps ease stress by reducing feelings of uncertainty, enabling you to feel safe.³

#2: It can help you sleep better

When was the last time you got a good night's sleep? If you find that you lie in bed for a long time before drifting off or that you have trouble staying asleep, creating (or returning to) a daily routine may help you turn this around.

Research has found that adults with higher levels of daily routine tend to have a more stable sleep-wake schedule.⁴ Developing a nighttime routine designed to support good sleep can be helpful for getting good sleep, too. The Sleep Foundation recommends having a small snack, drinking a cup of non-caffeinated herbal tea, taking a warm bath, listening to music, stretching, meditating, or reading a good book.⁵

#3: It can boost your productivity

When your days are filled with work obligations, taking care of children or parents (or both), and meeting deadlines in your healthcare classes, it may seem like skipping your daily routines could help by freeing up more time in your day. But if your goal is to be more productive — enabling you to get more done in less time — certain routines may actually help.

Daily activities that can have positive effects on productivity include:⁶

• Setting aside blocks of time to handle specific tasks at pre-determined times of the day
• Prioritizing items on your to-do list, focusing on those that are urgent and important
• Breaking larger projects or tasks into smaller pieces, setting milestones along the way

#4: It can help you feel more in control

Many aspects of life can seem out of our control. We may not be able to influence how much schoolwork we get in a week, for instance, or how many hours we are scheduled to work. Daily routines can promote a sense of control and self-efficacy,⁷ the latter of which refers to believing in your ability to complete certain tasks or reach specific goals.

If you dislike doing your schooling after work, do it in the morning so you have time to relax in the evening. If you don’t get excited about waking up early to make school lunches, prepare them the night before so they’re ready to grab and go the next day. Life can be unpredictable at times, but creating routines such as these can help you take charge of your days.

#5: It can help with time management

When actions are routine, you don’t have to think about doing them; you just get them done. This helps reduce fatigue associated with decision-making and can increase your ability to focus, while also adding structure and organization to your day — all of which contribute to efficient time management.⁸

“Routines give us stability and eliminate the time wasted trying to answer the question, ‘What comes next?’”

Social Security Administration, “Developing Your Time Management Skills”⁹

One daily routine that can help you manage your time is to set aside a few minutes each morning to develop a schedule for the day. This not only serves as a reminder of the tasks you need to complete, but it also enables you to decide the time of day when you might be better able to take care of certain tasks based on your energy and focus.

How to Create a Daily Routine

What can you do today to begin building a routine? Start by thinking about your current routines. What are some things you do each day now that help you manage school, work, and/or home life? Maybe you sit down and do your schoolwork when your child does theirs, or make sure everyone in your family starts their day with a healthy breakfast. You may be surprised to realize that you already have some positive daily routines in place.

Next, ask whether there are some things that, if you did them each day, could help make your life easier, happier, or less stressful. Think about where your biggest pain points lie, then come up with activities you can do daily to relieve them.

For example, if your healthcare course feels too hard, you might establish a daily routine of practicing with flashcards for five minutes at lunchtime to help you better grasp the information you need to learn. Establishing regular physical activity routines can also help sharpen your thinking, learning, and judgment skills, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),¹⁰ which can be beneficial as an adult learner, but also in other areas of life.

Tips for Making Your Daily Routine Stick

Creating a routine is one thing. Keeping it is another. How do you stick to a routine long-term?

• Keep the benefits in mind. We’ve already talked about several benefits of a daily routine, but it can also be helpful to think about how the routines you want to create or bring back can be especially beneficial for you. If you want to create a routine to improve your memory for studying, for example, consider how this can help you do well in your courses. Creating solid study habits can even extend to your career, helping you learn when you’re on the job and presented with new information, technology, or techniques.
• Put it on your calendar. When you open your calendar each day and see the daily routine there, you’re less likely to forget to do it. You might place it in a specific time slot or simply include it as an item on your daily to-do list. Either way, until your new daily routine becomes second-nature, placing it on your calendar can remind you to do it.
• Give it time. New routines aren’t established overnight. They take time to develop. Give yourself that time. Sometimes life can get hectic. Your employer orders you to work overtime, a family member gets sick, or something else keeps you from engaging in your new daily habit. Give yourself grace if you skip your routine for a day (or week). Just remind yourself why it’s important, put it on your calendar, and try again tomorrow. You’ve got this.

UMA Is Here for Our Adult Learners

UMA understands that many of our adult learners juggle work and family while going to school. That’s why we offer a support system of caring and compassionate professionals to help guide you through your studies and healthcare career.

Through our Student Services, you can get help with:

• Admissions: Ask questions about our healthcare programs. Tell us about your career goals, and let’s talk about how we can help you achieve them.
• Financial aid: Our Student Finance team can help you understand your options for paying for your healthcare education.
• Academic support: Our Learner and Academic Services teams are here to support your academic success while earning your healthcare diploma or degree.
• Career and job search assistance: At UMA, our support doesn’t stop at academics — we’re also committed to helping you in your career. This includes resume assistance, job interview prep, LinkedIn profile optimization, personalized job search support, and more.

Contact us and let us know how we can help you reach your healthcare career goals.

FAQs

• What are some healthy habits? Practicing mindfulness, making sleep a priority, following a diet high in minimally processed foods, and getting more physical activity are all habits that help support health and wellness.¹¹ Adding these into your day can help you feel your best while preparing for a career based on helping others.
• What does routine mean? A routine is something you do repeatedly over time. Brushing your teeth, combing your hair, and eating lunch are all examples of routines that can exist in your day.
• How long does it take to build a routine? One review of four studies found that, on average, it takes 106 to 154 days to form a new habit, but also that there’s great variability from one person to another (ranging from four to 335 days).¹² This study also noted that the more you engage in a specific habit, the stronger it becomes. So, while it may take some time to build a routine, the more you do it, the easier it is to keep doing it.