January 28, 2026

Three Tools to Regain Control: Routine, Rituals, and Regimen

This is a time of year that can be chaotic, unpredictable, and stressful. Feeling as though we are “on top” of what we want to accomplish and what is expected of us can be a special challenge. We need some dependable, predictable, and workable strategies to help us to make sense of our world and gain confidence that we can build and sustain momentum to carry us through.

Fortunately, there are some easily accessible strategies and frameworks we can adopt and practice to help us feel and be more in control. We might think of them as mental “software” to help us to perform tasks, manage time, derive meaning, and experience connections. Importantly, they are based in neuroscience. They offer ways to help our brains manage the myriad tasks, expectations, and challenges that comprise our lives.

These three life hacks can make a significant difference in how we approach our days and the significance and success we derive from them. We know them as routines, rituals, and regimen. Let’s explore each of these tools and how we can employ them to make our lives better.

Routines help us to be more efficient. They create predictability in starting our day, beginning class, or taking attendance and handling administrative tasks. Routines can save us time, energy, and attention. They are intended to prevent us from having to plan and manage new behaviors and action sequences unless there is a specific need to do so. They help to speed up processes and preserve time and energy for other useful activities. Routines add value to our personal and professional lives because they create efficiency, but they are not designed to create inspiration or stimulate growth.

Rituals provide readiness, meaning, and inspiration. Like routines, rituals offer predictability, but they represent more than efficiency. Rituals are practiced with intention. We engage in rituals to create meaning, trust, and readiness. They symbolize something important to us. We might begin our day with an inspirational reading, reflecting on what we want to accomplish, or connecting with a friend or family member. When arriving at work, we might engage in the ritual of greeting colleagues, securing a cup of coffee, or sitting quietly to prepare for the day. They can program our brains for resilience, clarity, and connections. Rituals are designed to connect and focus, and for us to be open to inspiration.

Regimens are designed to produce growth. Practicing regimens helps us to improve in specific areas of focus. They involve discipline and growth. Often a sequence of actions, they are intended to move us progressively toward a desired outcome, such as improving a skill, honing a practice, or building expertise. Regimens often are not comfortable like routines and rituals, but they share characteristics such as repetition, consistency, and predictability. Personally, we might adopt an exercise regimen to build strength or engage in a walking regimen to build stamina. Professionally, we might engage in a regimen to refine feedback practices, build a new instructional strategy, or improve our classroom management. Regimens involve consistency, feedback, focus, and patience to become more proficient rather than to become more efficient or find inspiration.

Considerations:

Together, routines, rituals, and regimens help us to become more intentional and in control.
All three can reduce our stress and provide order and structure to our lives.
Each of the tools serves a unique purpose. Misapplication can create confusion and frustration.
When we hurry through rituals or lose focus, they can lose their meaning and revert to being routines.
Rituals require emotional investment, while regimens require intellectual and physical investment.
When regimens are treated as routines, they can lose their ability to support improvement.
Adopting more routines can increase efficiency, but adding regimens can create overload.

Finding balance, creating efficiency, being productive, and finding inspiration are crucial components of personal satisfaction and professional success. By tapping routines to gain stability, adopting rituals to find purpose, and following regimens to achieve progress, we can gain the control we seek and enjoy the success we deserve.