Proud to admit I’m a creature of habit...
FOR more sensible characters the benefits of a routine are plentiful. Our habits give us a sense of order. There is comfort to be found in knowing what we have to do to get through the day. It also saves a great deal of mental energy. Knowing when to set the alarm clock for, that there’s something to have for breakfast in the cupboard and which train to catch in order to – if you’re lucky – get to work on time means you don’t have to think about any of them.
At the other end of the day a bedtime routine lets our bodies know that it’s time to switch off and relax. This is especially important for children. One study for the Prince’s Trust found that 40 per cent of pupils who fail to achieve at least five C-grades in their GCSEs do not have a set bedtime. There is no good reason why such cognitive impairment should not apply to adults who don’t manage a reasonable amount of slumber for at least some of the week.
It’s not just food or timings that become ingrained. Wearing a suit or uniform to work means never having to waste time assembling an outfit. Building in some time to spend on a project, doing chores or getting yourself organised means that making some sort of progress becomes part of your daily life. Trust me, I was only recently a student, doing cleaning little and often is better than leaving things to fester until the day before your landlord’s due to visit.
Even entertainment latches on to our longing for order. How many people won’t go out on a Saturday night when Strictly’s on? Or still feel a strange sense of loss when Top Gear (the proper one with Clarkson, not the rubbish new one) isn’t waiting for them on a Sunday?
How many sports fans are annoyed when an England Test match doesn’t start on a traditional Thursday or a Premiership football game is scheduled for a Monday night? When things aren’t on at the right time or the right day the whole world feels out of kilter.
There is a fine line between controlling your routine and being controlled by it. It’s easy to get too attached to the daily rituals and this is a dangerous path to go down.
Anybody who has ever tried to quit a bad habit – smoking, eating too many biscuits, biting their nails – will recognise the way that certain times of the day can set off a craving. Once the habit has become part of the daily routine it’s even harder to kick.
The invention of on-demand TV has left me compelled to watch the same show for hours every evening. Slavish devotion to doing the same thing all the time hardly makes for a well-rounded personality. It’s important to remember that, for all the benefits of a strict routine, we all need a bit of variety now and again to keep life interesting.
Anyway, I’d love to write more but it’s time for lunch. No prizes for guessing what’s on the menu.
FERGUS KELLY IS AWAY