People are more successful using and maintaining new work or organizational routines when they have the support of reminders or cues to focus on the new process.  Consider using the reminders built in to the applications you rely on for your calendar and task management to help you stay on track with new routines or ones you struggle to maintain.

One way to use these reminders, whether they are email notifications, pop-up windows or other types of visual or audio notifications, is to have them sent to you 24 hours in advance of your attending to the appointment or task.  This will help you start to think about how the next day’s schedule looks and to help you prepare for tomorrow today.

Anther way to use task and calendar notifications is as cues for you to transition between tasks.  Sometimes the challenge of sticking to a routine is not having support in making transitions from one activity to another.  You can reduce the stress and worry about getting to the next thing, if you allow your software notifications to notify you when it’s time to move on.

Task and calendar notifications work best when they operate across platforms (smart phone – tablet – laptop).  These notifications can play a supportive role in helping you stick to a routine.  Commit this week to giving it a try.