Never lived by routine. Is it more effective?

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My life has not been tread in routine. Mostly led by whim and pensive amusement. To be frank and transparent, I have not been diagnosed as AS. I have looked into it some years ago, and I believe I have a good number of the characteristics which make up AS.

I have read that some of the better minds of our past have led lives by rigor and routine.

Would some of you give your opinion and advise me on the idea of the efficacy (or lack of) in living life in (or is it "of"?) routine?

I would be much obliged.

Some structure is good for efficiency

Some chaos is good for creativity

If I do not follow a routine, I always forget to do some everyday task.

If I do follow a routine, after several weeks, instead of becoming an easy, automatic process, I mentally burn out.

If I try to find some middle ground by focusing on fewer tasks, I do better at those areas while completely neglecting others and just taking a little longer to mentally burn out. When I am doing well in one area, if I switch focus to a neglected area, the first area suffers. I cannot win.

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31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

Too much routine is obsessive compulsive disorder


Too much spontaneity is dysfunctional

It you wish to live in your own home all by yourself most people need routines to do everything that is necessary. There is just too much to do.

Thank you all for replying.

From all of your responses I'd gather that routine has benefits, yet sometimes it doesn't...which makes me think of Taoist principles. For some it works...it's their way. For others it doesn't...and that's their way.

I guess I'll just stick to what has been working for me thus far.

Thank you all, again.

I have sometimes had a schedule imposed, by a living situation with set meal times, or by co-workers, and those have been more productive times. I prefer living for inspiration, though. AS seems to include a touch of bi-polar. As soon as I get well rested, I get a burst of creative energy and burn out again.

Dear_one,

I believe I have to agree with your supposition about bipolar. Anyway, comorbidity seems possible, if not likely...in some cases.

I 100% need routine. Not down to the very second, but in general. I wake up at the same time, get to work at the same time, I try to go to bed at the same time, etc. I can see people getting frustrated by that because I have to go to bed so early for work and I refuse to stay up. Even on a Saturday night.. because if I stay up and sleep in on Sunday, I won't go to sleep as early Sunday night, which means it will be harder to get up on Monday because I'm not on schedule

It's predictability, and I think people only really need that if they have lots of anxiety, or might feel out of control easily. Not everyone needs it, but some people do. Whatever works.

I tried routine, it doesn't work for me.

I put stuff in the way of where i'll go in the morning, like jacket, pants, backpack, laptop, mobile phones etc so i see them, but at times i forget something anyway. Mostly the phone, don't think i've forgotten the pants yet

One time, it was my habit to review my plans as I left the house. I did a U-turn for forgotten items so often that I embarrassed myself, at least hypothetically, and learned to do the review before leaving. I also saved considerable time by learning to fling my hat, coat, and gloves, etc. in the same corner every time, instead of scattering things through the house.

Last week, I finally made the connection between my quality of life and quality of sleep. My social skills are often wiped out by poor sleep before a meeting. So, I am trying to impose a routine to establish a circadian rhythm to make sleep easier. I have not had much luck so far, but I'm doing more of my eating and sleeping near their preferred times. If I should be asleep, I'm learning to ignore the temporary obsession, and only meditate if I can't sleep.

A morning routine is a particularly good idea, because you can get stuff done that needs doing before you are awake enough for decisions.

I think it only takes small changes, like a day trip or a book, to shake loose enough inspiration to direct all the busy work needed to make inspiration matter. A life of chaos never brings an idea so great it does not need nurturing.

Yes, poor sleep doesn't bode well for the rest of the day.

Chaos may not be good, but meeting deadlines has been effective way for me to get stuff done.

One great thing about having routines is that it's harder to not do a regular task due to forgetting & I'm very forgetful. Routines also reduce anxiety since I can predict/know what's coming up