Often, when our regular routines are interrupted by disability bad habits develop. While not immediate, over time days can become more and more unproductive until soon very little is getting accomplished. This has a drastic impact on mental health and impacts all areas of physical, cognitive and emotional functioning, let alone the impact on those that we live with.
The best way I have been able to help clients to break such
routines is to simply have them track how they spend their time. Once this is documented, people can quickly
identify the problems areas and then together we discuss how to fix them. For example, through tracking for a week, one
client discovered that she does not shower, one found that he watches ten hours of TV
per day, and another learned that she does not eat during the day, but consumes junk
food all evening. In every case, people
discovered something about their routine that drove them into action for
change.
So, if you are concerned that your routine is lacking in
productivity, self-care or leisure, or there are activities you would like to
resume or goals to achieve, just keep a log of how you spend your time. After a week, reflect on your log and make a
list of the problem areas. Commit to
making small changes (start with the easiest changes first) and over time, you
will see huge improvements in how you feel about yourself and your
routines. Or, for a more structured
approach, consider hiring a professional to assess your suitability for the
Progressive Goal Attainment Program.
This program involves using time tracking over 10 weeks to completely revamp
routines to reduce psychosocial barriers to recovery, improve mental health and
reduce disability caused by chronic pain. 
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