Building a Productive Daily Routine: A Bufferchat Recap

Oct 22, 2015 6 min readBufferchat
Photo of Nicole Miller
Nicole Miller

Director of People @ Buffer

Chris Winfield stopped by #bufferchat to share his expertise and insights on building a productive daily routine.

Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, every week on Wednesdays, 9 am PT/Noon ET/4 pm GMT, for valuable industry insights and networking with nearly 400 other smart marketers and community managers.

bufferchat promo 10.14.15

Why is building a daily routine important?

From Chris:

  • A routine with good habits provides you with structure and discipline (which most of us fight but need)
  • One of my favorite quotes about this came from the late @OfficialJimRohn
  • “Happiness doesn’t come from big pieces of great success, but from small advantages hammered out day by day.”
  • It’s not the BIG wins that make us happy but rather the small, consistent victories on a daily basis
  • The American Psychological Association found that good habits were more important to meeting goals than self-control.

From the community:

  • “Having a routine keeps me organized, w/ multiple projects & teams, some things have to be on autopilot.” @shannonrenee
  • “Building a daily routine creates a sense of stability and regularity and also helps to define a better life/work balance.” @morganmatriota
  • “Counter-intuitively, having the discipline to constrain yourself to a daily routine frees you to be more creative” @sagebolden

See all the great answers to question 1 here!

What cornerstones make for building a successful routine?

From Chris:

  • It all starts with your mindset and making a decision. You don’t have to be 100% or wait for the “right time”
  • You just have to decide that you’re going to start doing things (habits) for YOU! That’s where it starts
  • And then it’s about starting small. Don’t try to do too much at once, you’ll get overwhelmed & want to give up
  • Start small. My first true habit was flossing my teeth! Starting with a commitment to one tooth
  • Seriously ? One tooth -> http://on.fb.me/1QTbyOh

From the community:

  • “Make your routine DOABLE. Life is about taking a whole lot of small steps to create big things!” @lisettevdvalk
  • “Get organised. Make lists. See if you can get others in your organisation on board as well. It helps!” @msljim
  • “Like a marathon you have to train yourself to get to the place you want 2 be. All of us will have different methods.” @deespeciale

See all the great answers to question 2 here!

How do you hold onto your routine while traveling or especially busy?

From Chris:

  • It’s all about being realistic & realizing what’s actually possible based on circumstances.
  • While still trying to maintain momentum and stay consistent.
  • For example, if I’m traveling & have lots of meetings…I might not be able to workout for the hour+ I like to
  • BUT…I can always find time to do something like take a quick jog or do the 7 Minute Workout http://nyti.ms/1QTcRNd
  • It’s important not to “Break the Chain” http://bit.ly/1QTdlD8 (thanks @JerrySeinfeld ? but also be able to “do less”

From the community:

  • “Plan ahead, especially when you’re on a trip. Leave plenty of time to get to place and through lineups” @sales_prodigy
  • “Certain routines become natural parts of your day no matter what, while others may require some flexibility when it’s busy.” @nataliebergen
  • “Sometimes my To Do list is longer than my day & I have to pause and re-prioritize. What’s most important? What can wait?” @imhappyimsam

See all the great answers to question 3 here!

What are your thoughts on managing energy, not time?

From Chris:

  • Super important but also takes time (at least for me) to really understand this one b/c u have to see what works for you
  • This is why it’s so important to test different things & see what works best for you…not what someone (like me) says
  • You might find that you work best in the morning. Or maybe in the middle of the afternoon. Who knows?
  • But once you see what works best, try to arrange your schedule (as much as possible) to work around this
  • I found that I am most energetic & productive early in the morning so I switched things up -> http://bit.ly/perfect-morning #bufferchat
  • I can get more done between 7am & 9am then I can between 3pm & 9pm so I work around that
  • But it took me awhile to realize that…it only came from experimenting and really paying attention to my body/mind
  • This post on @buffer by @LeoWid helped me so much re: energy http://bit.ly/1QTwJQm

From the community:

  • @HarvardBiz did a great article recently on goal reactivation through breaking. http://bit.ly/1VnSLkz@markonbrands
  • “Much of this comes down to “Know Thyself”, don’t self-sabotage by planning things for when you know you’re not at your best” @ErinMcHanaburgh
  • “Effective planning helps you conserve energy and rewards you with extra time. Takes away the stress” @basecreative

See all the great answers to question 4 here!

What is the most important part of your daily routine?

From Chris:

  • Simply having a daily routine is the most important part. I know that sounds simple but it took a long time to get that
  • Having a daily routine gives me a sense of calm & a strong foundation to build on.
  • Beyond that…I need some form of meditation, prayer, gratitude, exercise & connection each day no matter what
  • Here are two posts with more on this -> http://bit.ly/1vOQHBl & this one on @buffer -> http://bit.ly/1QTgJOk
  • A bunch of people have asked about Morning Pages, here’s how I do it -> http://bit.ly/1DUUEx2

From the community:

  • “Going to bed; I need to hit the sack so I get enough sleep to wake up early yet still refreshed.” @thepaultucker
  • “Early morning “me time” with a cup of Jo. Love peaceful mornings, enjoy tweeting and listening to soulful music” @roshnipkumar
  • “Waking up early & exercising! One provides more time & the other provides the energy & good vibes for a great day :)” @publicate_

See all the great answers to question 5 here!

What books or blogs on productivity help inspire you?

From Chris:

From the community:

See all the great answers to question 6 here!

If you’re up for sharing, what is one routine you would like to work on? 

From Chris:
  • I’m always trying to improve something in my routine. Sometimes that means trying something new or ditching something
  • Right now, my biggest challenge is trying to balance my new puppy’s need for exercise & park time into my daily routine
  • So far that has meant having to take her on long runs instead of working out in the gym but its going to get cold soon
  • BTW, here’s the little ball of energy -> http://bit.ly/1QTlibv
  • BTW, I have a special section on my site with free stuff for @Buffer readers -> http://www.chriswinfield.com/buffer enjoy!
  • One last thing…here’s my latest post on @Buffer -> http://bit.ly/1QTGP3E about my fav productivity technique ?

From the community:

  • “We want to work on organization and communication. We’re getting better at it, but there’s always more to be done” @hello_token
  • “I need to work on productivity! I get a lot done most days, I’m sure I could get even more done if I didn’t get distracted” @wcomercreative
  • “Reading fiction. I love a good mystery novel,, & yet I read so much during the day that I don’t do it enough just for me.” @dariasteigman

See all the great answers to question 7 here!

Thank you so much for everyone who joined in on this great chat!

Catch #bufferchat each Wednesday at 9 am Pacific/noon Eastern. Join our brand-new Slack community to continue these awesome conversations all week long! Join 500+ people there!

Do you have any comments or answers to these questions? Leave your thoughts in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!

Image sources: UnSplash

Brought to you by

Try Buffer for free

140,000+ small businesses like yours use Buffer to build their brand on social media every month

Get started now

Related Articles

BufferchatJun 27, 2018
Celebrating 4 Years of #BufferChat

We’ve decided to retire #bufferchat after four years and had a celebration with our community, Read on to discover all of the memories and fun shared during the chat! This week’s stats: Bufferchat (9 am PT): 118 participants; reach of 1,655,682 Q1: What’s been your favorite #bufferchat topic? From the community: A1: There’s been so many great #bufferchat that resonated with me. Standouts include: ✅Email Marketing with @p

BufferchatJun 13, 2018
Avoiding Social Media Burnout: A #BufferChat Recap

This week on #bufferchat our community shared all the best tips and tricks to avoid social media burnout. Read on to discover all of the awesome insights shared during the chat! Catch our weekly Twitter chat , #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hundreds of other smart marketers and social media enthusiasts. Same topic, same place, just at different times – feel free t

BufferchatJun 13, 2018
Pinterest Marketing: A #BufferChat Recap

This week on #bufferchat our community discussed the ins and outs of marketing on Pinterest. Read on to discover all of the awesome insights shared during the chat! Catch our weekly Twitter chat , #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hundreds of other smart marketers and social media enthusiasts. Same topic, same place, just at different times – feel free to join

140,000+ people like you use Buffer to build their brand on social media every month