Habits and daily activities tend to accumulate over time. Productivity increases when your daily schedule is mostly the same everyday. If you care about getting the most out of your days, you usually fall into a strict set of daily activities, each taking place at the same time. As you make small adjustments to maximise input, eventually the whole day is filled with habits. This is mostly an additive process. After a period of month, the exploration is over and it's all about exploitation: you found the perfect daily routine to get the most out of each day.
When your environment stays the same, keeping the same habits and schedule becomes the norm. And for good reasons, since it keeps you focused as you work towards your goals. You don’t spend energy in choosing what to do, where, and when to do certain activities every day. You just execute.
The problem is that objectives, goals, and seasons change. A fixed routine for months gets filled with activities that lost or already achieved their initial purpose. Nonetheless, radical change is hard. You risk overthrowing the balance of your daily routine. Even a small change can throw the whole day into chaos, as you lose the unconscious instinct of execution of activities at specific times each day.
In the last few years I came up (unintentionally) with a more effective strategy: a 5 day habits reset retreat.
When the season is about to change, usually both in terms of weather and objectives, I plan a 5 days trip away from my usual environment. This retreat is meant as a hard reset of my habits. I stop doing most of my usual activities and just take some time for reflection. It's a self-imposed radical change: no work, new meals, new daily activities. It's all about looking back at my previous goals, reflect on them, and come up with new plans and strategy of execution.
Being somewhere else is the key. Your have the chance to explore a new place, you are required to adapt. You don't have the usual clues of your working environment: different sounds, smells, food, even temperature. You can take a step back and observe your situation, critique your previous habits, adapt them to new goals, and devise a new strategy of action.
This process of reflection must come in written form. A few days before the retreat I prepare the key questions to answer, as this leaves some days for your mind to gather ideas. During the retreat I then pour all my thoughts on the page. This must be a true self-assessment, crude and to the point. You become your harshest critic. Each response is honest, aiming to unveil your real intentions, reveal false beliefs and unnecessary actions.
I come out on the other side with clear guidelines for new or revised goals, and the new habits that come with them. I have a clear plan of action for the upcoming months of work. It gives you a new start, as dopamine surges with the anticipation of new activities towards a clear goal. It's a full recharge, an overhaul of old patterns for the freshness and excitement of a new horizon.