Every year, as winter slowly transitions into spring, I crawl out of my hibernation cave eager to chase daylight, fresh air, and the new energy the season of growth brings. As the days grow longer, my desire to pursue and accomplish more grows with them. While winter calls for rest and I build my routines to move slowly, spring always puts a pep in my step and my work life.
I spoke with Dr. Kate Henry, a productivity coach who specializes in sustainable, well-being-oriented productivity, to learn how to rethink workday routines as we transition to spring. Not only did she share tips to increase productivity without burning out, but she also helped me plan for the season to make the most of our renewal period. Ahead are Dr. Henry’s best tips for refreshing your work routine heading into the spring.
Dr. Kate Henry
Kate Henry, PhD, is a Productivity Coach who specializes in sustainable and well-being-oriented productivity. She guides academics and other knowledge workers to develop actionable and achievable productivity and time management practices so they can achieve short-term and long-term goals without feeling overwhelmed. In addition to her work as a Productivity Coach, Dr. Henry is the author of Tend to It: A Holistic Guide to Intentional Productivity and the creator and host of the podcast Honing In.
1. Reflect so you can plan intentionally
Much like spring cleaning your closet and other physical spaces, the transition from winter to spring is a perfect time to reflect on what you do and don’t want to bring with you into the new season. With a couple of months in the new calendar year under our belts, we’ve likely developed rhythms and habits, for better or worse. Dr. Henry recommends blocking time on your calendar to reflect on the last few months and to use those reflections to make intentional decisions about the spring.
Dr. Henry noted we can approach reflection through multiple lenses, including exploring highs and lows in specific areas of your life (think: work, home, relationships, exercise, creativity). To identify your own highs and lows at work, you might ask:
- When did I feel most energized or engaged by my work?
- Which tasks or projects made time fly by?
- When did I receive positive feedback or feel genuinely proud of what I accomplished?
- What tasks or meetings consistently left me feeling drained or frustrated?
- When did I procrastinate the most, and on what kind of work?
- Were there moments when I felt undervalued, overwhelmed, or out of alignment with my values?
For example, if you led a project at work and received strong feedback from your manager or client, you might propose taking on additional similar projects this season. Alternatively, if you have a recurring meeting on your calendar that often prevents you from taking your lunch break, you could propose moving it to a more suitable time. If this approach doesn’t resonate, Dr. Henry suggests sitting with more general reflections. These could include when you felt most proud of yourself, when you navigated obstacles well, or when you experienced a challenge you wish had ended differently.
“By reflecting on your actual lived experience and your patterns of behavior, you take stock of what you want to stop, continue doing, or start fresh, but from a place of wisdom,” Dr. Henry told me. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be working through my reflections at a nearby park or outside at a coffee shop.
2. Frame this season’s routine around one word
If you’re a fan of choosing a word of the year, now is a good time to think about whether you really embodied it last season to support your long-term goals. For example, if your word is “focus,” but you spent most of last season feeling spread thin and frazzled, you can use this season to redirect your attention.
If you haven’t set a word of the year yet, choose one that will help keep you on track for spring. You can always change it as you transition into summer if it feels helpful, or keep it if it really motivates you. “Words such as ‘balance,’ ‘curiosity,’ and ‘commitment’ can guide your decision-making by providing structure and limitations when you’re navigating a new challenge or deciding if you want to commit to a new opportunity,” Dr. Henry told me.
Reminding ourselves of our intentions helps us make more value-aligned decisions and use our time wisely. Tip for actually following through: Write down your word and put it on your desk or in your planner so it’s always top of mind.
3. Refresh your opening and closing routines
If you’re lucky enough to live in a place that doesn’t observe daylight savings, I’m jealous. But for those of you who do, the shift in daylight and seasonal climate changes may call for a schedule revamp. Dr. Henry said good opening routines should set you up to move confidently into your day. She recommends answering the following questions to decide how best to refresh your opening routine:
- How do you want to feel when you start your workday?
- What activities help you get closer to that feeling?
- What tasks can you realistically commit to at the start of each workday?
I want to start my workday feeling energized, caffeinated, and organized. Morning walks with coffee in hand move me closer to the first two. Because I’m more eager to exercise in the morning in the spring (something you will rarely catch me doing in the winter), I know I need to keep my workday commitments to a minimum until after I’ve completed my workout and gotten ready for the day.
READ: Ditch Your Morning Routine for an “Opening Shift” to Have a Better Day
“A good closing routine should help you transition out of work mode and set you up for success when you next return to work,” Dr. Henry emphasized. She recommends answering the following questions to decide how to design your closing routine:
- How can your closing routine help you feel mentally organized for the following workday?
- What can you do today to make your next workday easier?
- Can your closing routine help you transition from “work” to “personal” time? What do you need to make this transition happen?
As I mentioned, I want to start my workdays feeling organized rather than working through half-formed thoughts from the previous day. So, for me, an effective closing routine involves brain-dumping lingering work items and creating a light to-do list, so I can start the next day feeling organized. When transitioning between “work” and “life,” I find clear boundaries and accountability systems to be most useful. For example, I lean into making plans with friends and family at set times, so I have to log off as planned.
READ: The 5 Micro-Habits That Helped Me Stop Wasting My Evenings
4. Set realistic goals, even (and especially) when you feel excited
With the energy shift the new season brings, it’s not uncommon to feel overzealous. Excitement isn’t a bad thing, but even good intentions can get the best of us when setting new goals for the season if we aren’t careful. Dr. Henry said that keeping the optimism bias—a cognitive bias that reflects our tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive future events—is necessary to prevent overcommitting, as it leads us to under-budget resources, such as time, money, or energy, to complete our goals.
“To avoid falling prey to the optimism bias when you’re setting goals this season, don’t forget about the behind-the-scenes work that needs to go into completing your projects, like brainstorming and budgeting, and be sure to consider other things that will take up your time, like domestic labor, care work for others, and time set aside for self-care,” Dr. Henry said.
Whether you work for an employer or are self-employed, it’s helpful to review the goals you want to achieve across all facets of your life alongside your work ones. Planning in silos leads to overcommitment fast.
5. Approach new habits as experiments
Spring is the perfect time to experiment and play (both literally and figuratively), especially with our habits. Rather than aiming for a grand overhaul of your routine, Dr. Henry encourages an experimental approach to relieve pressure to do things perfectly on the first go-around. “Experiments remove the expectation to do everything perfectly; instead, you’re trying to learn more about your patterns, motivations, and feelings when it comes to your projects and plans.”
Here are some basic experiments you could try:
- Start an end-of-day “What grew?” reflection: not what you finished, but what grew and bloomed because of the time or thought you put into it.
- Add a small sensory upgrade to your desk space, such as a new playlist, fresh flowers, or a seasonal tea swap.
- Take one (or two!) daily outdoor breaks.
- Block time to study a personal curiosity—without the pressure to keep going if you change your mind.
A new season offers the perfect opportunity to build a slightly or entirely new workday routine that reflects who you are now, what you care about, and how you actually want to spend your time. You don’t need to overhaul everything at once; you just need to choose a few supportive practices and let them grow with you.
Alyssa Towns, Contributing Career & Finance Writer
Alyssa Towns is a Denver-based writer and communications professional whose writing and expertise have appeared in Business Insider, Clockwise, G2, The Knot, Passion Planner, Thrive Global, and more. In addition to being a freelance writer, Alyssa has a background in internal communications and change management and is passionate about helping humans thrive in the workplace.
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