Responsibilities Over Routines
Let routines flex while your essential responsibilities remain protected.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
Responsibilities Over Routines separates what must be protected from the schedule used to protect it. Responsibilities such as family, business, faith, and health remain priorities; a morning routine is only one possible implementation. When children, work, or changing circumstances disrupt that implementation, the response is to flex the routine rather than abandon the responsibility or resent the disruption. The calendar acts as an evidence check: if something is claimed to matter but receives no time, the stated priority is not being enacted. The framework starts by naming responsibilities, audits the calendar, and then redesigns routines around present conditions. It also requires subtraction, because making time for the essential often means saying no to lower-priority activities.
Origin
Fatherhood disrupted Nick Bare's rigid morning routines and taught him to prioritise family, business, faith, health, and fitness through adaptable schedules.
Core principles
- 01Responsibilities are durable; routines are adjustable tools.
- 02A calendar reveals what is actually being prioritised.
- 03Disrupted routines do not require abandoned commitments.
- 04Making time often requires saying no elsewhere.
How to run it
- 1
Name Responsibilities
List the small number of domains you are genuinely responsible for in the current season.
Pro tip Use concrete nouns such as family, health, and business rather than vague aspirations.
Watch out Calling everything a responsibility removes the ability to prioritise.
- 2
Read the Calendar
Compare the time allocated with what you say matters.
Pro tip Audit actual recent weeks, not an ideal future schedule.
Watch out Intentions without calendar evidence can preserve self-deception.
- 3
Separate Tools from Duties
Mark routines as adjustable methods and responsibilities as the outcomes that must remain protected.
Pro tip Ask what else could fulfil the same responsibility today.
- 4
Flex and Subtract
Adapt the routine to current conditions and remove lower-priority activities that compete for time.
Pro tip Preserve frequency or intent even when duration and timing change.
Watch out Do not sacrifice a responsibility merely to keep a preferred routine intact.
- 5
Recheck After Change
Repeat the audit when family, work, health, or goals materially change.
In the wild
A founder's usual early workout is interrupted by a child's needs. Instead of treating the day as failed, the founder fulfils the family responsibility, shortens or moves the workout, and preserves health without privileging the old routine over parenthood.
→ Both responsibilities remain represented even though the routine changes.
Common mistakes
Treating a Routine as Sacred
Protecting a preferred schedule at the expense of family or health confuses the tool with the responsibility.
Claiming Priorities Without Time
A stated priority that never appears in the calendar is not being consistently enacted.
Is it for you?
Best for
Parents, leaders, and ambitious people whose old routines no longer fit their responsibilities.
Not ideal for
People using flexibility to avoid commitments rather than adapt how they fulfil them.
From the transcript
“if something matters to you, you will make time.”
“And I believe there's a difference between responsibilities uh and routines.”
“And we have to place our responsibilities in life over routines.”
From the episode
Nick Bare: The Mindset That Built a Multi-Million-Dollar Business
Nick Bare