Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi nueva estrategia es estudiar a la misma hora cada día y tener un horario fijo para dormir. - My new strategy is to study at the same time every day and have a fixed schedule for sleeping.

Using a conjugated verb like es estudio would be ungrammatical.
If you said Mi nueva estrategia es que estudio…, it would be understandable but sounds clumsy and unnatural here. The clean, idiomatic way is:

Mi nueva estrategia es + infinitive
- …es estudiar…
- …es comer mejor…
- …es hacer más ejercicio…

Why do we say a la misma hora and not en la misma hora?

For clock time, Spanish almost always uses a:

a las 8 – at 8 o’clock
a la una – at 1 o’clock
a la misma hora – at the same time

En la misma hora would mean something like within the same hour (a span of 60 minutes), not at the same time of day.

So:

Estudio a la misma hora cada día.
= I study at the same time every day.

Using a here is the standard preposition for specific times of day.

Why is it misma hora and not mismo hora?

Adjectives in Spanish must agree in gender and number with the noun:

hora is feminine singular → la hora
So mismo must also be feminine singular → misma

Examples:

el mismo libro (masc. sing.)
la misma hora (fem. sing.)
los mismos libros (masc. plural)
las mismas horas (fem. plural)

So mismo hora is incorrect because mismo (masculine) doesn’t match hora (feminine).

Why is it mi nueva estrategia and not mi nuevo estrategia?

Again, it’s agreement of gender and number:

estrategia is feminine singular → la estrategia
So the adjective has to be feminine singular: nueva

Mi doesn’t change with gender (only with number), but nuevo/nueva does:

mi nueva estrategia – my new strategy
mi nuevo plan – my new plan
mis nuevas estrategias – my new strategies

So mi nuevo estrategia is ungrammatical because nuevo (masc.) doesn’t agree with estrategia (fem.).

Why is it cada día instead of todos los días? Are they different?

Both are correct and very common. The difference is mostly style, not meaning:

cada día – literally each day
todos los días – literally every day

In most contexts, they are interchangeable:

Estudio cada día.
Estudio todos los días.

Both mean I study every day.

In this sentence, cada día may sound slightly more methodical or regular, which fits with the idea of a “strategy,” but it’s a subtle nuance. You could say:

…estudiar a la misma hora todos los días… and it would still be natural.

Why is it tener un horario fijo para dormir and not tener un horario fijo de dormir?

Here, para expresses purpose or use:

un horario fijo para dormir
= a fixed schedule for sleeping (a schedule for the purpose of sleeping)

De is more about possession, type, or origin, and would sound odd here if you used de alone:

un horario de dormir could be understood, but it’s not the natural way to say sleep schedule in this context.

The most idiomatic phrasing is:

tener un horario fijo para dormir
= to have a regular/fixed sleep schedule

What’s the difference between hora and horario in this sentence?

They refer to different things:

hora = a specific time on the clock
- a la misma hora – at the same time (e.g., always at 8:00)
horario = a schedule or timetable
- un horario fijo para dormir – a fixed/regular sleeping schedule
  (for example, always going to bed at 11:00 and waking up at 7:00)

So the idea is:

Study at the same time every day → a la misma hora
Have a fixed schedule for sleeping → un horario fijo para dormir

Why is fijo placed after horario? Could it be un fijo horario?

Most descriptive adjectives in Spanish naturally go after the noun:

un horario fijo – a fixed schedule
una casa grande – a big house
un libro interesante – an interesting book

You generally cannot say un fijo horario; that sounds wrong.

Some adjectives often go before the noun (like buen, mal, gran, nuevo in some meanings), but fijo as “fixed/regular” is placed after the noun:

un ingreso fijo – a fixed income
un precio fijo – a fixed price
un horario fijo – a fixed schedule

Why is it para dormir and not durmiendo (the gerund)?

Spanish doesn’t use the gerund (-ando / -iendo) the same way English uses -ing.

Here we want to express purpose: a schedule for sleeping. For that, Spanish normally uses:

para + infinitive

So:

un horario fijo para dormir – a fixed schedule for sleeping

Using the gerund durmiendo here would be ungrammatical:

❌ un horario fijo durmiendo – incorrect

The gerund is usually for actions in progress:

Estoy durmiendo. – I am sleeping.
Sigo estudiando. – I keep studying.

Not for stating the purpose of a noun.

Could we say Mi nueva estrategia es el estudiar a la misma hora…?

You could grammatically say el estudiar, but here it sounds too formal, heavy, or old-fashioned in everyday speech.

In general Spanish prefers the plain infinitive without the article in this type of structure:

Mi nueva estrategia es estudiar más.
Mi objetivo es ahorrar dinero.
Mi plan es viajar el próximo año.

Using el + infinitivo often sounds:

more abstract or theoretical, or
like legal/academic language, or
stylistically marked.

So for natural, conversational Spanish, Mi nueva estrategia es estudiar… is the best choice.

Could we say estudiar cada día a la misma hora instead of a la misma hora cada día?

Yes. Both orders are correct and natural:

estudiar a la misma hora cada día
estudiar cada día a la misma hora

Spanish is fairly flexible with expressions of time.

The chosen order just slightly changes rhythm, not meaning. You’ll often see:

Estudio cada día a la misma hora.
Estudio a la misma hora todos los días.

All of these sound normal to native speakers.

Why is it Mi nueva estrategia es estudiar y tener… and not es estudiar y tenerla or something like that?

The sentence has two infinitives linked by y that both depend on es:

Mi nueva estrategia es [estudiar…] y [tener un horario fijo…].

So the structure is:

Mi nueva estrategia es X y Y.

There is no need for a pronoun like la here, because both estudiar and tener un horario fijo para dormir are parts of the definition of “mi nueva estrategia.”

If you said …es estudiar a la misma hora cada día y tenerla fija para dormir, that would change the meaning and become confusing (what does la refer to exactly?). The original is clearer and more natural.

Why is it mi nueva estrategia es estudiar… and not mi nueva estrategia para estudiar es…?

Both patterns exist, but they’re used a bit differently:

Mi nueva estrategia es estudiar a la misma hora…
- Focus: What is my new strategy?
- Answer: To study at the same time every day and to have a fixed sleep schedule.
Mi nueva estrategia para estudiar es…
- Focus: A strategy *for studying specifically.*
- You’d expect something like:
  - Mi nueva estrategia para estudiar es usar tarjetas.

In your sentence, the strategy covers study habits and sleep habits, so it’s not just a strategy for studying, it’s a broader “life strategy” for productivity. That’s why the simple es + infinitive(s) structure works better.