There are some pockets of Catholic culture that have an unfortunate view of sacraments, sacramentals, and prayers. They might often search out any prayer, novena, or blessed object to obtain the answer to their prayer, placing too much emphasis on the prayer or object itself. While this comes from a very good place, we have to be careful that we do not use these prayers or objects as processes or talismans to control our relationship with God. Each of these things are meant to strengthen our relationship with God and the saints, and if we are using these things to have God conform to our will and timeframe rather than for us to become more like the saints who desired the will of the Lord, than we have fundamentally turned something Christian into a borderline pagan ritual.
The pagans of ancient times had prayers, sacrifices, rituals, etc that focused on pleasing a false god or spirit in order to get what they wanted. You could have a certain sacrifice to find a marital partner, a special dance for rain to fall, or a necklace of an idol to wear for protection in battle. All of this was done in the belief that if you gave something to appease the spirit/false god, then it would necessarily take care of your need. While in some primordial sense this exchange of goods makes sense to our fallen nature, we are not meant to be in this master/slave relationship with anyone, let alone God.
This is where Christianity flips the religious world on its head. Jesus comes to us and tells us that He no longer calls us servants, but friends. There is no exchange between us and God, because we have nothing to give. All justification and grace is a pure gift from God. We only have to put ourselves in the correct disposition of faith and humility to receive it. Thus our prayers are not to be a measured exchange (the process of saying a rosary a day keeps the devil away), but rather the language of a loving relationship (I devote my rosary to the Blessed Mother because she was the perfect disciple, and she can teach me how to love Jesus perfectly.)
Now does this mean that we need to do away with routine? Certainly not! From the mass, to the rosary, to the Liturgy of the Hours, we are a religion that loves routine (and so many fruits come from it!). Even many saints have handed down wisdom to countless generations from their rules of life. But when the rules, novenas, and the like overshadow the loving God of the universe and what He is trying to do in our hearts, then in a certain way we are imitating the pagans and need to readjust our spiritual life. The key comes in finding the tension between routine (which helps us stay devoted even when we do not want to be) and loving relationship (which gives life to the routine).
This path is different for each of us and should be discerned well, especially with a community that is just as devoted to falling deeper in love with God. But we must know that if we find ourselves needing to say exact words at the exact time of day or else novena does not work, or having to hold onto our blessed object at every moment for fear that if we let go we will end up in Hell, then we have gone astray. Even less extreme examples of taking on extreme penances or trying to discern the exact right thing to do in every situation leads to less of a focus on showing love to our Father, and more on our individual actions. The spiritual life simply is: God saved us, because He loved us, and is inviting us to love Him back (the life that we are meant to live). While there will be nuances to this relationship, it is not meant to be a complicated mess of prayers and objects. They can help! But ultimately it comes down to: He loves me, and I love Him. And every day I am trying to live like that is True.
