When most of us hear the word “routine” the first thought that crosses our mind is not… “extraordinary living” or “my dream life.”
We typically think of things like boring, mundane, and bland when we hear the word “routine.” But what if routines were the simple way to unlocking a life that you feel is outside of your reach? What if your routines are a big key to reaching your goals?
If you want to change your life, you have to change something you do everyday. The challenge is most of us start with the area of our life that is causing us the most pain and then we try to apply the biggest changes over the shortest amount of time thinking it will bring the fastest relief. For example you are overweight your doctor has been nagging at you for years to lose weight so you sign up for the gym and commit two hours a day and start juicing…radical changes…that rarely last. Maybe your greatest pain is a relationship, your employment, or even debt. What if the solution wasn’t in some huge radical shift (that never seem to last anyway) but in a few small changes that wouldn’t dramatically alter your immediate life but would significantly alter your future.
The most important things in life have a cumulative affect. You can’t make up for years of fast food with one super workout. You can’t make up for being absent at home through a dream vacation. The law of compounding interest doesn’t just apply to money. It’s the small things over time that add up to a great life.
The good news is you already have routines whether you realize it or not. The routines you follow are perfectly designed to give you the results you are getting. If you want different results you’ve got to do something different. I bet not all areas of your life are falling down. In fact, most of them are probably going quite well. For example, I bet your teeth aren’t falling out of your mouth. Why? Because you have the very simple routine of brushing before work and before going to bed. Some of you are overachievers and even use mouthwash and floss. Your very simple routine is giving you an extraordinary return on your investment of less than 5 minutes a day.
Our brains actually crave routines. We crave them so we can divert our mental energies toward more important things. You probably didn’t give a single thought to how you would drive to work this week. You’ve driven that route for years and your mind just kicked into auto-pilot and followed the routine allowing you to divert mental energy to some other area that needed your focus. You were able to devote brain power to solving a problem at work or some other issue you are facing.
When you can create that same type of auto-pilot mode around a few key areas, your life will improve. You’ll find you are winning in areas that almost seem effortless because it has become part of your routine. When you see people who look disciplined you’re really seeing people who’ve unlocked the power of routines. You already have discipline, I’m not asking you to get more just to channel what you already posses–differently.
Next week we will look at some simple routine changes that can have dramatic results, but for right now I want you just to think about what is your current default routines. We all have them. What is your routine in the morning, during your commute, at lunchtime, during the evening, before bed, and on the weekend? Spend this week thinking about them and becoming more aware of them and next week we will look at some simple changes that can produce tremendous compounding results.
