Photo by Ana Juma on Unsplash

Why is Routine One of the Best Gifts You Can Give Yourself and How to Make It?

“We are what we constantly repeat. Therefore, excellence is not a coincidence, but a habit!” — Aristotle

Milan Rusimov
Nov 4 · 8 min read

Have you ever created or lost a routine that affected your excellence?

I don’t know who you are, but I know that a routine creates habits that you will need to achieve your goals or to raise the quality of your life.

Brus Lipton, an American developmental biologist, says that between 90–95% of our daily activity is automatic and dependent on our habits.

Broadly speaking, between 90–95% of an average human life is automatic.

Feeling the desire to create good habits yet?

There are also studies stating that 40% of our daily activities happen in the same situations.

This entire time, when our life unfolds, we are unaware of our thoughts, words, or actions.

So, what is a habit? According to the definition of the American Journal of Psychology (1903), a habit is a more or less fixed way of thinking, volition or feeling developed through constant repetition of previous mental experiences.

How about a routine? A routine is a series of habits we repeat day in and day out, in the same way, and intervals. For example, we can have a morning routine that comprises training-shower-breakfast-meditation-reading.

I suppose that the word routine has a repellent effect on you.

The reason for that is the well-known fact that the routine is boring, exhausting and makes you feel lonely.

It’s boring because you repeat the same action that after a while provides you with no pleasure.

It’s exhausting because it takes a very long time to see the results of your hard work.

It’s also exhausting because you’ll be battling yourself not to quit.

Your mind will try to bring you back to your old ways because they are easy and familiar.

But the right way will always be more difficult.

It’s exhausting because, in the beginning, you’ll be going downhill, only to climb after a while.

It’s exhausting because you will have to act even when you don’t feel like it.

You’ll feel lonely as if you’re the one person in the entire universe trying to develop the routine.

You’ll feel lonely because most of the time there won’t be anyone else to help you through it or give you any feedback.

You’ll feel lonely because you’ll be working while others will have fun, laughing, or sleeping.

So, the routine is the only way to achieve your dreams. It’s a long-term win that will turn you into an inspiration for other people, and because it’s automatic, it makes room for more enjoyable activities in life.

Are you still having problems developing the routine? Are you having problems with discipline, persistence, motivation, the fear of failure or something different?

Don’t worry. It’s normal, and the best thing you can do is accept it.

“If you fail the first time, consider yourself normal and try again.

If you fail the second time, consider yourself special for you have what it takes to succeed.

If you fail the third time, consider yourself extraordinary, for many people would have already given up.” — Michelle C. Ustaszeski

For the last five years or so that I’ve been practicing my routines, I’ve experimented and adapted them to myself as I saw fit.

Rest assured that it will happen to you, too.

Why? Because it’s a fact that systems exist, but one person’s system will not work for another, at least not in the same form.

It’s all understandable because we all have different goals in life; we find ourselves in different circumstances and function differently.

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” — Bruce Lee

It’s simple — this is the way to approach everything in life.

I would like to share with you my way of creating the routine. If you like it, you can test it and see if it’s working for any of you.


Start with little things

Choose one little habit you want to create.

Let it be small enough so you cannot say “NO” to it. Let it be small enough such as: read one page a day, do one push-up, write one sentence in your diary, meditate for one minute, take one photo, drink one glass of water immediately after getting up, be grateful for one thing in life, tell your beloved person that you love her once a day, play an instrument for a minute, learn another language for a minute, take a cold shower for a minute, contact one potential client, ask one question, eat one healthy meal and so on.

Many of these habits seem negligible and insignificant.

They can make you think: “This is nothing, I need something bigger.”

Yet, when the moment comes to do what’s expected, you’ll see how your mind objects.

Your mind will make you take the easy road, the one that’s already familiar with no new obstacles.

You’ll probably leave those tasks for later because you do not take them seriously.

Like an old saying says: “Do it now, later becomes never.”

Every one of us has more than enough to get started.

Start without thinking and don’t look back.

Turn around only when you want to see how far you’ve come. It will give you the strength to move on.

“It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” — E. L. Doctorow

What do you need to do to get your mind to work for you instead of against you?


Find your purpose

Find a purpose bigger than yourself and all the lies that your mind is serving you.

You can find a purpose in a very simple way. What you need to do is to ask: “Why do I want to (the habit that you want to create)?” And then, for every answer, you get to repeat the process at least four times.

You must repeat the process at least four times because only after the fourth time your answers are from the heart.

Those are the answers loaded with positive emotion. The emotion equals energy, and energy is what will keep you moving when your mind tries to persuade you to take the easy road.

An example of finding a purpose:

  • Why do I want to read every day?

And so from something small and insignificant we’ve come to something big and meaningful to ourselves, as well on the surrounding people.

It’s the butterfly effect: “Small variations can affect big and complex systems.

There’s another simple way that can help you beat your mind, and that’s asking one of the following questions: “What do I get if I do what it takes to get closer to my goal (e.g. What do I get if I go to the gym)?” or “What’s the next thing in the line that I need to do to get closer to my goal?”

By answering the first question, you also find the purpose. The reason why something is important to you.

By answering the second question you focus on the little things that you need to do to get to your goal, instead of focusing on how far ahead is the goal itself.

For example, if you are getting ready to go to the gym and you don’t feel like it, remember that the laziness is a lie that your mind is serving you.

Ask yourself:

  • What do I need to do next?

It’s only natural to forget all you’ve read and do nothing because you still don’t have a developed habit.

How to always remember what you need to do?


Set reminders

Set reminders for every habit that you want to build.

You can set reminders any way you like. The choice of apps regardless of the platform or device is infinite. The simplest way to do it is with the use of a calendar.

Setting a reminder is the easiest part of the process, what sets apart successful people from unsuccessful ones is the desire to act.

Remind yourself why you’re doing what your reminder tells you to do and do it.

Remember

A(ction)

C(hange)

T(hings).

How long and how often is it necessary to do all this?


Repetition

Do it every day or several days a week for the rest of your life.

It’s wrong to think of habits as of a finish line that you need to cross once and your job is done.

Your finish line can be the moment when you create the habit and you no longer need reminders or extra motivation to do what’s expected of you, but you do it because you know you should.

That moment is different for every one of us and depends on the habit you want to build.

According to one scientific research, it takes 66 days on average to create a new habit.

It’s best to think of the habit creation as of something you’d do your entire life and focus on what you need to do today.

Every time it gets difficult, remember that you’ve done it once before and how good it felt afterward.

How to know if you’re making progress and by how much?


Track and measure your progress.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” — Peter Drucker

The simplest way to track your progress is to mark in the calendar every day when you did what you were supposed to.

Another similar way is to buy or make a planner to track your progress.

Either way, I recommend paper and pen because hands extend our minds. This will have a great effect on your motivation.

A suggestion: Reward yourself each time you do your task.

Besides tracking your progress, it’s also very important to measure it. Why?

Because your mind enjoys working with numbers and associating events.

That’s the natural way it functions. That is why it is very important to choose the right parameters to track.

It’s best to think of the routine as a way of life, a series of necessary elements to better the quality of life, inspire other people and do something big for yourself and those around you.

The way you do one thing is the way you do everything in life, so do it right.


Summary

“We are what we constantly repeat. Therefore, excellence is not a coincidence, but a habit!” — Aristotle

Routines are a part of life and 95% of it is based on routines. Therefore, it’s very important to create quality routines that will do good for you and those around you.

To create a new routine, do:

  • Start with little things

What routine improves your life?

Milan Rusimov

Written by

A passionate and persistent lifelong learner with a focus on helping others. Over four years of experience in the mobile game development industry. MTB lover

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