The Power of Having a Routine
Why consistency is the key to personal development.
“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine” — John C. Maxwell
Does your routine push you closer to your goals? There is no human being on earth who doesn’t have one or two routines he/she does each day.
A routine is something you do every day without a fail. Brushing your teeth is a routine, bathing is a routine, eating is a routine, sleeping is a routine. In the end, you will find out that there is no way you can live outside of routine.
Routines formed are what gives rise to our habit and there is no way we can form a habit without first making it a routine.
Humans are habitual creatures. Our habits create our mood and our mood considerably impacts our daily life. Our daily routine is the heart of our habitual character and without routine, you will find unproductivity, impulsivity, and feelings of confusion.
Routine allows you to minimize distraction. Routine allows you to make better decisions. Routine allows you to take each hour of the day and turn them into something meaningful.
So it is with success, we can’t be successful at our craft or art if we don’t first make our craft or art a routine. The objective of most routines is to focus our mind from distractions that are external to a goal.
To reach new goals, and develop new habits, it’s necessary to create new routines to support your objectives. To be successful in life, you need structure as it provides a fantastic foundation of organization to help schedule your day. Understanding exactly how your day is going to unfold is vital in knowing how to distribute your energies and routine can help you with that.
The stoic philosopher Epictetus once said
“every habit and capability is confirmed and grows in its corresponding actions, walking by walking, and running by running . . . therefore, if you want to do something, make a habit of it.”
If you don’t want to do something, he said, make a habit of doing the opposite.
What we do daily shows whether we are getting closer to our goals or not. Darren Hardy, author of the book Compound Effect, put it best when he said your life is the product of your moment to moment choices. A daily routine built on good habits is the difference that separates the most successful amongst us from everyone else.
Most people hate it when you tell them to make their task, art, or craft a routine. When in actual sense making your task or art a routine is what gets you closer to the goal itself.
‘Routine in an intelligent man is a sign of ambition.’ — W.H. AUDEN
Life is a compounded result of our daily actions.
If your goal is to be a writer, you need to include writing in your routine. Simple as that.
If your goal is to be a painter, you need to make painting part of your daily routine. If your goal is to be an athlete, you need to include practice in your routine. If your goal is to be fit, you need to include exercise in your routine.
An article by Ash Roy shows how 12 highly productive people used the power of routine to achieve greatness. When you have no clear goals of what you want, you tend to avoid your work as a routine. When your goals are clear and precise, your routine is what gets you closer to the goal every single day.
Do you know why sportsmen and athlete show up to practice every day? Their goal is precise and clear. And they know showing up to practice every single day is what gets them closer to that goal.
You can’t be a professional basketball player or a football player by showing up once a month to training. Athletes and sportsman show up every day by making their practice a routine which in turn gets them closer to their goals.
Being specific about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things that will derail your progress, distract your attention and pull you off course.
Your Choice (decision) + Behaviour (action) + Habit (repeated action) + compounded (time) = Goals says Darren Hardy.
Successful people don’t rely on what they want to do, but rather what they have to do. And successful people form habits that feed their success, instead of habits that feed their failure says Jeff Olson in his book The Slight Edge. And if you want to maintain a good habit, make sure you pay attention to it at least once a day.
The power of daily actions (routine) compounded over time will give you the slight edge. To achieve your goal, what can you make as your routine?
The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. Mike Murdock
Personal growth is largely driven by the creation and maintenance of better habits. And remember habits are formed from our routines.
Is your routine moving you closer to your goals every day or taking you farther away from them? The power is in the routine only if you can harness it to your advantage. Simple disciplines compounded over time is how you win.
Do you have a clear cut goal of what you want? and do you show up to your work every single day?
We live in an ever-increasing distracting world where we find it difficult day by day to go deep in our work. Routine helps you create better use of your time if you get your priorities right by adding it to your life.
Sow an act (routine), reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. Anonymous.
In other words, your actions that make up your routine is what leads to your destiny. There are only two paths in life; Regret and Fulfilment. I hope you do routines that move you closer to the latter over the former.
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