Ever since I was a kid, I’ve resisted routine. To me, routine was synonymous with boring. And boring meant an uninteresting life. I didn’t realize it then, but I did have routines. All humans do. The question was, did I fall into routines or was I intentional about them? The reality is that an intentional routine leads to success. Whether it be exercise, finances, sleeping, parenting, etc. intentional habits/routines are what breed success. Doing any one of those things just once isn’t going to make a dent in your goals. Here are three things that can help you move forward. stuck.
- Take some time to create a system for every area that matters to you. If I leave exercise to chance, it’s not going to happen. Four days a week, Arturo and I get up at the same time, change into the workout clothes we laid out the night before and walk out the door at the same time. I have the same workout routine, we are done at the same time and go home to have breakfast. Is it boring? Sometimes. But I feel good when I’m done. It’s a good start to my day and I feel accomplished in a very important goal of staying healthy. I have found that every part of my life where I have seen success, I have had a system. And every part that has been chaotic, is lacking one. So what areas of your life do you need to put a system in place? Consider how chaotic it has been until now? Wouldn’t peace of mind and progress be worth the risk of it being boring?
- Tweak your system as often as you need to. Especially in the beginning, you may have to go back and make changes to your system until you find it effective for what you are trying to accomplish. Arturo and I have occasionally tweaked the time we will go to the gym to see what works better for our schedule. We didn’t just try it once, we set a time for the whole week to see how it went. Then we discussed it to see if we needed to change it. Tweaking is an important aspect of creating a system. Sometimes we are afraid to create a system because we feel like it’s restraining. But it’s your system! You can move it, change it or get rid of it if you have to. The system is there for you, not you for the system.
- When creating your system, think reasonable over rational. In his book, The Psychology of Money, author Morgan Housel writes that often, we make a plan that is rational on paper but is not reasonable when it comes to our lives, our schedules or our reality. I’m good at this one. I have, on occasions, over scheduled myself into a ridiculous amount of work. I see an open space in my calendar and instead of thinking, “Break time!” I think, “I can squeeze that work or that appointment in…” That may be rational, but it’s not reasonable. I end up overextending myself in different ways. When you’re creating your system, be reasonable and be kind to yourself. You can’t do everything and you know what you won’t do. For example, though the idea of getting up at 5am to go workout sounds efficient, there is no way I would be willing to do that. So no sense creating that system. I would fail the next day. Be honest with yourself about your own strengths and limitations.
Creating systems has really been a game changer for me. There are many areas we can create systems/routines for. Bedtime, budget, quality time with family, house cleaning, dinner time, etc. Tweak them as needed and be reasonable over rational. It will help you move forward when you’re feeling stuck.