How do you achieve something? You work toward it. You earn it. Right? And routines are made to help you reach your goals. That’s not always true.
Every morning you get up, make your bed, and wash your face. Then you drink your morning coffee, eat breakfast, and read the news on your phone. Finally, you drive the same route to work. It’s routine.
If you’re a writer, you’ve been told that you have to set a time to write. Without fail you sit down at your writing desk and pound out words for four hours every day.
When we exercise, we set routines: We run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We lift weights on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Do Routines Really Work?
All our lives we’ve been taught that in order to achieve greatness we must practice. We must create a routine and stick with it. Think again. Routines are actually holding us back from achieving greatness.
I know a little about routines. I was a child victim of an extreme religious cult. We worked and we had meetings. We got up at the same time every morning. Meals were planned. Meeting times were strict. The entire cult operated by a series of routines. It didn’t matter. In the end, everything fell apart.
Athletes, writers, musicians, and many others all create routines as they work toward success. But is doing the same thing for hours on end really an achievement? We learn to do one thing really well. But how much do we miss by being stuck in a routine?
Sometimes We Discover Greatness By Breaking Away
Do you think great discoveries are made by those who set and stick to their routines?
- How can you develop a new style of music if you only play classical pieces for two hours each day?
- How can a writer ever become a great novelist if all he does is write blog articles about writing?
- And how does a runner ever reach the vista if she runs the same course through the valley each day?
Doing the same thing over and over holds you back from achieving something greater. It’s the ones who are willing to break away from routine who have the potential to create something new.
Furthermore, it’s been proven that people who seek out variety are happier and healthier.
Go Ahead And Do Something Different Today
I encourage you to break out of the monotony of routine. Whether you have the same boring morning routine or you’re practicing karate, I dare you to change things up. Take a new route to work. Invent your own kata. Just mix it up.
Practice is a good thing. Getting stuck doing one thing over and over is not so good. Be willing to try new things. It’s okay to miss a day of writing. You won’t fail if you only run 5 miles instead of 8.2 miles today. You won’t die if you eat the donut instead of the bagel.
Think about it. Are routines holding you back from achieving greatness? Next, we’ll discuss “the crowd.”
If you’ve found this post helpful, I encourage you to read more of Hip Diggs’ lessons and develop more ways to live simple. Just click on the link below to view the Hip Diggs’ archives:
