Daily routines; are yours good or bad? Your current daily routines are deciding factors on your future.
Whether we know it or not, our lives are made up of daily routines. They have developed over time and most we are not aware of.
However, these routines are a deciding factor on what our life looks like right now and what it will look like in the future.
Let’s take an example: Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze button a few times. When you do eventually get up, first thing you do is check your emails. You’re now stressed by some unpleasant emails that came in last night. So before you even have time for yourself you are now reacting to external pressure. So now you’ve started your day stressed. Late; after hitting snooze you have no time for breakfast, you grab a coffee and pastry on the way. Arriving at work you already feel stressed from the start you have had and feel like you spend the whole day playing catch-up. At the end of the day you feel you have earned a few drinks after such a manic day. You hit the pub, have some drinks and head home. Feeling exhausted, you fall into bed. Next day – repeat!
How have the routines of this person shaped their life? The routine of constantly hitting snooze and then checking emails first thing in the morning means they are constantly reacting and stressed as the day starts. The routine of not putting healthy food in their body may mean they are a bit overweight and unhealthy. The routine of hitting the pub after work each day may mean they have less time for developing themselves, their relationships, their education. And much of this stems from starting the day on the wrong foot.
Whatever your life looks like, it is because of these little routines you have throughout your day. If you meet someone who is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to current affairs, then you know everyday this person will be reading up on current affairs, learning and expanding their knowledge. If you meet someone who is in extremely good shape. You know everyday they are taking care of their body in some form or other. If you meet someone who is always tired and has no energy, then you probably know they are doing things throughout the day that make them feel this way.
We often question why we find ourselves in certain situations in our life, but the fact is, we are where we are because of the decisions and routines we have made.
Look at your life right now and ask yourself what aspects do you want to change? Look at all areas; relationships, money, career, education, health and so on.
Now from that list, pick one area that jumps out at you. You just want to start with one, otherwise it can become too overwhelming.
Let’s say you want to be more educated on current affairs. Look at your daily routines and ask yourself, is there anything I am currently doing that is going to help me achieve this? What are you doing each day that is counter productive to this goal? Then change your daily routine to move out what is counter productive and replace it with what is productive. For example after work you watch a lot of TV. Cut this down and replace it with 30mins of reading. Or let’s say you want to lose weight. Maybe you always get up late so grab an unhealthy breakfast. If you know you struggle to get up on time (and you can change that in your daily routine another time) make a healthy breakfast the day before that you can eat on the go.
They don’t have to be huge changes, it is better to make small changes that you can keep. Consistency is key to making advances in your life. It’s about small consistent change.
This is something you should be doing continually. Constantly check which areas of your life you want to improve and make small tangible changes to see amazing results. To live a really great life you need to make sure all areas of your life are healthy. It’s no use having the best career in the world, if you are depressed that you have no time for friends. Or being in the best shape of your life if you feel sad that you have no financial security. To live a great life, all aspects need to balance out and this is achieved by constantly assessing the different areas and then making the changes.
Focus on one aspect of your life at a time. If you try to take on too much you may overwhelm yourself. Once you have made the change in one area and you see positive results, then go on to the next. Remember, consistency is key so keep making the changes and seeing the results!
