You know what everyone’s up to these days? Studying the wealthy and successful’s daily routines. And that’s so nice! It’s heartwarming for people to finally catch up to the “success leaves clues” adage.
I’m a firm believer of routines. And been experimenting with that for the past 15 years myself. Starting with the popular “5’o clock club” and quickly escalating to the “3’o clock” club (I guess Winston Churchill was the only other member… and perhaps a few lunatics like me!). Last year, I carried out the “meditate-first-thing-after-waking-up” experiment. It was a success! For only three days.
I’ve realized that routines are great guidelines but not the ultimate blueprint as many people have come to believe. We’re obsessed with routines because we try one and chuck for something even better. Why? Because the previous one didn’t “work” for us. Or “hey, I would like to meditate too! Let me add that to my new routine. Or just try out what Tim Ferriss does.”
We need to accept reality: it just may not work for us.
Sure, these templates can help us streamline or build our routine but to be expecting anything more is just being silly.
Routines cannot be perfect. Ever. But there’s a perfect routine that’s just for you. Waiting to be built. By you.
Case in point: I’ve been meditating for quite some time. Twice daily. But if I skip a day… I’ll be grumpy until the next morning! I’m wondering if it’s even the right thing to do at this point. I love the feeling of having meditated but prioritizing it doesn’t come easy. So, last night. Instead of meditating for 20 minutes… I took out 3 minutes just to appreciate the good things I have in life. I felt so much better.
Perhaps “gratitude practice” is better than meditating. But hey, that’s just me.