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“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret to your success is found in your daily routine.” (John C. Maxwell)
As last week’s article covered human’s innate drive towards change, I thought it fitting to dedicate this piece to the benefits of routine. For as long as I can remember, I have spent my mornings (and evenings) on YouTube, watching other people’s morning regimes, yet never implementing my own. I have learned the daily habits of successful people, I have read the biographies, and autobiographies, of the immortalized. Yet, despite all this inspirational abundance, I never quite managed to stick to the same strict, daily routine for longer than a month, perhaps two, before faltering.
As I mentioned last week, within us live and fight a multitude of desires. Some of which are beneficial to our life’s greater purpose, others more destructive. People tend to cater to their destructive tendencies and over time, and through repetition, these behaviors create neural pathways which become subconscious responses: habits. They create the automatic self onto which we, as the name suggests, automatically fall back. And though our automatic selves house some good habits, such as looking both ways before crossing, etc., our spontaneous actions are mostly prone to distraction, negative thought patterns, and idleness.
Fortunately, the brain is significantly more malleable than neuroscientists once believed it to be. Through a phenomenon called neuroplasticity it is believed that we can override our neural pathways and form new behavioral patterns. One way to override our foundational responses is through rigorously following a schedule, which, overtime, can become part of our automatic self and thus habitual. Clear life goals, whether big or small, give direction and purpose to our existence. And when these goals are ambitious enough, we find their execution rewarding.
As Dostoyevsky said: “without some goal and some effort to reach it no man can live.” The first step to attaining our goals is to identify the most important tasks. Which activities are crucial to our success? For example, as you can see in the image above, one of my goals is to finish writing the first draft of my next novel by the end of 2022. In order to accomplish this, I imagine I have to, first, do the research to back the more complicated aspects of my book, second, write an outline, third, write the content, fourth, edit, and, finally, write my second, third, fourth draft.
Unfortunately, as we know all too well, there’s a distinct difference between wanting something which will ultimately grant us fulfillment, and giving way to an immediate fulfillment of a desire. Desire is both a threat to our self-control, as well as our drive towards action. Dopamine often points us to temptation, and when it does, it is important to distinguish between our cultivated brain and our primitive brain. If we can prime our minds in such a way as to postpone our dopamine reward system, we already won half the battle. Ultimately, desire is neither positive nor negative, it is where we point our desires, where we let them lead us, which mold us in either an addict to the immediate, or a person with self-control. (Please listen to this Huberman Lab episode).
That said, time is the most precious resource, and it does not like excuses. Once we spent it we can never get it back. To lead a successful life we ought to not take lightly what Goethe aphorized: “things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least”. We should quit those activities which contribute neither to our higher selves, nor our personal feelings of fulfillment. Each hour we spend mindlessly scrolling through our phones are hours which we can never get back (look at your screen time if you think I’m not talking to you).
Everything said, and however cliche it may sound, the recipe for success lies within each and every one of us, whatever age. Decisiveness and self control are key to living a fulfilling life, both of which can be attained and facilitated through the act of creating and sticking to a goal oriented routine. “Great enterprises are only achieved by adventurous spirits,” Jean de la Fontaine wrote in Fables, “they who calculate with too great nicety every difficulty and obstacle which is likely to lie in their way, lose that time in hesitation, which the more daring seize and render available to the loftiest purposes.” Life is made and broken through the actions we take and the manner with which we choose to live. Propel all your willpower on your goals, stick to your self-curated schedules, and the things you want to achieve can be yours. It does not matter that January has come and passed. If the new year is the only time wherein you can better yourself, then you’ll never attain your goals (this is mostly a self-directed pep talk). Yet, if we can create a system that optimizes our potential, our chance of success in whatever goal we wish to pursue will improve immensely.
PS: once I remember how to speak, I will record a podcast. So stay tuned for that!
Everyone is different, but I've had good success changing one habit at a time and continuously iterating. Right now I'm working on getting out of bed quicker. I have a bad habit of getting on my phone right when I wake up. Most days I spend +30 min scrolling through news articles, social media, etc. It's not productive time.
5am wake up is impressive to even attempt. I can wake up that early in summer when it's light out, but it's hard for me in winter.
I love making a to-do list purely because of the moment of happiness I feel when I decide NOT to do something. Like taking a cold shower in the morning. What feels better than allowing yourself not to do it?