Routines

What’s so important about routines is that they get you into a rhythm, a way of living and operating that is dependable and consistent. It’s similar to having a schedule, such as waking up early, making coffee at a certain hour, going to work, or creating art. When you have a routine, you’re reinforcing a process that will help you meet your goals, since goals often require an outline, which, when broken down, is essentially a series of discrete steps that must be carried out in a specific order.

But we might break from a routine if we feel that it is dull or stifling to creativity. When this happens, we either avoid the routine, abandon it, or change it up with slight adjustments, such as starting it at a different time, or adding new steps along the way.

And it wouldn’t be a routine if we didn’t carry it out regularly, because we all know that it’s not a routine if it’s done once, kind of like a short-lived experiment, or a spontaneous act. But if a routine becomes so ingrained that we do it subconsciously (such as typing one space after each word, or capitalizing the first letter of a new sentence), then it becomes what we call natural or second nature.