Sunset Spi-ritual
“Efficiency largely determines a man’s place among his fellows, and leads one on by steps to higher and higher positions as greater powers are developed… Energy is economized by the formation of good habits.” ~James Allen
By: Martin Grunburg
I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, San Diego (America’s Finest City). I’m not saying that to brag, just as a matter of fact, having traveled to many of the most exotic locations in the world from Tahiti and Indonesia to Fiji. I also mention it because we happen to have a fairly large and growing homeless population— which is very sad. However, given our climate, it’s certainly understandable.
This homeless “situation” had me reflecting just the other morning as I walked past our park toward the bay for my morning run and there, up against a tree, was a homeless couple covered by heaps of bags, clothing, cardboard and a shopping cart tipped over. A sad sight — but for some reason it got me thinking about the concept of routine, rhythm, and productivity.
The fact is, the higher up the productivity food chain you go (particularly where you find mastery), you find an extreme, almost quirky trait of fanatical “routine-ism” and rhythm. And strangely, that morning, all I could think was, I bet those two poor souls haven’t slept in the same place for the last month, moving from one location to another. Not by choice, but because they’re probably being chased around by the authorities.
The top performers purposefully form routines
Regardless of what industry or profession you survey – whether it’s music, architecture, processing mail (FedEx), making sandwiches (Subway), professional sports, football, soccer, hockey, tennis, golf or swimming – there’s one thing in common. If there is a representative master or champion, I can assure you they have multiple effective routines for study, preparation, creativity, practice, communication, strategy, execution, assessment, etc.
So the takeaway is simple and powerful. If, in your life or, perhaps even your company, you aren’t able to create the results you desire, ask this simple question, “What routine could I purposefully develop to create the desired outcome? And, “What behaviors (habits) would make up those routines?”
The “right” routine develops structure, which creates rhythm, which forms a foundation for productivity, execution and efficiency.
How do you find the “right” behaviors and routines? As mentioned in the book, that is actually the EASY part. The internet is littered with mountains of quality information and garbage. I trust you know the difference. Just know there is a representative expert (or many) in any particular field who’s written a book, offers a seminar, teaches a class, provides online training/videos, etc. about the desired and required information you seek.
So, the difficulty is not in finding the right information (at least not in the age of Google) it’s execution – and the key to execution is routine.
The essence of ALL EXECUTION is forming the positive habits that make up the routine. So, how do you develop habits? Good question: Yes. There’s an app for that. ; )
until next time,
~mg
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