It’s hard to believe that something as insignificant as keeping things consistent can make such a big impact, but it’s true. When you’re inconsistent, it makes your life – and everyone else’s – more difficult than it needs to be. So why not take the time to establish some routines and stick to them? Everything will become easier and it will surprise you.
When I was regularly podcasting, my goal was to never miss a Monday, and I did. You know, I made it 12 episodes, I believe, so not quite – what is that – three months. It was really weird and I could tell it was going to happen. My routine became so jacked up that I almost missed another episode at one point.
What happened is, keeping things consistent.
I had my routines at home set up, but I really didn’t plan out a good travel routine. Things were kind of falling apart when I did the podcast in Korea. I had some downtime and I could tell this is getting harder to do. Then I did the one in Thailand, and when I got home, I was brain-dead, just exhausted. But this is making up an excuse. I should have done it.
There is no better excuse for not getting it done, except to look back. You know, it happens when your routine breaks. It’s so easy. It’s a pattern and a habit that I’ve had my whole life.
I’m sure you can relate to that, too. It’s like your diet. Once you break your routine on your diet, you know you’re screwed. If you break your workout routine, you’re screwed. You have to keep your routines and your habits. It’s like we talked about a few episodes ago, the morning routines, and the mini habits.
Defining your routines and sticking to your habits.
When I’m at home, it’s a lot easier for me, because I’ve got things pretty much dialed in the way I want them. I can keep things consistent. I really didn’t plan in advance for what happened when I hit the road. So it was a really good lesson to not do that because it was funny. I actually planned out my diet better than I normally do on a road trip. I usually eat really bad and gain a bunch of weight. But on the two trips, I did back-to-back, I ended up losing weight. I felt good about that, but I didn’t have a plan for getting this part of my life organized and done.
You can learn from this one to develop your routine for when you’re at home and what you’re doing. You’re to do those things like that, but then also, when you know you’re going to be hitting the road, it takes a little more planning. I thought I could stick to my routine while on the road, and it didn’t happen. You mix in travel delays, jet lag, and all these other things where a guy could have recorded the episode days, but I didn’t. I was like, “Oh, I’ll just stick to it, that’s my routine on the road,” and it just didn’t happen.
Sticking to what you do.
The thing to take from this episode, like I said, just sticking to what you do, but when you go on the road, you’re going to have to account for some big changes. That can be with your diet. You know, what kind of food are you going to be able to get? Your workouts are going to be affected. Your work’s going to get affected unless obviously, you’re on a work trip. For me, those two back-to-back trips were super beneficial work-wise, but for this stuff, it wasn’t. I got a little burned out, and it was crazy, because I was looking at today, and I was like, “Man, I’m going to miss another episode.” It’s like, “No, I’m not. I’m in my routine. Let’s go knock this out. Let’s get it done.”
It would have been so easy just to say, “Ah, I’ll just catch up next week and next week,” and then next week never comes. That’s with any of our goals in life, if you want something, you have to stick to it and make sure you get it done because once you stop doing things, it’s so easy to not restart them. I mean, I went through that this whole week, like almost dreading getting this done, but I was like, “No, I enjoy this. I’m going to get this done, and crank it out.”
If you want more of my content, follow me on my Instagram. I’ll be sure to post about all things on business, finance, and personal development. In the meantime, start developing your own routines and habits – it’s a great way to keep things consistent and make progress in whatever you might be working on. Keep things consistent and you can focus on your goals without being derailed by distractions or setbacks.
What are some of your favorite productivity tips? Let us know in the comments below!