The last week our whole family has been pretty off from a bit of a flu and it’s thrown the routine and everything associated completely out of whack. It’s crazy how momentum, being in whatever direction can gain traction, snowball and before long your rolling in the complete opposite direction.

I love adventure and spontaneity, especially on holidays or weekend activities, but I do fundamentally love routine. My daily routine starts at 4:15 with movement or a stretch, meditation, some sort of education and then exercise depending on the day, following this I’m on the move to work and dropping the kids off. The work day usually comes with a fair bit of variety but wraps up around mid afternoon, then morning reverses with gaps for family, sport, dinner or an assortment of activities, evening stretch or workout, bit of reading then bed. Even writing that seems a bit mundane to me, but it’s good, it supports consistent growth within my own mind and helps control my environment. This is my base line with variations throughout but also some non-negotiables, and failing to tick those non-negotiable creates unnecessary pressure on my mind.

When your confronted with sickness, incident or whatever the case may be it throws it all right off and the subsequent momentum can shift incredibly quickly without discipline and control. This week was one of those weeks, sickness ravaged our house, several issues came up and the routine was thrown way out of whack, exercise dropped off, mental clarity, clean eating, a heap of negative behaviours crept in and before you know it everything is flipped, even my blog has dropped off a bit and I almost missed a day! Obviously the old ‘start tomorrow’ attitude precedes which is another outcome of this but a ‘start now’ attitude is far more successful and beneficial.

I firmly believe that no matter what your pursuit or endeavour an element of routine needs to be upheld. A fail safe to lean on to refocus, regroup and reassess if required, but also a default fractionalised portion of your day to day to achieve non-negotiables. Non-negotiables that, no matter what else’s happens, you are consistently working towards improvement in whatever area of your life your set out to improve.

A strong routine provides a strong base line, fail safe and the combination of routine, discipline, goal setting can help drive you into the future and assist greatly in the search for happiness.
Just remember, no matter what happens and whatever set backs you may come across.

A set back, is a set up, for a come back. If you fall off the band wagon you can always get back on the horse.

Thanks,

Dean