Are your Routines Helping or Hindering You?

The common saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is not just about eating a lot of apples. It’s about the overall impact of consistent routines. 

I met a pitcher halfway through his juco season who was struggling. He was having enough of a hard time that his agent referred him to me. At our first meeting, I learned that his routines were off. He was also struggling with managing anger. 

Both of these things were impacting his performance and his relationships.

I often start with establishing consistent routines because they have been proven to make a tremendous impact, both in career and life (Arlington, Johnson, 2019).

I helped him rebuild his routines and establish healthier habits around sleep, caffeine, pre-workout, and his ADHD meds. We worked together to learn and understand his brain and how he best operates. 

Read to the end to find out how improving his routines effected his performance and life…

The Importance of Routines

Harvard Business Review on Emotional Intelligence posits, “…research that showed an incontrovertible link between an executive’s emotional maturity, exemplified by such capabilities as self-awareness and empathy, and his or her financial performance. Simply put, the research showed that ‘good guys’ – that is, emotionally-intelligent men and women – finish first.” The foundation for emotional intelligence is the right routines. 

Routines give you structure and a plan. You have an idea of what you want, but when you don’t have a system, you don’t have a process. So how can you actually track growth? 

Routines are a sequence of events followed regularly or on a fixed program.

Consistency is when you do something the same way every time. Sometimes making adjustments along the way.

So consistent routines are a sequence of events you do the same way, every time you do them and eventually, this sequence requires very little conscious thought to complete them (Arlington, Johnson, 2019).

Consistent routines develop your expertise in that specific act. Every time you perform the routine, you get better at it. The motor pathway in your brain for performing that action gets stronger each time (Rastegari, Shafer 2016).

When you regularly complete your routines, especially under varying conditions, you build resilience and adaptability.

This consistency also replaces negative habits. For example, the habit of giving up when you hit a challenge. When your routines become more consistent, you learn to persevere when a challenge comes along because you learn to see it differently than before.

This means you will know what to expect. This, in turn, will also increase your confidence.

Routines Impact Momentum

Neurologically, our brains look for patterns in order to determine what behaviors to do more of and predict what will happen next. The behaviors that are more likely to happen again are associated with positive feelings. 

If you can associate a habit with positive feelings, like the endorphins from exercise or progress towards a goal, you are more likely to do it again (Mclacian, 2021). When you do it again, you’re creating a habit.

For example, your brain learns that after you brush your teeth, you regularly do your workout. If you enjoy it and focus on the positive feelings that come with this routine, it’s easier to keep this habit up. When your body knows what to expect, your brain is already preparing for that activity without you having to think too much about it. This is what we want.

The more you do an activity, the stronger the neuronal connections become. These strong connections open the door for more connections to develop. This allows more space for new learning and therefore, more progress (Rastegari, Shafer, 2016). The ability to see progress helps you feel accomplished, which creates a more natural flow, increases confidence, and your drive to keep grinding…momentum.  

Steps to Develop the Right Routines 

As mentioned before, routines are a consistent focus with my clients. In response to my client's need for a system, I developed AVID. It's a simple and effective framework to guide clients toward building the right routines for them.  

A- Accept your current reality (this also means to understand)

V- Visualize your dreams and goals (using all senses)

 I- Intentionally/mindfully move forward (routines/actions)

D- Do the work within the process consistently (and adjust accordingly)

Accept

This step helps you understand where you are, and to identify where you want to be. It’s a challenge worth accepting. Only then can you move forward, and we want to move forward with purpose.

Visualize 

Mental imagery helps remind you of your past success. You know you can achieve it again. Be optimistic. Maybe overly optimistic, if that works for you. Use all of your senses. When you put in the mental reps, the body follows. The process/progress reinforces.

Intentional and Mindful  

You can see what you need to do because you can see where you need to be. You can see where you need to be because you’re in tune with the process.  

Do the Work 

Do the work within the process. Take the steps and live out the changes. Keep looking toward your goal. When you are mindfully consistent, you will be able to see the adjustments that need to be made along the way.

Routines Real Life Impact

The pitcher we discussed above had significant results during our time together. As his routines became more consistent, he reported feeling clearer mentally, in more control emotionally, and better physically. He also reported the accuracy and velocity of his pitches improved. 

Once his routines were working for him, we started to work on other areas. For instance, I helped him identify thoughts that developed into core beliefs that were keeping him small. 

Also, I earned his trust and created a safe space to work on the experiences which led him to anger, and was able to help him discover blind spots in his life and sport which sharpened his sense of self-awareness. 

I leave you with this excerpt in one of my favorite books, The Mind Gym: successful people take responsibility for themselves. They understand that it's not the event, but how they respond to it that’s most important.

Thank you for reading! I trust it was helpful. 

I love helping people develop a healthy frame of mind for success in life. Let’s set up a call and talk about what that could look like for you. Click here and let’s go from there. I look forward to our conversation.

Resources

1. Arlinghaus, K.R., Johnson, C.A. (2019), The Importance of Creating Habits and Routine, American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine

2. Rastegari, I., Shafer, L. (2016), The biology of Positive Habits, Harvard Graduate School of Education

3. Mclaclan, S. (2021), The Science of Habit, Healthline

4. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R.E., McKee, A (2001), Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance, The Harvard Business Review

5. Mack, G., Casstevens, D., (2002), Mind Gym: An Athletes Guide to Inner Excellence, McGraw Hill LLC