Hi everyone, this is Peter Liciaga, your Mount Laurel martial arts guy, with your black belt strong midday brief.
The Value of Routine
There is an old saying that goes,
“Take care of the days and the years take care of themselves”.
This quote is as true today as when it was originally written.
This concept is so simple that it is often overlooked or dismissed in search of something more advanced or complicated. In the book “The Power of Full Engagement”, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz talk about the importance of developing positive daily rituals. They refer to the fact that long-term success can be directly related to the number of positive rituals an individual has developed.
A good exercise to do is analyze your day from start to finish.
What has become your routine? When do you wake up? What do you eat for breakfast? What books do you read? How do you fill your down time? Do you exercise? etc.
Once you’ve done this for a day, better yet, a week, go back and decide if what you are doing is what you should be doing.
If it is, keep going. If not, ask yourself, what can you do differently?
Let’s imagine that our morning ritual is as follows:
Wake up late, rush out the door without breakfast and grab a donut on the way to school or work while listening to the radio. How will this one ritual affect our lives if it is repeated over the course of ten years?
Now let’s imagine instead:
that our morning ritual is to wake up early, enjoy a sixteen ounce glass of water, have a energizing workout and be back in time to read some positive literature while enjoying a nutritious breakfast. How will this one ritual affect our lives if it is repeated over the course of the same ten years?
Physically, how will we look different? Emotionally, how will we feel different? Professionally, where will we be? Spiritually, how centered will we be?
Chances are, you can see how different your life would be by just developing a positive morning ritual.
Now let’s magnify this concept by imagining a day ruled by positive rituals.
What would it look like?
Take some time this weekend to write out, in detail, your ideal day. When would you exercise? What would you read? What would you eat? Whom would you spend time with? What would you listen to? How would you treat the people around you? The more details, the better. When you are done, read it daily and do your best to make your perfect day become a reality. One ritual at a time. One step at a time.
until next time… have a great day.
