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Become a master of your mindset: 3 reasons having a routine breeds success

10K80 May 28, 2018
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There are levels to living life.

I’m not speaking of a specific blueprint or fail-proof guideline to life per say, but rather different plateaus to experiencing and navigating that we should consider if we otherwise haven’t.

When you look at individuals who’ve been successful over long periods of time, one commonality you’ll find is that they have complete and utter control of their life. While life’s unpredictability doesn’t escape them, if you notice, they’re thriving at a high level because they’ve learned how to set themselves up for success each and every day.

These are the people who’ve recognized what they must do for themselves every day to put themselves in the best possible position to accomplish what they feel they’ve been called to do.

While that vision may change over time, the methodology stays the same: routine.

Spontaneity is romantic and I can sympathize with becoming restless with where you are, but ultimate success in life is achieved through routine and repetition. When we slow life down, adopt a proactive — not reactive — approach and master our lives, we put ourselves in a rare space to really do whatever it is we want.

Our task is to find out what that routine is.

Slowing down

Failing to execute plans, breaking promises to yourself and really feeling as if life is passing you by happens when we do not have a regiment for ourselves.

One of the main benefits of adopting a routine is the ability to slow life down. It’s when we go through life off the cuff that we find ourselves competing against time, not fitting in what we want.

There is no excuse as to why we shouldn’t do everything we set out to. Whether it’s calling your parents a couple of times a week to making the concert coming into town, time is not good enough a scapegoat to miss out on life’s moments.

When we have a routine, however, it’s like we know where everything fits. We know how we can expend ourselves, where we can’t, and, most importantly, how to prepare.

Control

Implementing consistency day to day is a life hack. You’re never reactionary but rather proactive, and more importantly, you give yourself control as opposed to being controlled. Yet it’s something many make a conscious effort to practice.

Life is about minimizing what is out of our control. We can control our schedule, and our diet, and how much we spend, so why let it control us?

In fact, with all that’s out of our control — like the weather or family member passing or distance of a friend — wouldn’t it make sense to get ahold of all that we can?

A routine does all the hard work for you by laying out what it takes for each day to be successful before even waking up. When we’re locked into a formula for our happiness and path to success, it’s our job to master it until a new plan arises.

Mastery

You ever wonder what they’re talking about or what the experience is like when a pro athlete speaks on how sometimes the game slows down?

Surely they aren’t speaking of pace — professional sports showcases the highest talent on the planet. And this happens more often when athletes are in their prime, contrary to when they have the spriest of legs.

So how then is an athlete able to “slow the game down,” so to speak, against the highest and newest competition? Mastery.

Look at LeBron in his 15th season. At a juncture where most players in his league are on the decline, Ohio’s chosen one has seemed able to still perform at the highest level. A lot is his conditioning, I’m sure, but it’s mostly due to his ability to process the game, exert less energy by knowing his spots, and letting the game come to me.

It’s truly beautiful to watch.

There is some credence to what athletes like LeBron is feeling. Physiologically, this phenomenon exists. The game appears slower due to the amount of information being processed by the brain at an enhanced rate.

It’s speculated by researchers at University College London that the sensation of time slowing, or enhanced reaction time is felt even more so with elite athletes.

This is what we can accomplish with repetition. It’s the classic 10,000-hour rule: if you repeat an action enough, that action will then become second nature to you. Our lives should be as such.

Day, by week, by month, what we need to do to get to where we need to go should be a mastered into a consistent routine. If we want control of our lives and if we want guaranteed results of success, the time we wake up, work out, and even when we rest should be strategically plotted and second nature to us.

We reach LeBron’s status of zen and mastery of our own crafts and lives once the habits of success become second nature to us.

You are in control of your life. It’s just a matter of learning yourself and then setting yourself up each day to maximize the most out of yourself. When we do this, we’ll gain control of our lives and experience the most success we’ve ever had.

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