Break the routine

BY PATRICK ACHITABWINO:

We want to be successful people, yet we are stuck to behaviours and routines of doing things that cannot take us to the Promised Land. To be successful, one must depart from the habit of business-as-usual, start doing things differently, start looking at things differently and even change the belief system. Words of wisdom have it that doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of insanity.

If you have been waiting for a breakthrough in life but it seems to elude you, then it is high time you examined your routine. If you are broke day in, day out, you are unable to make ends meet, do not blame how much you earn; blame your routine and eventually blame yourself as you are the architect of the routine. Check your lifestyle and you will notice that is has chains of habits of expenditure that are unnecessary.

Routine is the monster that stands on the path of success of so many people. Because we are comfortable doing what we do and are assured of the outcomes, we fear to do things differently. Success is in doing things differently. John Leach has no kind words for routine. In The Success Factor, he says “doing away with routine is a liberating experience. It energises us and keeps us motivated to perform at high levels.”

It sounds unthinkable that we find excuses for our failures, our inability to undertake crucial tasks – our procrastination. The excuses are nothing but a strong manifestation that we are stuck in our routines and have never taken strides to effect changes. If you wake up at the very same time you wake up and are always late for the office, you will always be late. Change will come in when you decide to wake up early, drive your children to school early. Teach them that time can no longer wait for them; they have to be the ones waiting for time. Life pays you in equal measure of what you have put in.

Some of us have the routine of easily giving up. We get excited by ideas but we have no courage to progress with them. Find the elements that take you back to square one and change the way you do things. Get focused on what you want to achieve and that will surely re-write the routine of your life. Take time to have conversations with all successful people you admire. You will be shocked that they work hard such that you would think that they have no time to relax. They send emails around 4am and sleep as late as 11pm. But these are successful people.

People that achieve in life usually go an extra mile in everything they do. Successful heavyweight boxers train longer than all others. The case is the same with tennis stars, basketballers and you name it. Top chief executive officers are even glued to their laptops even when they are in a plane. They have no time to rest. They follow up matters on any crucial aspect of the job anytime. You will be amazed that although they may be out of office for a month, they are conversant with almost everything happening in their organisations. They ask for updates. They read the updates. They respond to queries and issue instructions. To them, a holiday is just a matter on the calendar. They work wherever they are. They decided to break the routine that signifies holiday as the time of idleness.

Whatever you want to become, you can highly become and you have the potential to become but the price you pay is that you have to break the routine that you follow day in, day out. Success is a struggle.