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Breaking Free from Routine: The Art of Effortless Consistency · Business for Humans

• 0:00
  Good morning. It's my morning. I don't know what time you listen to your podcasts.
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  Maybe it's in the afternoon. Maybe it's in the morning. Who knows?
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  Maybe your routine changes every day. That's what I'm here to talk about.
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  Routine. Now, anyone that's worked with me or knows me knows that I am somewhat allergic to routine.
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  I like to change up my day. I like to change up the things I'm doing at work.
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  I need to keep things interesting for myself. I need to constantly be challenging myself.
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  And that's part of the reason I live in the Netherlands.
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  This idea of every day looks the same is frightening to me. It feels a little constricting.
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  However, there is an advantage to routine, and I want to talk about that today.
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  I want to talk about this idea that when you establish certain things,
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  particularly in your business, but I think in your personal life, this applies as well.
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  There's a lack okay
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  how do I want to say this it reduces
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  the spin it reduces overthinking it reduces this idea that you have to reinvent
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  yourself every day or reinvent yourself your business every day if you do certain
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  things as a part of your routine for instance if
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  I am a huge advocate of exercise, again, as anyone who has read my book or understands
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  my philosophy about coaching.
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  I really fundamentally believe in exercise, not for the way you look or for
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  any of the external benefits of exercise.
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  But I think there is a certain empowerment, particularly for women,
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  that comes with this idea of I'm going to stay connected to exercise as a part of self-care,
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  not as some pushing, I have to push myself to do something, push,
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  push, push energy, but more like I'm going to show up for myself.
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  So this is part of why
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  I think routine is really important because when you
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  say I'm just going to show up for myself and exercise and
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  you make it just a rote thing like I don't have to overthink it every day I
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  don't have to reinvent myself every day I don't have to read decide new goals
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  I don't have to set new goals I don't have to decide today I'm running a marathon
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  and then decide that tomorrow I'm doing like a yoga challenge,
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  right? You just show up for yourself every day.
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  Brainless. I really want this idea of routine to be the brainless part of your day.
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  I show up at 8.30. I do an online workout for 30 minutes.
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  I don't have to think about it. I don't have to reinvent myself every time.
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  I don't have to commit myself to some new challenge or new diet,
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  right there's no thinking involved i
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  just show up i do my workout for 30 minutes and i
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  go about my day i want you to really understand
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  this concept of put something on your calendar
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  do it don't question it your past self created a routine for you that you know
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  is going to get you further so don't question it every day and reinvent it every
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  day and start a new plan every day because that's just finding reasons to procrastinate.
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  I love strategy, but if I sit down and do a new strategy for my business every
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  day, I will never get anywhere.
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  If I sit down to create a new kind of workout or a new goal every day for exercise,
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  I will never just do the work.
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  So I want part of your mindset around your business, and again,
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  also in your personal life, to be thinking about these things that you can add
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  to your routine, and then never consider them again.
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  Okay, you can consider them in a year.
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  Once you've done it for a year, you can rejigger it.
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  But I really want you to eliminate all the places where you have to be thinking
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  and deciding and considering so that your brain is freed up for the places where
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  you need to be deciding and you need to be thinking and you need to be strategic.
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  Just take the rest of those decisions off your plate.
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  So where are other places where we can just create a rote routine and we don't
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  have to think about it anymore?
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  What you wear. This is something I've heard about in the past.
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  I've never quite been able to do it, but there are people who say just build an outfit.
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  It's your uniform and just buy, you know, five of the same shirt,
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  five of the same pants, and just wear your uniform and love it,
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  curate it, make it beautiful, make it an outfit that really helps you stand in your power.
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  And as my son would say, helps you feel fresh.
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  Find your fresh outfit and then don't think about it anymore.
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  So choose the things. You don't have to do all the things I'm telling you are
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  good things to add to your routine,
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  but put together a list of the places where you might be wasting time overthinking
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  how to approach something.
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  The other place where I would encourage you to create a routine is around sales for your business.
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  If you're an entrepreneur, and if I've coached you, you know this is part of my philosophy.
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  Pick a day of the week, perhaps two but let's start with one and make that day your sales day.
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  I, in particular, like Tuesdays because I think on Monday, everybody's in catch-up mode.
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  On Friday, they're out. Their brain is disconnected.
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  Thursday is busy prepping for Friday. And I feel like Tuesday or Wednesday are
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  days where people are receptive to setting up meetings or looking through their email.
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  It's sort of that mid-week time frame where they've gotten out of the crunch
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  of a Monday and they're moving through their week and I feel like Tuesday or
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  Wednesday are good days for sales.
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  So don't overthink it. Create a routine just like you do with exercise.
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  You can find some kind of online tool that walks you through the five steps
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  of sales. You can go to chat GPT and say, you know, give me a sales strategy
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  for this type of business and then just do it.
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  Don't reinvent it every day. Don't overthink it.
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  Just go through the steps. There's something really rewarding about knowing
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  there are places in your day that you don't have to consider.
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  You can just show up and do it. That's something I really love about having
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  an online workout plan, an online workout program that I follow.
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  It's one of the times in my day that I
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  don't have to invent I don't have to
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  be creative I don't have to do anything interesting I
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  don't have to push myself any harder for me it's
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  enough of a push that I'm showing up that I'm showing up for 30 minutes every
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  single day to just do this thing and I don't really care what it is it doesn't
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  have to be the most grandiose crazy workout plan And for myself,
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  I don't set any expectations around myself except that I show up for 30 minutes. And it used to be 20.
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  So you can build into this routine. You don't have to start at the top of the mountain.
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  These places where you can just decide, for me, I've created this time, right?
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  So from 8 to 8.30, kids get out of the house. I help the kids with all the things.
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  From 8 to 8.30, that's my workout time, period.
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  There's nothing else scheduled from 8 to 8.30.
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  And there are days when I think to myself, I'm so busy. I should really take that time.
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  I should use that time to do X. I should use that time to do
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  z but what i know about myself is
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  that i will get because i have health
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  stuff too i will get really tired during the day if i don't start out with a
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  workout there's this fatigue that hits me at two o'clock and i can roll with
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  it i mean lucky for me i create my own schedule so if I'm really fatigued at
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  two, I can take a step out.
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  But I don't like that feeling. I don't like that sluggish feeling that like
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  my body is barely making it.
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  I like the feeling of vitality.
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  I like that. That's why I don't drink because I don't like feeling that sluggish, tired feeling.
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  I like feeling energized and
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  just, yeah, I think energetic is a feeling I really love and cultivate.
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  And so why would I do things that don't help me feel more energy and more vitality?
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  Sitting at my desk pumping out proposals does not fill me with energy and vitality.
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  It's something I have to do.
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  I have to get it done, but I'm not going to skip the thing that gives me energy to do that.
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  I'm going to do the thing that gives me energy so I have the energy to do the
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  things that are a little bit harder to show up for.
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  So look at your day. Look at the things you do every week.
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  And if you're an employee, you can fit this concept, this mindset into your daily routine as well.
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  What are the things that you can automate?
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  I think that's a good description for it. What are the things that you can just
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  rotely show up for without feeling bad that you're rotely showing up for it
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  and just not overthink it? Just do the thing.
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  Get it done, right? What are the things that you can just do in that way?
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  And like I said, my two favorite things are exercise and sales.
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  Just find an exercise routine that works for you. If it's going out for a run
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  every day for 30 minutes, just go out for a run. You have to slightly enjoy it.
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  Like I think if you're like, I'm going to pump iron for 30 minutes and you don't
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  get any joy out of it, maybe find something that feels a little,
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  I mean, it should feel easy, right?
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  There's of course an element when you're adding a particular thing that's like a discipline.
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  I don't want to say disciplinary but a thing that you're adding to your routine
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  that requires commitment and discipline it's going to be hard right it's going
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  to be hard in the beginning there's going to be a hump to get over make that
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  hump as easy as possible to get over.
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  And then just decide I'm going to show up every day for this I think in in the
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  for exercise for me, that's a hump I've gotten over.
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  It took a while, but I've gotten over it. It's easy for me to just show up at
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  8, turn on my computer, do my routine, and end at 8.30.
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  That's really easy for me. This is why I can't go to the gym,
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  and I do still have a yoga studio membership because I love yoga,
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  but it's hard for me to create a real seamless, easy routine that requires me leaving the house.
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  It's just a hump I haven't been able to get over.
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  And because that hump is hard for me to get over, I know myself and I can show
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  up from 8 to 8.30 and get my routine done, get my workout routine complete,
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  and I can cross it off my list.
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  This idea of like getting to the gym, getting dressed, taking a shower at the
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  gym, doing all these extra extraneous things is just a hump I've never been able to get over.
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  So know yourself, right? Know what limitations you're going to put in front
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  of yourself to make it harder.
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  And then just relieve as many of those things as you can. Make it as easy on yourself as possible.