How to Build a Better Routine
You don’t need the perfect routine. You need a better routine. Too many times, I see people let perfect be the enemy of good. They want to unlock the secret powers of some motivational guru like Gary Vee or a millionaire like Joe Rogan.
The first step is not to achieve perfection. The first step is to make a small improvement over your current routine. Maybe your first step is simply deciding that you need a routine.
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."
- Ernest Hemingway
Best your past, not your surroundings. If you constantly compare yourself to a millionaire who’s already found his perfect routine, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Your comparing their step 10 to your step 1. This is a recipe for frustration and frustration often leads to failure and then quitting.
Creating Your Own Routine
Instead, focus on your own path. While some people may wake up and run 10 miles every morning, you should simply focus on getting started. If you never run but decide to start getting up earlier and running 1 mile every morning, that’s a powerful change to your routine. How might your life change after 30 days of running every morning?
Do you find yourself jealous of authors or bloggers that you read that manage to write thousands of words every day? Don’t worry about how much they’re writing. They, like you now, built up to their current level.
Instead, decide to sit down and write every morning. If you demand 1,000 words every day, you’ll find yourself put off by the daunting task. Simply sit down to write out a few thoughts. One line. Anything. If you don’t write every day, simply getting started is all that matters right now. And you’ll find that once you get started, it’s much easier to keep writing.
If you start a new habit and stick with it every day for a month, you’ll start seeing results. This will encourage you to stick with it. Simply start one new habit. One of the most common problems I see in self-improvement paths is people who want to completely overhaul themselves overnight. This leads to burnout, frustration and little real change.
Yet, if you were to focus on one new habit each month, you won’t be so overwhelmed. You’ll find this new change to be more manageable and it’ll be easier to focus on one new change than several. Find one new habit to change each month and after one year, you’ll be a completely new person. And a year goes by much quicker than you think.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
How much time do you waste doing the same tedious task over and over? This could be something as simple as picking a song to play when you get in the shower. Start a shower playlist. Start a gym playlist. And add songs to these playlist as you hear them. Then you won’t be fiddling with your phone while you should be hammering out sets at the gym.
Create templates for writing. This has helped me streamline my writing process tremendously. When I sit down to write a new blog post, I have a template laid out where all I need to do is add in the words. The link for my newsletter is already posted. The link to my book is already in there. I simply have to write the words. Believe it or not, that’s the fun part for me. Once you’ve been writing long enough, you begin to enjoy the process. And I even have writing playlists to help me write better. Lately it’s been a lot of Synthwave.
Automate your social media. If you have any interest whatsoever in growing an online presence (you should) then you need to automate your social media. Most people find themselves addicted to the dopamine of social media. They want more. More likes, more engagement and more followers. (Get my Twitter Guide Here) The best way to do this is to write out great valuable content. But when writing tweets for twitter, for example, it’s easy to succumb to the infinity pool of mindless scroll. This can lead to hours of time lost.
Removing distracting time-wasters will give you more time to work on more fruitful habits. Get off Twitter and use another service to create your own content for others to consume. There’s an overwhelming amount of options here and I’ve tried many of them. Most want a free option and for that, I recommend Buffer. But it’s very limited as a free tool. When you’re ready to take it serious and spend a few bucks, check out Hypefury. You can try it for free for 14 days.
Hypefury saves me hours every week by scheduling tweets that will go out automatically. You can send dozens of tweets each day without ever touching your phone. It even lets you schedule Retweets and Threads. And yes, you can set tweets to “Evergreen” where they’ll be automatically scheduled for future postings.
Keep Track of Your Progress
My life really began to improve when I started writing. Yes I write books and articles on my website here, but I also journal for my own self-development. By writing down your goals and daily progress towards these goals, it becomes concrete. This is the key to changing your life. Numerous studies have shown that people who track their weight daily are more likely to experience better weight loss outcomes.
Each day track what works. As you begin to tweak your routine, do some A/B testing and keep track with a journal. You may think it’s no big deal to play on your phone first thing in the morning. And maybe it’s not. But try a few days where you don’t check your phone for an hour. Track your daily results and compare the differences. And if the results are significant enough to warrant the change, then you’ll have real motivation to make it happen. This is why daily journaling is so powerful.
It can become a bit of an obsession tracking everything, but if you focus on one idea each month, a bigger picture begins to emerge. For example, take a month where you keep track of how many alcoholic drinks you consume.
By doing this, I realized that it is near impossible for me to have more than a few drinks and write successfully the following day. An obvious thesis, but by tracking this, I was able to realize how many drinks is too many if I want to be productive the next day.
You don’t need the perfect routine. You need a better routine. As you can see, overtime you can create the perfect routine for yourself. Small changes feel insignificant at first, but when you stick with these new habits consistently, big changes begin to emerge. And because these changes are smaller, they create less of a barrier to entry. This leads to a higher success rate.
I mentioned getting off social media in this post, and I meant it. I love my twitter followers, but the Twitter DMs are probably the WORST way to communicate with me. I love offering advice and getting to meet you all, but it's impossible to actually keep track of everyone. Plus, I know my readers are some of the brightest and most ambitious people around. So, I wanted to create a community OFF of social media where we can all hang out. A place where we won’t be at risk of unwarranted bans and suspensions.
If you’re interested in joining a tribe of powerful and motivated men working together to build a better future for themselves and for masculinity, check out The Spartan Tribe. You can find out more information here.
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The handbook for young men everywhere who are lost and need direction and guidance in life.
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When I think of the most interesting people I know, it’s not the hyper-specialized experts in one field. It’s the people who find a unique juxtaposition of different walks of life. I’m drawn to those who can be both physically fit and intelligent enough to write. Two skills that are not that common alone but uniquely rare when found in the same person.