Why is it important to have a daily routine? That’s the topic of today’s post.
First we are going to answer the question, what’s the real importance of a daily routine?
Second, I’m going to dive into why most people struggle with being consistent. Lastly I’m going to give you some examples of daily routine suggestions that I’ve had and that may help you.
What is the real importance of a daily routine?
This implies that there’s something that you actually want in your life other than the default that whatever life is going to throw at you. Whether it is to get in better shape, have more mental activities so you don’t age harsher or to make more money. There’s a lot of different types of daily routines. There’s a lot of different reasons for having a daily routine but it’s something that basically you’re saying…there’s a version of me that I either want to at least retain or grow into. I would say for most people unless you’re a little bit older (in age) you’re probably wanting to grow into versus necessarily retain.
Now my father-in-law is (I believe) 80 now. Don’t quote me on that but I believe he’s 80. His daily routine is more to retain. He’s not looking and he doesn’t believe that he’s going to grow into some higher mental capacity. He’s wanting to retain so that includes crossword puzzles, walking and he golfs all the time. There are things that he’s doing to stay active so he doesn’t decline. For those reading this post, most likely you’re wanting to achieve to a higher level of yourself, whatever that looks like to you. What’s important is when you embrace a daily routine, you’re embracing the concept that there is no magic pill that goes “boom.” Now I’m in shape. “Boom” now I’m super smart, “boom” now I’m better at the piano.
It indicates that you are aware that it takes more than an individual event and it takes a stringing together of days of doing a particular thing or things to improve yourself. That is a very, very healthy thing to do. You will find that people who are consistent with their daily routine, are typically happier and feel more in control of their life.
They’re not just at the whims of whatever the world throws at them because they get their stuff done. You will also notice that they are on a journey. When you’re on a journey, that’s more powerful than I’m just here to show up for whatever happens. “What do we have today, hit me with it.” There’s a lot of energetic benefits to having a daily routine. There’s a lot of mental benefits and a lot of hormonal benefits to having a daily routine. I would highly encourage you to have a daily routine.
But first before you have that, you have to know what is that higher version of yourself that you actually want? Who do you want to be? If you have zero desire to be in better shape then you’re going to struggle with any kind of exercise on a daily routine, unless you can draw a different conclusion of if I did this then this would be possible. If I did this, then I could grow into this. Very, important for you to embrace the concept of being a new version of yourself and you can do that with a daily routine.
Now why do most people struggle with being consistent?
This is a very common thread that we talk about here on this blog. Quite frankly, so few people talk about the real or the root reasons of inconsistency and so many people struggle with it. So many people need to know the root. Consistency in general when I’m speaking to entrepreneurs, or a lack of consistency in an entrepreneur is that they have drawn the wrong conclusion to success based on an observation they made as a kid. It usually has to do with their observations they made of their parents or guardians. How they spent money, how they talked about money, success, recognition etc. is a good bet.
For example, I have coached people that grew up in very poor families and went out there and did really well, but I’ve also coached people that were in poor families that have constantly sabotaged themselves and they didn’t know the reason. It was in the back of their head so they constantly sabotaged themselves from making too much money, because the family that they grew up in always bashed the wealthy and they didn’t want to be bashed. They didn’t want to show up to a family reunion and be that guy or girl that they said, “oh, she’s the rich one.” They don’t want to be ridiculed, right? To prevent ridicule, they’ll sabotage their own life from living to their potential.
When it comes to why someone is not consistent on a daily routine, most of the time it’s just not a big enough reason. Why bother? Why do this thing that is easy to do, easy not to do, why bother? They’re not seeing the accumulation of habits over time because in the accumulation of habits over time, you can do anything that you want. You can have six-pack abs, you can learn a new language or you can totally change your finances. You can do anything with enough time and consistency. You can literally change anything but if you’re only focused on “oh, I don’t want to do that thing right now,” then you are not looking at the accumulation of what would my life be like if I were in charge, if I was the master, if I was in control. If I was able to take charge of my life… what does that look like. If you’re not seeing that then you’re probably going to struggle with doing it even as the simplest daily routine.
Know that there’s a very good chance if you are reading this post and if you’re not consistent, it’s probably not that you’re lazy. It’s probably that you are either not seeing what success would look like in what you’re pursuing or you’ve drawn the wrong conclusion to success which will be a form of sabotage. This will prevent you from actually showing up as powerfully as you could.
Let’s hear from you.
Before we get to my last point, I would love to hear from you. What is your daily routine? If you’re not consistent, what is a daily routine you would love to do? I would love to hear your suggestions. Maybe I pick up some of mine. I love my daily routine and I love being consistent with it but I’m always looking for little tweaks, little things that I can add on. I’ll share some examples here shortly but drop me a comment. You may give some others some ideas as well so share away. What is it that you wish was on your daily routine or what actually is on your daily routine?
What are some sample daily routine suggestions, examples et cetera.
I’ll go back a little bit to 2009. In 2009, I had lost it all in the real estate market crash. I’m dead broke, personal foreclosure, million dollars in debt, I had gone through a divorce, I was not happy with myself and I was very depressed. I decide that I was going to do something about it. There’s a series of circumstances that happened around that time that I talk about here on this blog and my YouTube channel but for the purpose of this post we will just you dive right in.
At the time in Florida, everyone was affected by the real estate market crash. No one was hiring, my credit was shot, I’m dead broke, I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I did something that I had kind of vowed I would never do again which is…I joined a network marketing company. I had tried it in the past, I didn’t like it, I had some weird or bad experiences with uplines and so I was not going to do it again. I did it because of the circumstances. I decided you know what? I’m going to make this damn thing work and decided to do three things as part of my daily routine.
Number one, I had read a book called Go for No. It sounds like a terrible book, don’t you want yeses? It sounds terrible but it’s actually extremely effective, it’s to reduce your resistance to rejection and your reaction to rejection. By you going for 20 no’s a day (which is what I did) you’re going to get some yeses but you’re going to become bulletproof because you’re just not going to care when you get no’s. I went for 20 no’s a day and that was part one of my daily routine.
Number two, I hated prospecting and it was a sales environment. You’re trying to sell stuff, trying to make money and I hated prospecting, I hated reaching out to people. I wanted people to reach out to me because it would be way cooler, obviously. So, I started doing a video a day. I was going to do a video day and at some point people would see these videos and they would reach out to me. Although it took a while, it was well worth. It’s really one of the cornerstones that built our entire INC 5000 company. I started doing a video day and I actually didn’t miss a day (believe it or not) for 12 years. The only reason I missed a day (which was actually last year) was because I was in a meditation retreat and I decided I was not going to do it that day. I just didn’t feel like it so I skipped a couple days but then I got right back to it when the retreat was done.
Number three, was self-development every day. I was coming out of a very bad situation. I needed some mental improvement and so anything from Think and Grow Rich to Science of Getting Rich to The Magic of Thinking Big to free YouTube stuff. Then when I started making money, I started investing in myself. I started buying courses, attending events, joining masterminds, hiring coaches etc.
Those were three things. Now if I had to go back and I would make a tweak. The one thing I would add and is something I do right now and I have been doing it every day for over a year now, is Meditation. Meditation has absolutely changed my life. Like so many things when I first started, I was horrible at it. I couldn’t sit still, my mind was racing. This was me meditating, I was shaking, my back hurts, my shoulder and my face itches and I look like a total mess. Not some person in zen. That was the first few months. The next few months I got disciplined, I was able to control my body, disregard pains. Disregard different things and actually sit through the meditation. Then it came to tackling the mind. I have now actually done four hour meditations and I had two back-to-back hour and fifteen minute meditations. I now meditate at least an hour and fifteen minutes every day. That has completely eradicated the whole monkey mind, the racing mind where you can’t hear because it’s talking to you so loud and it’s really showed up so powerfully in my life.
That’s the one thing that I would suggest no matter what you’re trying to accomplish. I highly encourage you incorporate some meditation, whatever that looks like to you. Meditation or prayer…that’s definitely one of the big things that changed my life.
Need more helping with being consistent?
If you need help with being more consistent, figuring out maybe why you’re not consistent and help with a daily routine, we actually have a very powerful coaching program that you can apply to join. If you would like to apply, you just click this link, Higdongrouptraining.com and we would love to help you. If we can help, we would love to help you change your life (as we have changed so many people’s lives). We are so proud of our clients. If you would like to learn more, just click the link.
Ray Higdon
Play Bigger. Make An Impact.
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