How Routines Can Hold You Back

Start switching things up and dive headfirst into the snow.

10-degrees below zero and 2 feet of snow on the ground, and this crazy man is sitting outside.

Oh hi! That’s me doing my writing routine outside — writing this post.

You might be wondering why in the world am I writing in such brutal weather conditions. Because I’m insanely fascinated by spontaneously breaking my routines and doing something a little zany instead.

Why?

While routines are great for cementing habits, eventually, there can be a downside to them.

Routines can lead to a rut.

Once a habit becomes automatic or performing a task doesn’t require much conscious thought, it’s easy to fall out of creator mode, and the opportunity for something new and out of the ordinary to arrive in your experience dwindles.

Because routines breed familiarity.

Familiar routines create familiar outcomes. Familiar places create familiar situations. Familiar people create familiar interactions.

The same goes for our thoughts and emotions. When we think and feel in familiar predictable ways, we memorize a familiar state being, and our life will unfold in the same way it always has.

Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about this in his various books by saying:

“The best way to create your future is to create it not from the known but for the unknown.”

Think of a time something incredible occurred in your life. You likely weren’t expecting it. The reason why it was such a powerful moment: it was new and beyond your mind’s awareness.

The unfamiliar is where the magic happens in life.

While establishing routines are necessary to help us grow in life, inspiration and flow begin at the edge of what is unfamiliar.

So in my case, I woke up feeling unsure about what to write about today. I looked out my front window, saw the mounds of snow, and decided I’m going to do my writing outside today and see what comes of it.

I bundled on some layers, pulled up a chair, and went to work.

Within moments of sitting down, the idea for this post came spilling out of me. Would this not have been the case if I did my writing in my office like I do every morning?

Who knows?

I’ve heard Neale Donald Walsch say numerous times:

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

If I search through my life for some of the best moments of joy, insight, and growth, the more I find this to be true. I’m sure the same goes for you.

And sometimes breaking your routine even in the tiniest of ways is enough to do that — to alter your experience and avail yourself to something you never saw coming.

And if you do what I did, at the very least, you won’t be able to feel your fingertips.

With that said, time to head back inside.

You are a Conscious Creator

Join the tribe! Get my free weekly newsletter on everything self-development and spiritual growth.