#42 - Removing friction from your daily routine!
18 Dec 24
'Fail to plan, plan to fail' so the saying goes. But it's so true when it's applied to the first part of your day which should have a repeatable and robust routine in place.
Without that routine, and especially a routine that has been refined and honed over many iterations, your day is doomed to start off on the wrong foot.
Routine is everything, but it requires work.
Get it right and you'll set yourself up for a great start to the day!
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#42 - Removing friction from your daily routine!
What?
Nobody likes to be on the back foot, being behind the curve, feeling like you're always playing catch up.
And yet, we continue to put ourselves through a systematic cycle of self-sabotage which can easily be avoided.
I'm talking of course about the simple act of ensuring that you have a robust daily routine in place to maximise the probability of success each and every day.
But how many of us actually consciously do this?
Why?
The absence of a robust, tried and tested daily routine which you can rely on can make the difference between a day starting off well...or not!
We've all been there. The alarm rings, we clamber out of bed like zombies and make our way to the bathroom for a shower to try and wake up as quickly as we can.
No-one thinks straight or coherently on waking and it's a recipe for disaster to try and organise and align everything prior to disappearing out the front door on your way to work.
Things aren't where they should be, the car keys are missing, your mobile phone is on 3% battery capacity. Your shirt isn't ironed and the dog has thoughtfully repositioned one of your shoes!
It's not a good start to the day and you eventually stumble out of the door 30 minutes late, dishevelled and harassed because you're already behind schedule. And that's before you do battle with the commute. Who knows how that is going to go?
All of these issues can be thought of as friction points in your daily routine. In isolation, maybe the odd one wouldn't be a problem.
In combination it's lethal. It conspires to throw you way off course and ends up ultimately ruining your day. It is incredibly difficult to get back on track during the day once you are behind.
The trick is, therefore, to identify potential friction points, and treat them in the same way as you do risk. Either eliminate, reduce or endure them!
How?
You're going to hate me now as I put my analytical engineering head on. Apologies, but bare with me!
The way to prevent a day like the above occurring is to map out your day, to plan it out. To think of it like a production line in a factory.
Follow this routine and you should have no (ok, maybe reduced) friction which will make for a better day:
- Sequence your 'start of the day' events,
- Identify where the friction points are, what always causes you delays?
- When analysing the things that you need to organise to at least get you to work, what could be streamlined, perhaps by careful planning the night before?
- Prepare those activities the night before i.e. ironed shirt, pack your work bag etc,
- What route do you take around the house from the moment you wake, through showering, having breakfast etc?
- Look at the route and treat it like a production line workflow. Pre-position key items in known areas where you know you are going to pass and which will provide you with what you need when you need it (e.g. you don't position the car keys next to where you brush your teeth! Near the front door works better!)
The list above may appear to be blindingly obvious, but the cumulative effect of small changes such those described above will go a long way towards ensuring your sanity!
And that, in turn, means you can arrive at work refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to face the challenges that work throws at you. Much better than those you have created for yourself...don't you think?
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
It seems like I'm stating the obvious, but a little forethought and pre-preparation in advance goes a long way towards setting yourself up for success rather than self-sabotaging.
Have a great week!
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