Better understand your routines

We all have routines and habits. We all follow behavior patterns. We can look at others and spot these patterns. But we ignore them when it comes to our own behavior.

These routines and habits frame who we are and what we do in life. They become an important part of our life. Psychologists estimate that up to 90% of our behavior is ruled by habit. That means these habits are plotting the course of our life.

Do you know the direction you are heading? Do you know why? Do you understand those patterns? Did you design them? Did they just sort of form by themselves?

For most, these routines form on their own. We barely think about them. We simply keep on living. We make decisions based on how we were raised and what experiences we have had. Then we keep repeating the same decisions over and over again.

Soon they form the structure in our life. They ingrain into our being, despite the lack of conscious choice.

Jordan B Peterson touches on this in his book, 12 Rules for Life. He says, “We’re still chimps in a troupe, or wolves in a pack. We know how to behave. We know who’s who, and why. We’ve learned that through experience. Our knowledge has been shaped by our interaction with others. We’ve established predictable routines and patterns of behavior – but we don’t really understand them, or know where they originated.”

This is the great opportunity that every person alive is able to confront. We can all start to study our own behavior patterns. Just as a scientist starts with a meager knowledge, we should start where we are.

Then we dive in to gain insight. We learn how they formed. We learn how to change them. We learn which ones are distracting us from living the life we desire.

Being able to see and then change our routines and habits is the most important element of life. With so many aspects of our lives free from our control, this area is completely up to us to control… or not. Most of us choose to not control them.

Do you want to be happier? What are you doing to sabotage that? From there you will find behaviors and thoughts that degrade your happiness.

Want to have less debt? Your spending habits drive how money leaves. Your financial routines form the foundation of a system that results in the current state. If that state is unacceptable to you, change the system by changing the routines.

The routines and behaviors are the first clue to the underlying system. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about debt, health, interpersonal relationships, happiness, success, winning or any number of other areas. The answer is the system. The system is why it is the way we see it.

But that system is one that we have control over. It might be partial control. It might be total control. But instead of taking that control and owning it, we delegate that control. We give it away in hopes that others do a better job managing our system.

By better understanding your routines, you start to better understand the system. The system drives everything. Yet most people never even explore it. They ignore it. They blame it when it is convenient or when they want to avoid responsibility.

To break free from this self-created prison, learn the systems. Then work to change them to fit your desires and ambitions in life. Because you will likely find that you were the one who created them in the first place.