The statement above is one of those things that, at first glance, seem obvious, however, if you really think about it, you’ll see the wisdom in it. As a rule, we tend to live our lives pretty much doing the same things over and over. We watch the same TV shows, eat pretty much the same foods, dine at the same restaurants and even tend to dress ourselves the same way each day.
If you remember “The Archie Bunker Show,” on television, you may remember a skit where Archie, played by Carroll O’Connor and his son-in-law, played by Rob Reiner, are arguing about whether one should put both socks on before their shoes or put one sock and a shoe and then the other.
This was a funny scene and made for entertaining television but, if you stop and think about it, you probably do one or the other every time you get dressed and have probably been dressing yourself the same way since you were a child.
While something as benign as how you dress yourself will have little, if any, effect on your success, your other habits will.
By changing your habits and altering your patterns, you will activate different neural pathways in your brain which, in turn, will produce new associations. Something as simple as changing the route you take to and from work each day will cause you to see new things which will spark new thoughts and ideas. As a result, you will increase your creativity.
Do you take pretty much the same actions in your work or business each day? Most of us have routines we follow and, while there is nothing wrong with this, it can stifle our creativity and prevent us from major breakthroughs.
What could you do to change your routine? Could you change some of the daily actions you take? For example, would changing the way you handle email enable you to take a new action or complete a more urgent task? I found myself answering my email first thing in the morning, as though the sender was sitting there at 6:00am, waiting for my answer. While this is unlikely, it does prevent me from doing something more important.
Scheduling a specific time to answer my email has freed my early morning time for me to write. Not only is this the most important component of my work, it is also the time I write best, since my mind is still clear and calm after my morning meditation and quiet time. Delaying email further has provided me with the opportunity to get back to my morning exercise, another task that is critical to my well being.
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