The Psychology of Routine, Explained
By: Michelle Strand
Routine is a journey - to be precise, a marathon. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading the work of Brianna Wiest, you’d visit many excerpts surrounding the topics of psychology and emotional intelligence.
Routine, as she defines it, is the ability to silence our cravings and prioritize our long-term desires, writing, “most things that bring genuine happiness are not just temporary, immediate gratifications, and those things also come with resistance and require sacrifice.”
She explains that,
“the point is not what the routine consists of, but how steady and safe your subconscious mind is made through repetitive motions expected outcomes.”
Think of the years of education, eight hours a day, every day, you knew exactly what to expect. Physics Tuesdays, homework after dinner, which was always at 6:00 p.m., dance, basketball, or piano at the same time every week. These routines are the very ones that allowed us to cultivate our love of science, and realize that we’re actually really good at shooting three-pointers. They fueled our passions and launched our careers. They shaped our identity. But beyond obligations, do you have a routine that’s fully autonomous? One with the same structure that built you into the scientist, lawyer, or dancer you are today? Steven Pressfield, the author of “The War of Art,” states that
most of us have two lives - “the life we live, and the unlived life within us.”
This is the same theory that can be found in Jen Sincero’s bestselling book “You Are a Badass,”- the separation of the conscious and subconscious mind. “Our conscious mind thinks it’s in control, but it isn’t. Meanwhile, our subconscious mind doesn’t think about anything, but is in control.” So, here’s the advice: prioritize your routine, pick something - add it to your day, or week. Making your bed in the morning, journal for 30 minutes at the end of the day, or better yet, embark on your dream creative pursuit, that business you wanted to start, the diet, health, or exercise regiment you’ve always told yourself you’d start “tomorrow.”
Forward, The Journey
The departure, mostly uphill, by far the hardest - a mentally and physically exhausting pursuit. You may need to set an alarm, or a reminder, you may even need to have continued pep talks with yourself. Change is not easy, and your body will do anything subconsciously to resist it. Anyone who’s tried anything new has experienced this phase, we all start as beginners after all. Your new task clouds your mind, you’re anxious about its arrival and you reflect on your exerted energy after it’s done, but it’s worth it, all part of the journey.
Next, the curve, a genuinely thrilling phase. Improvements flourish, we begin to realize that we can become the person we’ve always known to exist within us. The closest to our whole selves that we’ve ever known, because we’ve never fully experienced what we’re capable of, until now. You’re hooked - elated. Only this time, for the first time, you are fully satisfied. You sit and write for three hours. Typos? Doesn’t matter. Quality? Doesn’t matter.
Finally, the ‘flow’ phase.
You might have heard of the 10,000-hour rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers.” If it’s true that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at anything, think of how achievable and quantifiable your goal has just become. The way to do this of course - you’ve got it, your routine. Finally, your body and brain are able to work at ease with one another, entering a state of pure mental silence - meditative if you will. Musicians losing themselves in their music, playing endlessly for hours. “Did I make my bed this morning? - I must have. I do it every morning.” It becomes so natural that we forget that we’re even doing it. The stage at which you don’t think, you just know.