“My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.”—Arthur Conan Doyle
“Be your best today; be better tomorrow” is a thread running through these posts. It is a concept central to growth—and to one’s growth routine. If you are not growing—if you are not challenging yourself daily—you are likely stagnating. Having a “growth routine”, however, does not ensure that one is growing. It is truly a growth routine only if it is stretching your comfort zone. A proper growth routine should be challenging and should be progressive. Anything else is, well, just routine.
Consider your morning routine. Has it progressed over time, or are you simply repeating the same efforts again and again? If you write daily goals (as you should) are they repeated day after day or are you committing to the principle of “overload”? If you look back over your journal, does it read like you are Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Or can you see a progression that is showing overall growth?
It is very easy to allow one’s growth routine to become routine. Trust me. I have been caught in the snare of redundancy, myself. It will undoubtedly happen now and then. The key is to recognize it before you get too deep in the quicksand.
Build into your growth routine a long-term progression. My friend, Coyte Cooper (Make Your Mark, “Earn the Right to Live Your Dreams”), might call this “layering”. Put a timeline to your goals and add to these over time.
I have written about how I am no fan of new year resolutions. These might work for some, but I see this one-time-a-year approach to be limited. First, one tends to wait until the start of a year to begin anew. Second, one writes a list of resolutions that are either quickly forgotten or quickly fulfilled. Once accomplished, one is left waiting for the ball to drop again.
In a proper growth plan, goals are stacked and intensified, as they are accomplished. This is at the heart of the “well-centered fitness” concepts. One must consider growth to be moving ever closer to the asymptotes of Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social well-being. Goals are never really accomplished. They are continually refined. As the great coach, Vince Lombardi, once said: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” Unfortunately, we too often settle for the hamster wheel that is “the successful side of mediocre”.
We have a choice today. We can choose to do what we did yesterday with contentment and complacency, or we can choose to approach today with zeal and grateful ambition.
A number of years ago I went on a commercially run trail ride in Kentucky. The horses followed the same path day after day. One need not hold the horse’s reigns, as the horse new to stay to the path. Being a bit rebellious and feeling sorry for the horse, I tried to steer him out of the rut. At first he resisted. Then, he accepted my command and stepped out of the rut to walk in the grass. (The trail guide didn’t like it, and I was scolded back into line.) For that brief time, I could sense a change in the horse. He seemed happy. He seemed free. Horses and people are not meant to walk the same path over and over. We are meant to cut new trails and to grow. There is nothing sadder than a life that is wasted in stagnation. Be free from the routine and pursue the (extra)ordinary. Carpe momento!
Be your best today; be better tomorrow!
“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.”—Bill Moyers