Routines

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Routines can be comforting.

They reflect the habit of action that yields a result we want.

They become a habit.

A habit reflects a behavior we want to have that serves us.

Routines and habits sometimes go on to autopilot.

We stop reviewing the outcome of our habit and develop a rut.

If you think about what a rut looks like, the wheels of countless vehicles have driven in the same spot of the road for what seems like years, wearing it down in the same place.

We do the same thing.

I do the same thing.

I tend to be up at the same time each day. I like that.

The house is quiet. My wife is still sleeping.

I enjoy the quiet of the early morning before sunrise to powder and right.

For many years I would go to the gym before sunrise, get on a treadmill and jog for an hour. That became 30 minutes. Now, after work, I get on an elliptical machine at my house — two days on, one day off. I feel great afterward.

These days, after breakfast, I get online to share my thinking.