Routine

The very thought of it leaves some entrepreneurs ill and others excited. Why? Clearly, there are negative perceptions or consequences with some routines (commuting anyone?). There are also powerful advantages with the right routine, such as a morning workout or meditation. The trick is to know the difference. Let’s start with understanding what routine really is.

Routine is a set of activities, patterns or habits that meet an objective (usually growth).

Routines are amazing when they allow you to hustle past everyone else. I recently started working out three times a week. While it was hard to turn these activities into an ongoing habit, once I did, I was getting way better results than my peers who were at the same fitness level as me. This can also apply to business where you might have a routine that keeps you stomping all over the competition because they just can’t commit or keep up. A great example is Padmasree Warrior (Chief Technology Officer at Cisco Systems). She had routine “digital detoxes” where she unplugged from technology to reboot her brain and replenish her creative reserves.