Think about a set of behaviors you do every day.

Are you conscious during the behavior/s?

Are you present, in the moment?

Are the behaviors intentional and performed for a specific outcome?

If the answer is yes, the behaviors are likely routines. If the answer is no, the behaviors are likely habits.

Here’s why I love keeping routines:

Routines are systems designed by the doer to achieve an intentional and targeted result. Establishing a routine takes conscious effort but takes less energy to maintain after time. These systems allow long term goals to be achieved by small, daily actions that contribute to BIG changes over time. Routines strengthen discipline, persistence, patience and focus. They require strategy, planning and thinking from a wide perspective. Routines result in growth.

Here’s why I love breaking habits:

Habits are ingrained in our lives by mere repetition. Not all habits are bad and need to be broken, but almost all habits are mindless.

Mindless behavior quickly morphs into life spent on autopilot. When we live in this state, we are everywhere else but in the moment. On autopilot, we are not learning.

Have you ever driven to a destination, only to gain consciousness once you have already arrived? This is because you have traveled the same route so often, it requires little to no attention. The body merely completes the sequence of actions. The problem with this, is the lack of focus it requires and therefore the lack of stimulation our brain experiences. Suppose you move to a new city. You find a route to work and drive it, day after day. Eventually, you could get to work with your eyes closed… but what else is around you? What are you missing that exists off course? What beauty lies on the back roads untraveled? You’ll never know taking the same route.

The more habits we have the more we are living on autopilot. The more we live on autopilot, the more we sleep through our lives. Habits, when left to rule our days leave us robotic and experiencing the same thing from the same lens… day after day, like watching an old black and white movie on repeat.

With this being said, TODAY, my ask of you is this; become radically aware of each of your behaviors over the next 24 hours. Be fully present. Observe yourself going about the world and tune in to how often you live on autopilot. Identify what the intention is for each of your actions because so many are asleep and it’s time to wake yourself up.

Today, I will have the courage to move against the grain.

Today, I will act with intention.

Today, I will let go of the behaviors that no longer serve me.

Thank you for being here,