How to Maintain Consistency

Begin Transmission:

As I continue to find my feet and the format for this blog and the podcast I think it becomes an allegory for life. Its taken me 42 years to get to this point, and I still have relatively little idea of what I’m doing.

I lack a cohesive plan. I think I know, then I change it. Some new thing catches my attention and it works for awhile, but I don’t sustain it. I don’t make it consistent. Lets pump the brakes on that for a second. Rather than pointing out the million things I don’t do, or I’m not, I need to refocus on what I have maintained.

Consistency

I have learned that consistency in routine is very important for me to be consistent. If I can roll it into a my routine, I can make it habitual, as Pat MacNamara says.

This is a key element as I am currently admonishing myself for being physically unfit, and doing literally nothing about it. As many of you know I recently “transitioned employers.” Or, as I like to call it, I got fired. Why is a whole podcast in itself. Short answer: I did it to myself, and I should have quit far before that happened. Being “suddenly unemployed” It disrupted what little consistency I was able to maintain for a short period. Which, I found odd.

I’m struggling to articulate how and why I found it odd. Perhaps I over estimated my ability to adapt? Or I was surprised at how consistent I had been? I’m not sure how to explain, or perhaps even why I found it odd.

Consistency is something I do know works exceptionally well for me. By consistency I mean routine. I get up at the same time 5 days a week, I leave for work within 5-10 minutes of the same time everyday. I arrive 15-30 minute early, everyday to work. I take my breaks at the same time, and often do the same things on my breaks: text my wife and daughters, read, scroll Instagram.

I do want to find better things to do with my breaks than scroll.

Routine

So, how do I bake something into my routine? How do I make things habitual?

I need to know what I want to add. For me that is: PT, working out, physical fitness, the Ol’ sweaty Betty. That’s 1 thing. Just one. I can do that. After all, look how consistent I am with all that other stuff!

I also want to extend my schedule to the weekends. Get up at the same time, do the same things, on the weekends. Be consistent. So, how do I go about doing that?

Right now for instance, I’m making these notes after getting up at 0327. Why? Because I couldn’t sleep and haven’t been sleeping well for weeks. So, I need to do something about it. I need to DO something.

So far, I’m on day 1 of my new schedule. I’ve gotten a 2 hour devotional done, and I’m writing my script for my podcast. That’s capitalizing on what I’ve done so far!

Next is PT. I’m going on a walk with a new friend in about an hour so that will cover about 1/4 of the PT I want to do today. The other 3/4 is going to come from a dump run, AND managing my calories.

So now, I just have to do that everyday. One day down.

Systemization

What I have for work is a system. I do the same thing everyday. Regardless of the job, regardless of the location. I habitually show up early. I trained myself to do that regardless of where I was. I built that time into my schedule.

Ahhhh, there it is. The “S” word! I don’t like it either. But, it’s necessary. I need it. I need to make sure I understand it. I also think part of my problem is that other people don’t understand it.

What do I mean by that? Well, it’s fairly simple to me. A task’s timeline encompasses the entire task. That includes a transitory period. In machining, we call that “Setup.” We have to allocate time to load tools, change fixtures, or make program adjustments. That needs to be logged into time associated with the job, so we bill it properly. Everything is the same. We don’t have teleporters.

My wife is my favorite human on this planet, and this is something she’s working on. I’ll pick on her so we have something to talk about when we’re old. She still thinks that it takes 15 minutes to get from one point to another in our town. We’ve seen so much growth now, we can’t turn left anymore. It’s 20 minutes minimum. Doesn’t seem like a huge difference right? That’s one way.

So lets make this sandwich. We’re going to build it top to bottom:

• Departure and travel time: ~20 minutes average.
• Transition time 3-5 min. (Finding a spot to park. Parking. Walking in.)
• ((Unknown Quantity)) Activity Time: Whatever we’re doing, where ever we’re at.
• Transition time 1-3 min. (Walk back to the car, load, get in, etc.)
  • * Optional navigation and coordination time: This is where I text my wife and make sure I got what I needed, or ask if we need something else, or need to go anywhere else. Get follow on missions and updated Intel. * ~5-10 minutes.
• Departure and travel time: ~20 minutes average.
  Total time for the grocery trip: 1 Hour to 1.5 Hours total overall travel time.

“What took so long?” – Wonder Wife

That’s how I understand scheduling. That’s the way my brain works in estimations. That’s why I leave 30 minutes early, and arrive 30 minutes early. Because I don’t want to be late. Growing up we were late to literally everything. I cannot recall an instance when we arrived early, or on time, but that could also be me.

So, when I build something into my routine. I want to make sure I’m going to stick with it. Why haven’t I built working out into my routine? Because, I don’t see a lot of return for my investment. Largely because I don’t know what I’m doing or how to do it. I am going to estimate that I did 99% of my push ups in the Army with my back, because I had no chest. I had no one to show me how to do it, and no one to “motivate me” read: Force me, to workout as a teenager.

I didn’t need it then, and I didn’t see the value. Fast forward 28 years and now I’m really wishing I would have been far more active, learned how to lift weights, done… Something sporty just for the fitness. I am 99.9% sure if I had gone to the football coach and asked him to show me how to do what I needed he would have done it. Or our Special Education teacher. He was a Grecko Roman wrestler and had calves so big I think they were my waist size. 30″ I don’t think I’m far off either. He was huge.

Conclusion

Regardless of my issues in the past, that’s where they are. In the past. I can, in my own mind, create a hero story now. I can rise from the ashes of my lethargy and go forth and conquer. I just have to make it habitual.

God Bless You and Keep You!
GMW.