Have you recently thought of the quality of the things we repeat? “How we do one thing is how we do everything”. “It all adds up”….. and I could keep going. What are your examples of routines or people that are recurring in your business and life?
Because we both work from home, I realised how we spend more time in the vicinity of our fortnightly cleaner than with some of our friends. This week I took the decision to change cleaner. Not easy after 6 years, but it was time.
Having looked after our oldest daughter’s 3-legged bunny since she moved back to Denmark, I yesterday realised how feeding Twix and chatting to her every second day would have added up to over 300 encounters while I’ve been ‘on duty’. That’s more times than I’ve been in the shops connecting with my local community – as I try keeping that to 1-2 times a week.
Do you kiss your partner every day? Even if you’re not young and madly in teenager-love anymore? Depending on your answer that’s 365 kisses or maybe none the last year. If it’s a no, I’ve had more kinaesthetic connection with our 3-legged bunny the last year than you have with your spouse.
Now think of the closest team at work. You definitely spend more time with them than with your family (or at least pre-Covid that was the case). Are they the calibre people you want to hang out with? To you feed off each other positively, getting motivated by each other?
And just one more: as I grabbed a fork from the drawer, I first got hold of one and immediately changed it to one of the ‘good forks’ – I had not even looked, but my fingers knew the difference of the quality forks we’ve had since our wedding and the IKEA top-up ones. There is a reason you like paying for good design, someone having put thoughts and skills into designing what serves the purpose and makes it a good experience to use. Reminding me how quality even in the little things matter.
It’s wonderfully liberating doing a little audit of the activities and people you have routines with. Adding the time up to a decade’s worth, is it how you would prioritise your connections and energy?
What if we carefully designed the repetitions in our businesses and lives? Can you imagine the difference it would make – even within the first year?