ROUTINE OR RUT

Do you follow a ROUTINE in your life?  Or are you just in a RUT?

MANY think they have a solid ROUTINE, only to find that they are stuck in a deep RUT.

rou·tine

ro͞oˈtēn/

1. a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program.

rut

rət/

1. a habit or pattern of behavior that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change.

There is NOTHING wrong with ROUTINES.....good ROUTINES.

I have different ROUTINES that I do regularly.  I am consistent with my eating habits.  I have consistent in my exercise/running/work outs.  I do the same ROUTINE when I first wake up in the morning and the last thing I do before I go to bed.

A RUT, on the other hand, is similar to a ROUTINE, except, as the definition points out, is a "pattern of behavior that has become dull, unproductive AND hard to change."

DON'T mistake a RUT for a ROUTINE.

I've talked with others who feel "stuck" in their lives.  They start out with the best of intentions, but something "digs" at them....something that they WANT to do, but don't feel that they can due to a variety of reasons.  So, the wake up; hit the alarm; drink a cup of coffee; go to work; come home; eat dinner; see their family for a bit; go to bed; start the sequence all over again the next day.

I've been there before.  

It's tough to live out...or even think about, your BEST YEAR YET when you can't find your way out of that "cycle."

I've said it before, but you don't want to wake up and say, "I wish I would have" instead of "I'm glad I did."

Here's the good news.....as long as you are breathing, there's still time!  You might not see it, but I'm telling you, THERE.IS.TIME!

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR RUT INTO A PRODUCTIVE ROUTINE:

• Identify what you are passionate about
• What is that thing or things that makes your heart race
• Work that passion into your routine
• You might not be able to go "all in" right away, but what can you do?
• Here's an example: If your passion is cooking, start cooking at home for your family and friends.  If your passion is coaching, find a team or group you can volunteer for and hone your skills.  Maybe you want to make a bigger social impact on the world, before you quit your job and sell all that you have, how about going to the local shelter and helping out or even do a short term missions trip and work it out.  Maybe your passion it to write a book.  Start out by journaling or writing a blog.  Build an audience that way first.
• Once you have some momentum, find ways to be consistent with your new ROUTINE

REGRET is something that I have had, but decided that I wasn't going to keep "looking back" at it.  Why?  Because I'm not going that way.  My eyes are looking in front of me, not behind me.

Is it easy to get out of a RUT in your life?  NOPE!  It seems we say NOPE to things being EASY here in the BEST YEAR YET blog a lot.  But it's true.  Believe me, I like easy....but it's not always that way.  That's ok.  

DON'T QUIT.  

GET OUT THE RUT.

NO REGRETS.

See you tomorrow as we look at another way to assure our BEST YEAR YET.