Today I told my wife about a new routine to stay focused in my business and with my blogging. She rolled her eyes. She had heard it before.
“No really,” I said, “this one I’m going to stick with.” I went on to tell her how I would dedicate 1-hour each day to actively growing my business: marketing, connecting, and booking new clients. I would then spend another hour split between blogging and learning (4 days blogging and 3 days learning). All I needed from her was some serious quiet time (no interruptions from the kids) and the ability to focus.
“We’ll see,” she said, not quite convinced that I would be able to do it.
The Kung Fu of Routines
What is it about a routine that is so difficult? In my own experience, I tend to start out really strong on a routine, dedicating the necessary time, focus, and energy. This goes on for a few weeks and then I find the enthusiasm dissipates. The drive to stick to the routine just goes off course, even though the desire to reach the goals is still there.
When I started training kung fu in 1999 I had just graduated college. About a week before I stepped into the kwoon (Chinese for school) I was at a club with a buddy. We were dancing, partying, and having a good time. Next thing I know, my buddy punches some guy in the mouth – this guy’s buddies then start beating up my friend and I’m semi-frozen not knowing what to do. I then jump on the guy holding my friend, put him in a headlock, and wait for the bouncers to break it up.
My Sifu (teacher) and I in China 2001
Walking into that kung fu school I was determined never to freeze up like that again. I began a training regiment of 1 hour every day. It eventually grew to two and then four, with some days seeing me train all day. Within 6-months I fought in my first tournament and did well. By two-years I was teaching classes and travelling to China to fight and demonstrate there.
The point is, I had a strong motivation (self preservation) for sticking to my routine. I wanted desperately to achieve the results. Starting out with reasonable and attainable commitments (1-hour per day), I became accustomed to the work that went into the routine and it gradually increased until I started setting more challenging goals (training for fighting in China).
It’s real simple when you think about it: start small, be consistent, and add more as the small becomes rote. How can I apply this to business and blogging?
Put Your Butt in the Chair
Someone on my Third Tribe Marketing forum shared they just got a book deal. He explained how the pressure of it was a little overwhelming because now he had to do the work. We all hope for big breaks like a book deal, but what do we do when we get one? Put your butt in the chair.
Blogging is like getting a book deal that everyone else has. While we are competing for some seriously strained attention, if we are consistently putting out great stuff, networking to get it seen, and injecting personality into what we do (my jargon-free way of saying “passion”) then it will be a satisfying routine that we’ll want to commit to.
It’s when we put unrealistic expectations on our blogging or business progress that we become frustrated and give up. This is why my wife rolled her eyes at me in declaring a new routine. She knows I often set my sights too high – then when things do not materialize as expected I have a great excuse to give up.
Showing up is the first step to success in any routine. Improvising if needed is also encouraged. For example, my routine consists of putting my butt in the chair at 1pm for my business focus and 2pm for my blogging and education (I work nights). Today, I couldn’t get to the blogging end at my appointed time. Rather than skip so early in the process, I set out an hour later in the night on my lunch period to do this post. The point is, even with routine you sometimes have to be flexible.
Bring Your A-Game
A routine is worthless if you are just slogging through the steps. This is going through the motions and the results will be about as impressive as your effort. And while I would never encourage anyone to confuse effort with results, bringing your A-game is all about focus, intention, and attention (yes these are three different things).
Focus
To focus on something means having a single mind. Close your other browser tabs (okay, I have a few open myself), turn off your Outlook, and kill the Tweet Deck. You can live for 1-hour without being totally Connected. If it is really important they will call (unless you’ve killed the phone too).
By turning off distractions (kids don’t always fall neatly into this – see improvising, above) you will be better suited to complete what you set out to do. When I used to train kung fu my cell phone got turned off and that hour on the floor was all I paid attention to. Focus can be achieved by some very simple tactics and the payoff will be that you are faced with your single challenge.
A caveat – some of us don’t like to be faced with a single challenge because that means we’ve got to ship (as Seth Godin says). That is why so many of us “multi-task” b/c you can’t fail at something if you’ve got too much on your plate, right? Wrong. Taking on too much can be your first step at failure. Know your limits and simplify by focusing on one thing at a time.
Intention
A lot of times on the kung fu floor I’d do a move. My teacher would say, “that was crap.” He would tell me I lacked intention, my punch had no real power, and to do anything I had picture myself driving my fist through the target and following it up with a series of attacks (it was never a 1-punch deal).
Blogs and business moves that lack intention are also crap. Intention means infusing an outcome in what you are doing. It requires a series of attacks to reach the goal and is seldom achieved by a single move.
Have an idea about what your post, meeting, or email will accomplish. Don’t do empty business moves. Things like a solid list, an agenda, and short emails that get to the point will help in this area.
Attention
Why is Apple my favorite company in the world (along with a lot of other people too)? It’s not because their products are cheap (you’d do better to invest in their stock than buy their products), but they have a commitment to excellence that just makes everything they do fanboy worthy.
This is what I mean by attention. It’s in the details. This is something I fall WAY short on. Every review I’ve had in corporate America has told me I am great at the big picture and need to focus on details. It’s a lesson I’m still learning.
When I think of kung fu, I focused on details. Holding my butterfly swords perfectly while executing a spin through the air (doing it half assed would have meant a serious gash on the leg), sitting in a foundation training stance called “horse stance” for 1-hour (doing this wrong can blow out your knees), and side stepping incoming punches before launching an attack from the outside – these are all examples of where I paid attention to and executed on the details.
We are all capable of excellence. It just takes attention and willingness to do things right. It also means recognizing mistakes early and fixing them before thinking your work is finished. Some ideas here are having someone proof read you work (or proof reading it yourself), doing quarterly reviews of your progress against your next three months of plans, and having checklists that relate to targets you’ve set for yourself.
Kung Fu Dad
As of this writing I must admit my kung fu routines are memories. Since graduating law school, working long hours, and having kids I fell out of step with my old good habits. Also, my goals have changed – I’m not that young kid anymore going to clubs and trying to protect myself in a fight.
Still, I’d like to get back to a kung fu routine. It only takes getting my butt out of the chair, setting some reasonable goals, and dedicating some time each day to do the work. Today’s as good a day as any to start – I’ll let you know how it goes.
So how are you sticking to routines? Are you using them? If so, what advice would give to people who are having trouble with theirs?