We’re creatures of habit. Things like rituals and routines are commonplace in the world productivity and personal development. Why? Because they offer a framework to be productive and a simple recipe for results.
And they work for almost everybody—just not for me.
That’s at least how I always used to feel. After all, repetition and monotony drive me crazy. The confines of a specific daily routine sounded suffocating and a repetitive schedule seemed mind-numbing.
But then July 2014 happened and everything changed…
To say that it was a busy month is a gross understatement.
I was right in the middle of launching a self-designed website for my new online coaching business. I was right at the end of my college career, finishing a few final classes before graduation. And I was right at the beginning of a book deal, which stipulated the rough draft of my cookbook be submitted on the first of August.
There I was, a college kid finishing up his degree, launching a business, and writing a book. During summer. Most of my friends were off doing summertime things—enjoying warm breezes, barbecues, bonfires, and memory making.
But not me. I was in sitting in my room, usually dark, with a silenced phone face down on my desk, staring at my computer screen.
It was July. And it was crunch time.
Rituals, Routines, Habits: Untapped Productive Power
Don’t worry, I still had a life. Well, sort of.
Every day at 6:00 pm, an alarm called “Life…?” would go off and remind me to go have a life. I listened (most of the time).
It was one of several alarms I used to structure my day. Under normal circumstances, I’d be worried about the monotonous repetition of a strictly structured schedule. But with how much I needed to get done, these circumstances were far from normal.
There was too much happening. I had to create a routine.
So I did. And every day looked exactly the same:
5:00 am – Wake up and read.
7:00 am – Finish reading and start writing.
~ 10:00 am – Start to lose mind, take a break, go to class, head to the gym.
~ 12:30 pm – Cook food and eat breakfast, listening to podcasts for fitness businesses.
~ 2:00 pm – Finish showering and start working (writing) again.
6:00 pm – “Life…?” This usually meant getting out of the house, coming back home an hour or two later, and cooking myself dinner.
10:30 pm – Sleep.
Every. Single. Day.
Was it repetitive? Yup. Did I feel like a robot most days? Definitely. Was I productive? Like you wouldn’t believe.
Over the course of that month, I averaged finishing over a book a week, listened to 45+ hours of game-changing talks and interviews about building fitness businesses, crushed my last few classes before graduation, launched an immediately profitable online coaching business, designed the associated website, and wrote a book.
A freaking book.
Never had I been so productive. Ever. But the thing that’s more impressive than a laundry list of what I did is how I managed to make it all happen:
Ritual, routine, habit.
Originally, I thought a monotonous environment of repetition would feel stifling. But I loved the structure. And it ultimately led to overwhelming progress.
The powerful productivity that comes with good routines and habits can be universally applied. When I leveraged them for that crazy-busy July, I achieved more than I ever thought possible.
You can see similarly amazing success in fitness by using the same principle.
Habitual Eating, Healthy Eating
We’re naturally habitual eaters. Most of us have a surprisingly short list of foods we regularly eat—dominated by about five or six staples.
The healthier your habits are, the healthier you’ll be.
Good habits mean progress. Bad habits don’t. One of the simplest things you can do to be more successful with your fitness goals is improve your rituals, routines, and habits surrounding food. Because consistency.
Habitual eating naturally happens—to an extent. Be it because of personal preference, what’s available, what’s affordable, or specific goals, you’ll have a handful of foods you wind up eating most of the time. These are the foods you’ll consistently have in the house, the foods you’ll consistently eat, and the foods that’ll make or break your progress.
When these foods are conducive of your goals, you’re much more likely to make meaningful progress. With that in mind, do this:
Pick five or six healthful foods you love to be your staples.
Make sure the list is well-rounded with a variety of proteins, veggies, and fruit. Then eat those five or six things consistently—habitually.
How to Eat the Same Things Without Getting Sick of Them
Variety is the spice of life. In the kitchen, variety literally comes from seasonings and spices. Even when eating habitually, you can (and should) enjoy a variety of delicious flavor.
Without something to break up the routine or mix up the habit, you’ll lose your mind.
Even while following that strict July schedule, I had—needed—a way to avoid mind-numbing repetition. If I didn’t have intentional daily variety at six o’clock, that month wouldn’t have been as successful.
The same principle applies to your nutrition…
Consistently eating the same things will help you leverage healthy habits to make amazing progress. And you can do it without getting sick of your diet.
Similar foods don’t necessarily mean similar flavor. One of my favorite ways to add variety is with dry rubs. Here’s a go-to dry rub recipe:
Spice Up Your Food Life with This Ridiculously Simple Dry Rub Recipe
This is good on just about anything, but my favorite is slapping it on a big hunk of pork or beef tenderloin, crusting it with a nice sear, and then finishing it off in the oven.
Ingredients:
– Salt
– Pepper
– Chile Powder (or paprika if you don’t like spicy foods)
– Coffee (or Pero if you’re like me and don’t do coffee)
Steps:
1. Mix roughly equal parts of each ingredient.
2. That’s it.
Use this dry rub recipe to spice up your life in the kitchen by generously rubbing it onto chicken, beef, or pork.