In Defense of Routines

In defense of routines that are not created as just substitutes, here are a couple of routines I have been developing in the last few months that are actually making my life a little better.

Morning routine

I start winding down by 9:30 PM, no electronic devices from this point on (writing the blog post is the only exception)
In bed by 10:30 PM and I read one of three books at my bed side table
Wake up naturally without an alarm at around 6:30 AM
Wash my face and drink an entire glass of water
Take Olive for a walk
Make a smoothie / omlette
Scoop the cat litter
Jump in the shower and off to work
Note: no time allocated for checking social media

Gym routine

Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings are gym days (I want to add a 4th day later).
Drive to the gym, 20 mins
Warm up on a cardio machine, 5 mins
Interval cardio, 90 sec of high rev, 30 sec of low rev... repeat till I can't do it any more, which is about 20 min at this time
Weight circuit, this is designed with 10 machines and 10 aerobic step exercises, done alternately over 30 mins
Stretch for 10 mins
Drive home, 20 mins

I am staying midfull of diversions from this routine. I let diversions happen. If they seem like a good idea, I include them in the routine. I do the same to take things off the routine. The intent is to be only as rigid to develop a habit but still flexible to let it improve.

My friend Chuck recommended a Saturday routine that I will explore in the next few weeks.

What routines do you have that you really like?

Challenge the Tracking

I wrote about baby steps and tracking a few days ago. I should probably specify that the most important part of that tracking exercise is what we are tracking. To find out, we must challenge the thing we decided to track...validate the new thing to track if any, then challenge it again.

Is that thing we are tracking the right thing?
Should we be tracking another thing?

This is similar to the don't know mind that zen masters teach. We start down a path and get too much vested in that path. We get cocky. We forget to ask, "does this still make sense"? We start protecting our ego. The objective shifts from the quality of the path to the quality of us. And we want to protect the quality of us.

I am tracking my food intake in an app that tracks carbs, fats and proteins. My focus is on carbs.
Is that focus enough?
Is it the right thing to focus on?
What about the quality of carbs I am consuming?
What about proteins and fats?
When should I start exercising more?
Should I stay with my gym or should I join a group focused gym?

Lots of questions...

The First Baby-Step

My wife and I recently joined a gym. We want to hike more often and want to be in better shape for that. I decided to start controlling my diet to compliment the workouts we have been doing. I tend to eat unhealthy. Often.

My first step was not to cut out all junk food. This would be a disaster. I would hate this eathing-healthy thing when my junk food cravings would hit. Negative reinforcement does not work. It would make me more likely to fall off the wagon. I have to want to cut out junk food.

My first step was to start measuring what I eat. Fried chicken and fries for lunch, a bowl of ice cream after dinner, Dr. Pepper with my burger, pasta and garlic breads...everything. But only measure. Nothing more. Use the options available in the app I downloaded. I don't fuss with the app to get everything just right at this stage. Close enough is ok. I am just tracking at this time. Goals will be set later. The baby step is the tracking.

This almost always works for other cases too. Say you want to control your spending. Start tracking it first. If you fail, try tracking another way till you find a way that works. Then start making changes to your spending habits. This worked for me. It took me two years to find a way to track my spending that actually worked.

Without tracking, you are throwing darts in the dark.

Tracking my food is already working. I have avoided sodas last week.