I believe that most of our parents taught us to follow certain routines in life. Even as an adult you have a certain routine you follow from getting out of bed in the morning until you arrive at work. We also see sports people often following certain routines before kicking at the posts, before going down in the blocks for a 100m race, doing a pole vault or before a scuba dive.
Routines and habits
We also form certain habits that sometimes just make life more comfortable; like me loving to make me a cup of coffee before I sit down in front of the computer to write.
These routines and habits provide some comfort and security at times when we are often stretched to the maximum. It helps us to focus on what lies ahead. Our routines and habits may help us to stay focused when our circumstances or emotions may be unsettling.
But there is also a flipside to our routines and habits. If you have bad habits, the damage is usually only visible when it’s too late to do something about it.
The longer you practice good habits in a positive, disciplined and focused manner, the greater the chance that your future will be positive. The longer you stick to bad habits, the more likely your future will be negative.
Excellent habits
Your daily habits will determine the outcome of your life. The secret of your success is to be found in your daily program.
Successful people do not float to success. People who realize big dreams don’t do it by accident.
Aristotle said “We are what we do repeatedly. Excellence is not an act, but a habit. ”
# Set in your ways?
But although our routines / habits / patterns may ease our day to day existence, it can also stifle the way in which we approach life. Sometimes as we get older we may get so set in our ways that if our pattern of routines or habits gets disturbed, we may all of a sudden experience anxiety or fear because things feel out of control.
The biggest difference between the 21st century and the previous centuries is the rate at which everything will happen. If you do not constantly challenge and change your own patterns, you will not be able to stand.
In the time we live, our securities are continually challenged in a world that is constantly changing. Formerly, people worked at one company for a lifetime and their job security (with all its routines / habits / patterns) gave them stability in their lives.
Job security – Something that no longer exists
The problem with your job giving you stability in your life, your stability lies outside of yourself and should you lose your job, the stability is gone.
Nowadays job security virtually no longer exists and your work is therefore a false security.
That is why it is necessary to know the real source of stability in our lives.
Stability should rather be within ourselves. If your stability is within yourself, you can proceed more easily in the midst of all the uncertainty and change in the world.
Steven Covey says in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People that we need a
changeless core within ourselves
to enable us to cope with the continual changes we experience in life.
I believe there is one true “changeless core” that will always give stability to those who believe; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Heb 13:8) His will is “… that we should no longer be … tossed to and fro and carried about …” (Eph 4:14)
If your job security is threatened and you feel insecure about the way forward, start by getting to know yourself. A Career Direct Assessment is the best place to start. It will not only show who you are, but will also point you in the right direction.
Click here to enrol for the Business by the Book Course on 23 – 24 August at the Val de Vie Polo Estate in Paarl. Watch the video and display advert below for more information.
Also tune in to my radio program “Jy die Entrepreneur” Monday evenings at 20:00 and Saturdays 12:30 on Radio Namakwaland www.934fm.co.za.
