A Coaching Power Tool created by Cristina Kampe
(Life Coach, LUXEMBOURG)
It’s a hard thing to leave any deeply routine life, even if you hate it.
John Steinbeck
According to the TheFreeDictionary.com, the definition of ROUTINE is:
- A prescribed, detailed course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure.
- A set of customary and often mechanically performed procedures or activities.
- In accord with established procedure, habitual, regular.
Establishing structures is very beneficial in order to make things function. Routine itself can be a helpful instrument because doing the same thing, we are guaranteed to obtain the same results, there is no risk involved and we are on reliable ground. However, performing the same procedure again and again, in the same way, stops us from improving, from increasing efficiency, from finding alternative ways/faster ways of getting things done, it also stops us from obtaining different results. There is nothing new, nothing challenging, nothing creative, nothing that differs. Blindly and mechanically following an established process will stop us from growing, from moving on, from learning news things. Routine can make us stand still, it will tie us down.
Have you ever felt trapped in a safe and secure pattern? Yes, I know! You feel secure and comfortable: waking up at the same hour, going to the same job, doing the same routine every day, going for lunch at exactly 1pm, taking a coffee and returning to finish the afternoon reports. You look outside your window and you see that same bus stop across your building every 15 min. At 5 pm you stand up, you take your bag and you come back home to your kids, you do the evening routine and then after the kids are asleep, you watch a bit TV and you go to bed yourself.
Everything is very predictable. It feels safe, it feels familiar. You know exactly what it is going to happen tomorrow. Routine is extremely seductive, you have the benefit of the steady paychecks, structure is already put in place, everything is functional, you don’t need to make any extra effort, there is no risk involved and your existence is secured.
You are already an expert at achieving the same result. Following the same path, in 20 years you might be in the same office, surrounded by the same people, typing the same numbers in your computer and producing the same reports day after day, month after month, year after year.
Your family and friends appreciate you, you are a respectable member of your community. Your monotonous life is exactly how it was expected to be. You’ve been told it is the right thing to do, but do you feel it is the right thing? Do you feel happy? Do you feel free? Fulfilled? Do you feel alive? Do you feel you live up to your full potential? Do you truly listen to your heart?
If the answer is a resounding YES then please continue to do exactly what you are doing! But if you feel bored, stuck, limited, disappointed and unfulfilled then maybe it’s time to let go to of being on safe ground. Maybe the time has come for you to break free from your limitations, from your restrained and confined life.
You have the freedom to draw your own unique path. You are an unique person, there will be no one else in this world quite like you and the best path you could ever follow is your own path, a path that is designed by you, especially for you, nothing pre-set and imposed by family, friends or society.
What are you really afraid of? What holds you back? Are you afraid of the unknown? Are you afraid of failure? Are you afraid that things won’t work out? Are you afraid of leaving the comfort zone, that zone that is functional and proved to be working perfectly?
We spend so much time playing it safe, we ignore our hearts because we are afraid of what will happen if we really follow our heart, if we really allow ourselves to dream. The truth is that following our dreams can be risky, it requires embracing the unknown and the unknown can be a scary thing.
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
According to the TheFreeDictionary.com, the definition of CHANGE is:
- The act, process, or result of altering or modifying.
- The replacing of one thing for another; substitution.
- A transformation or transition from one state, condition, or phase to another.
Change is based on continuous transformation, it requires flexibility and adaptability. When you are in the change zone, you will have to face situations that you never met before, you will have to adapt to demanding conditions that might come upon you. Modifying/transforming/changing requires a high degree of stretching, sweating, struggling. It may require increased reaction time and quick decision making. Change might pressure you to learn new things, new behaviors. Change is uneven, unstable, it can bring us in a place of unbalance, a place of insecurity, a place of making effort. Change can be painful, it can create a big deal of discomfort, it requires courage to initiate and essentially it is something we tend to avoid and procrastinate because changing things doesn’t guarantee success. Change can bring you anywhere, you must be ready to arrive in an uncertain situation, in a place which might be far from where you have imagined. You must be also ready to face the worst-case scenario and overall you must be willing to act without knowing what the outcome will be.