Routine makes you a machine

Newness grows dendrites, making you go to new heights..routine makes you a machine… stay keen, create. stay unforseen and DON’T be a machine!

Hi, and welcome to The Journey Never Ends.

Today, we're going to talk about routine.

In my opinion, routine makes you a machine.

So a long time ago, I read a book.

something called like moonwalking with Einstein, the art of remembering everything.

And I started reading it because I was on a rabbit hole to understand what is intelligence.

And this book talked about the concept of intelligence being memory.

And so it's the journey of this guy to start remembering everything in competing.

And I believe he actually won a memory contest.

What's interesting about this is that I went into another rabbit hole about what is

memory and what is life?

Again, I get a little philosophical here.

And I realized that it's very important to have novel experiences.

And while routine is a very important foundation for stability,

for discipline,

for living your life,

if you do too much routine things,

my opinion,

philosophically,

your life is shorter.

Let me talk a little bit about that.

You're probably very confused, but let me ask you this.

Did you remember locking your front door today when you went to the store or went to work?

Probably not.

Did you do it?

Absolutely.

Do you do this every day?

Yes, hopefully.

It's part of your routine.

So my understanding is what happens when you do a lot of routine things is you kind

of black out.

your mind and body just say, hey, this is just something I do.

This isn't worth remembering.

That can happen for a lot of other things.

If you go to work,

do the same thing every day,

take the same route to your favorite restaurant that you go to every day,

et cetera.

So contrary to that, if you do something novel, you'll remember it better.

And I think this is because

It's a different neural network that hits your brain.

And your brain is like, huh, that's different.

And so you remember it as opposed to your brain going through the same cycle of routine.

Why does this matter when it comes to life?

Well,

when you're on your deathbed,

which people don't like to think about,

but that's the end game and it's pretty important.

You supposedly have your memories and your life flashed before your eyes.

Do you think when you're on your deathbed, you're going to remember locking your front door?

No, you're not.

Are you going to remember your, um, your route that you take to your favorite restaurant?

No.

Are you going to remember that meal that you eat every day at your favorite restaurant?

Absolutely not.

You're going to remember the time that you had an experience that was unique.

You're going to remember the novelty.

So again,

this comes into philosophical thought that the less routine you have,

the more novelty you have,

the more memories you have,

and that life is a compilation of your memories.

Pretty deep, right?

That's how I roll.

So this has been a difficult concept for me because I'm bipolar and a number one

stabilizing activity you can do when you have bipolar disorder is routine.

Not only do I struggle with routine because of my consistency with my moods,

but I also don't really like it.

When I was 23, I was very intentional.

about not doing a routine.

I actually was very upset when I was 23 because nobody likes you when you're 23.

And yes, that was a blink one 82 reference for any of my millennials out there.

So no one likes you when you're 23, they say you have no experience.

So on the flip side of saying,

Hey,

I have more life because I have more novel experiences and more memories and

I also have more experiences.

I have more knowledge.

So I specifically thought to myself, man, no one takes me seriously.

I have no experiences.

How can I have more experiences and be taken seriously?

And part of this was to never get stagnant.

And also I learned a lot through the millions of jobs I had.

So we'll talk about that in another episode.

but really the concept of not having a routine was an intentional

construct that worked for me.

And it sometimes works,

but I'm constantly working to create a routine that isn't monotonous,

a routine that I can still modify.

So you might be thinking, okay, well, you were intentional about creating novelty.

What did you do practically, pragmatically?

Um,

I focused on doing something different every day,

being mindful and doing something different mindfully.

For instance,

if I always eat eggs for breakfast,

maybe I want to do something like avocado toast one day.

When I go to work, maybe I take a different route.

When I get dressed, maybe I try a different style.

When I do my makeup, maybe I use a new color I'm not used to.

So again, it's the focus on doing a little bit different.

I do believe that there is value in having a routine that provides foundational

stability to you.

And I've gotten a little bit better with that,

which really helps me be compliant with my medication and have stability.

That being said, I still am very spontaneous and I like it that way.

I'm very fluid.

And at the end of the day,

I think that I might be a little too fluid,

but I think that quote unquote normal people,

they're a little bit too rigid.

So again, as I mentioned, you can learn something from anyone that's mentally ill and

Learn from me and know that there's a balance to having novel experiences,

being intentional about these novel experiences,

but having a foundation of routine.

This way you can live a stable and quote unquote longer life.

You will have more memories.

You will have a longer flash of your life when you die and

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast.

That's all for today.

Thank you for listening.

Much love.