Can Having a Daily Routine Really Increase Business Success?

Routine. Boring? Or is having a daily routine necessary for business success?

A lot of people are under the idea that “visionaries” – a category in which many entrepreneurs fall – abhor routine. After all, visionaries have to be inspired to do their best work, right? Furthermore, they have to be able to follow wherever that inspiration leads, whenever it leads there. Right?

 

Sure, maybe visionaries – and entrepreneurs – need inspiration at times. But is that what really drives their business or organization forward, and toward, success?

 

A recent article in Inc.com magazine titled, “Why the Most Successful Creatives Love Daily Routine,” by Damon Brown, says, “No.” It points to the fact that some of the most successful creatives that our time has ever known, Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, rely and thrive on a specific, daily, routine.

 

The article explains that there are two reasons for the success-generating power of routine:

1. The power of habit
2. The power of energy

 

What is the power of habit?

 

There is something we have discussed before called, “decision fatigue.” [https://swypit.com/a-different-kind-of-fatigue-the-impact-of-decision-fatigue-on-business/] Decision fatigue can incredibly thwart success because our somewhat-limited brainpower gets tied up or even depleted making even minor decisions throughout a day.

 

Alternately, when we create a structure for our day that we can follow, we eliminate some of the menial decisions and reserve that creativity and brainpower for areas of our business where it’s really needed. This could be for dreaming up new products or services that solve customer or client problems, solving an internal issue, analytics or budgeting, and more. You know… the things that require you to be at your entrepreneurial and creative best to drive your business to greater results.

 

What is the power of energy?

 

Similar to the above, having a routine lets us retain energy that would otherwise be spent on those menial decisions. Remember Steve Job’s wardrobe of jeans and black turtlenecks? For such a creative genius, that doesn’t seem very creative, does it?

 

Yet, Jobs never had to waste time – or energy – on figuring out what he would wear each day. And for Jobs, did what he was wearing really impact or affect the success of Apple?

 

Now, that’s not to say that all career professionals – especially if you are an employee of someone else – have that level of freedom in attire. However, there are inevitably things that every single one of us can alter or adjust in our daily lives so that they become “routine”—reserving our valuable energy for other areas that need our best focus. owe

 

For example, what if you plan your lunch hour to be the same every day? This would likely keep you focused on your tasks before “lunch hour” so that the time spent would be more productive.

 

What if you blocked your time for specific projects every day or week? While this might seem like it would significantly stifle creativity or inventiveness, studies show this not to be the case. In fact, over time, it is very likely this would help you be more creative for that specific task, within that specific time. But that’s a whole other article.

 

The crux of all of this seems to be routine helps us be more successful in business because it takes our focus and energy off things that don’t really matter to that goal, freeing it up for the things that do. Where can you implement a routine today, or this week, or this month, so that you can give more of your brainpower to navigating and driving your business or organizational results?