Routines and habits influence our behaviour in any case.
We all know that thinking flows inside our minds, and only our actions are known to the public. And they judge our personalities in the context of those actions.
While talking about our behaviours, we refer to routines and habits, though they convey different meanings and separate sets of actions. Sometimes they overlap.
If some action is our habit, we perform it very easily with little or no attention. We take a shower. It is a habit. Water flows, and we get our bath completed without missing anything. It is effortless.
If we are sitting down to write something and prepare a note, we need our full attention. It is not a habit, but a routine. It needs effort and attention.
Thus, the amount of attention is one of the important factors that makes a distinction between routine and habit, as said in the examples above.
When we skip some daily action, we feel something is missing. The boot is not polished in the morning. We feel it because it is our habit now. It took time to locate the key to lock the door because the key was not kept in a fixed place. It is a habit. Thus, not having a habit makes us uncomfortable at that moment.
We do not feel uncomfortable while skipping a routine like going for a morning walk or doing laundry on Sunday. These are the routines, and we do them intentionally. Routines are patterns of tasks that we do repeatedly. We plan for it but skip it when the option is available or excuses are ready.
In other words, we can say that the subconscious mind drives habits, and the conscious mind is required to do routines. However, new routines and desirable habits can be formed regardless of age and kind of engagement, provided we insist on changing our behaviours.
When we enjoy our tasks, routines are swiftly transformed into habits. An artist gets a good night’s sleep after completing a piece of work because he enjoys it. It is his habit now. At the learning stage, he was not inclined because it was a routine imposed by the trainer at that time.
A routine takes deliberate and pointed efforts. It is done even if we are not willing to do a particular task. We also avoid routines because they sap the joy of comfortable living in general. Simply being awake causes us to take our phones into our hands. It is a bad habit, as there is no purpose behind it. Anyone can examine it.
Common routines that require the least effort are most likely to become habits. Here also, not all routines need to be formed into habits, like preparing a lecture to be delivered the next day.
On the other hand, we get easily exhausted after coming back from work. We do it because no better option is visible. Such tasks are hard to convert into habits, even after doing them for years and even decades. In essence, it is to the killers of growth that it applies.
The aggregate of routines and habits shapes our behaviours and endeavours to achieve what we plan to achieve. When a person carries more negative traits, he or she is usually a non-performer. So we must take care of our routines and habits, and all efforts need to be directed to lessen the bad ones and boost the good ones.
"The unexplained life is not worth living" (Socrates).
Our habits are borne out of routines, and routines also move to become habits. Once habits are formed, we save our time and energy for other assignments, like learning new skills. We don’t think every day about how to drive a car or how to get regular papers at the workplace. They are now habits. The point is to break bad habits and get rid of lengthy routines. It is feasible, and it is in our control.
"Turn your wounds into wisdom". Oprah Winfrey
We suffer largely because of our carelessness. We have no time to correct ourselves. We don’t know how to shift our paradigms. We don’t care even if days and days are consumed in social formalities. We are cursing the circumstances, not creating them. We are not climbing to see the beauty of life.
Learn to grow with what we have and can have and not to grieve for what is beyond us at this juncture.