Routine
Daily, weekly, monthly, recurring activities, the routine. Its all about consistency, building habits and sustaining them, but what happens when a routine is skipped?
Nothing, at first.
The other day I was happily working on a project when I was asked to build a new commission, but there was a catch. The deadline was the end of the month. Tight for me, but doable as long as I paused my current project and pivoted immediately.
Parts were whisked away to make room for wood fresh from the lumberyard and a merry woodworker who was high off that sweet sale of new work whistled his way into the first phase of the project only to have a little pain cloud this sunny day.
“It’s okay,” I thought. “This is simply physical exhaustion from processing these 30 pound boards. Shake it off and it’ll get better.”
So I buried those feelings and took some ibuprofen before starting an enjoyable task, hand planing. But for some reason the plane was off. The cutters were chattering and the plane wasn’t cutting clean. Compounding my frustration were my sore feet slipping around on the concrete.
So I stepped back, wiping the sweat from by brow, and looked around.
The floor was covered in piles of wood dust, causing my shoes to lose their grip. The wood of my workbench wasn’t even visible under the scattered chisels, hammers, and squares. All through the shop was a thin layer of fine dust, taking flight with the slightest turbulence.
The weight of the mess was sinking my mood and causing frustration, all because I broke routine. As one project ends I always clean up before starting the next, but my last project never ended. I was left with processes mixed, tools intermingling, and sawdust everywhere.
There was only one thing to do. Halt work and clean. Return tools to their homes. Sweep piles of dust and sort through offcuts.
But I couldn’t stop there. The fine dust is impossible to collect.
So up went the garage door and out came the leaf blower, ready to blast every surface, nook, and cranny.
Routine complete resulting in a renewed and refreshed space, plus a shower and change of clothes, brightened my mood and motivated me to get back to work.
Skipping my end of project routine caused me unintended pain. I tried to push through but that aggravated the situation. In the moment I didn’t realize it, but a quick step back helped me see the problem for what it was.
Chaos which was throwing off the little things, easily rectified by a routine I established years ago as a way to solve this problem.
So next time you’re in a similar situation, faced with frustration you can’t shake, do the same. Take a step back and assess why. What is causing you this pain? Then fix it, find a way to add the fix to your routine and next time you’ll avoid the problem before it starts.