Being Consistent but breaking Routine. What?

 

This week, I want to talk about something I was discussing with some of my friends the other day. It's an important topic, and I don't think it gets talked about often. What I want to discuss today, is the idea of consistency and routine, and how breaking routine might also be beneficial to us as humans.

In sports, and more generally in life, I genuinely believe consistency to be the key to success. One of the things my fencing coach always reminds us of is that we need to train towards progress and not towards results. What he means by this, is that our focus as athletes should be on self-improvement and not on winning tournaments. If you can train to improve your speed, explosiveness, point control, technique, and tactics in fencing, then the results will surely follow. The main things that make someone successful in life as my coach believes, are discipline, effort, and loving the fight. Now I don't intend on discussing and giving a detailed lecture on how to be successful, as I am myself, still trying to figure it out. However, what I do want to focus on, is the role that consistency and more specifically routine have in our lives.

I'm going to make the following claim, and I really don't think there is anyone that will disagree with it. One of the key factors of success is consistency. If we look at the top international fencers, or even the best United States fencers, people I'm trying to compete against, and we analyze their tournament results, I think that it is obvious that the best fencers have similar results throughout their competing season. They might place in the top eight at every single tournament they compete at. This I think is a better result than placing first at one tournament, and never doing well at another tournament. Why do I say this, well like in life and sports, there are times in fencing when we lose bouts we should win, and when we win bouts we should probably have lost, this is simply the nature of luck and competition. But it is the top athletes that are able to overcome the challenges they face and obtain consistent results.

But how do they accomplish this? Well, they simply have a set routine, they wake up at the same time every day, they have a strict diet and meal plan, they follow a scheduled training regime, they go to be at the same time every night, and they follow their routine towards success. This is how you achieve consistency in life. 

So by now, you are probably thinking the following "Ok this is all very cool, but what does the image have to do with what you are saying?" And let me tell you it has a lot to do with it. I will say this again, I believe in routine and consistency, but I also think that every once in a while we need to break the routine in order to recharge and become better. Now, this is not a novel idea, I mean if we go back to my example with the athletes and we look at their training schema, even though they have a set training schedule, they break the routine by switching up the exercises, maybe doing some fun training drill from time to time. In fencing sometimes we do team fencing, or some different exercises, this allows us to continue our routine without becoming bored. 

Well, that is a picture of a very beautiful place here in Texas. Lost Maples is a gorgeous State Natural Area, and that is how I break my routine. During the week all I basically do is workout, work as a software developer, and fence. So during the weekends, I like to do fun computer science projects, play videogames, watch movies, hang out with friends and appreciate nature, God's free gift to humans. I think that especially during the Covid-19 Quarantine where we have all been mostly stuck at home for about 7 months now, we need to find ways to break our routine so that we can fuel up again and keep being consistent. Just something to think about, and keep being great. If you ever get the chance, go and check out the Lost Maples Park. here are a few pictures of my adventures there.