# Routine and Analysis By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-09-17 Routines establish expectations. These expectations are mental, physical, and social. Having breakfast at 7 am every morning sets the physical expectation of our body to have food, the mental expectation of time to eat and read the news, and the social expectation of eating a meal [[together]]. These expectations alleviate decision fatigue and allow us to expend [[energy]] elsewhere. Deciding what to do is often one of the most energy-expensive tasks because the options are nearly endless. If you know that you'll eat breakfast every day, then you do not need to expend energy wondering when the optimal time to eat may be. Oddly enough, your body, your mind, and those around you respond in kind to accept this. Your body will exhibit hunger at 7 am, your mind will expect to read the news, and everyone will engage in the ritual of having a meal together. Routines are a powerful force that can propel one forward with little thought. The question is what routine will propel you towards the progress you wish to make? For [[Don't Overthink This]], we've decided to set a routine to write 20 minutes each day on whatever topic comes to mind. It's been about a month and my entire being now expects and looks forward to writing for 20 minutes. There are times when I sit down with the desire to write, but with nothing to write about it. However, 20 minutes later I'm looking at paragraphs of content that emerged out of nowhere. My body expects to spend time doing this, people expect me to do this, and then my mind just comes up with things to write about with very little conscious energy expended. This routine has created conditions that not only result in productivity but also creativity. I do not know if I could consciously sit down and come up with the creative posts I have so far. We often think of creativity as a mindful and intentional task. We see the great works of individuals and assume that they created a masterpiece because they intended to make that masterpiece. I think many of them chose a routine, followed it again and again, and then the masterpiece emerged. No one sees the thousands of hours and failures. We only see the curated outcomes and nearly all masters, whether artists or philosophers, had a routine of work that helped propel them forward. To become a world-class analyst, what routine should one follow? What will allow for creativity, discovery, contemplation, understanding, and the synthesis of something new while responding to the needs of today to pay the bills? Consider the following as a starting point. Start the day [[An Interestingly Inefficient Workforce|freely exploring the problem]] at the top of your mind for a few hours. This is whatever problem strikes you as interesting and essential. Take a [[Fika|break]] and say hello to your colleagues. Dive back into that problem until lunch. Have lunch and go for a walk. After the walk, perform the less creative tasks of work such as responding to emails, attending meetings, and [[consulting]] with decision-makers. Take a break and say hello to your colleagues. End the day by closing open business items, scheduling future meetings, and checking in with your team. Have dinner and intentionally ignore work until the next work day. Repeat every work day and I expect something good will happen. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Routine]] [[Rituals]] [[Creative]] [[Business]]