“Step one of becoming a millionaire is to make a million dollars.”
–Steve Martin

Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it?

I feel as if a lot of the keys to success are packaged pretty neatly. So neatly, in fact, that it makes it difficult for me to understand why I cannot grasp them.

I want certainty. I want to know that if I do “X”, then I will receive “Y”. I want life’s little instruction book to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I want to know that after I perform certain tasks, then certain things will occur, and I will be given a certain amount of wealth, health, happiness, and joy. I want to know exactly when and where to perform these specific actions, in order to be awarded with specific things.

I often get so wrapped up in the idea of living life according to the advice of the world around me, I feel uncertain when I don’t conform.

“In order to be successful, you must establish a routine.”

I hear that so often. I understand the benefits of routine, but it seems like it is a bit over-simplified. I think there is more to it than just that.

I have a had a lot of routines throughout the course of my life. In high school, I routinely skipped first period and ate sausage biscuits in the parking lot. In college, I routinely stayed up eight hours later than I planned, and slept ten hours longer than I intended. As an adult, I routinely woke up at 6a.m., mixed vodka with my coffee, slammed a few percocet, and began cramming Marlboro lights down my throat, while getting my workday started.

I guess my point is that routine is only as good, so far as it works. It’s easy for me to get caught up in the idea of a routine because of the certainty that it provides. Often, I get caught up in the idea that there is such benefit in establishing a routine that I don’t realize that my routine is not making me happy. I have been guilty of accepting a mundane existence, simply because it was familiar and predictable. If I am routinely doing the same thing, day in and day out, and nothing new is coming about in my life, then maybe my routine sucks. If I am following a strict pattern, each and every morning, and each afternoon I am routinely tired, cranky, uninspired, and ill-tempered, maybe it’s best for me to break stride.

I routinely want for new and exciting things to be happening in my life. I think that in order for me to allow these things to happen, I need to routinely break up the monotony of my routine.

I’m going to go make my bed, brush my teeth, and take a shower….after that, we will see what happens.

It’s gonna be a good day.

Peace, Love, and all things Beef related,

Beefcake