I remember years ago hating routines of any kind. Yep, it was one of my rebellions against anyone who had tried to place a routine in my life. Teachers, parents, anyone. Yep, I was young and somewhat foolish at the time. And, I confess, a rebel at heart.

As I matured I realised some kind of routine served me well. However, it was of a minimal nature as I still perceived routines to be bad.

As far as discipline was concerned though I still thought that was way, way worse than routine. So, logically if I couldn’t handle much routine in my life I sure wasn’t up for trying to discipline myself.

Fast forward a few years to owning my hospitality business. Routine was paramount to the smooth running of that operation. I learned that lesson very quickly. Routines became my friend. So much so that I sought to put structures in place to support the routines so that the routines could run regardless of which staff members were working on any particular day. Structures and routines served me well in that situation.

Fast forward to running my businesses from home. Again routines were not welcomed by me. I enjoyed being free of the routines that structured and ran my life prior to selling my hospo business. My days rolled into each other. Apart from client appointments I pretty much did whatever I felt like doing. Did that serve me well? No, no and no. It certainly did not serve me well.

My belief that routines and discipline were bad actually worked against me in building my business. I found I was spinning, treading water. Not getting to where I wanted to go.

A huge lesson was coming for me.

Once I put structures in place everything started to change. Yes, it really is true when they say that structures give you freedom.

But my most important lesson was when I decided to be more disciplined in applying my structures to my day. It’s something I’m still learning to be more ruthlessly committed to. It’s early days yet, but being more disciplined is making a huge difference for me and my business.

If you like what you’ve read and want to hear more, I’d love for you to join my community