I love what I used to hate - routines and templates
I love what I used to hate
In kindergarten, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and, as is common with dyslexia, thereafter diagnosed with ADD. My mind would come to conclusions faster than I could articulate what was happening. It was very hard for me to show my work in math, write linear arguments, or stick to schedules, routines, or templates. All of these processes felt like heavy chains around me as I went through school. At some point, in despair, I began to hate them. My mom wisely told me that I should never go into administration.
God has a funny sense of humor. For my first assignment with Wycliffe, I was supposed to facilitate prayer activities and discipleship within the Dallas International University community. When COVID hit, the skill set I needed to fill this role of Assistant Chaplain changed drastically. Suddenly I found myself stepping into an entirely administrative position. I scrambled to develop the skills necessary to run three integrated (remote and in-person) chapel services weekly, which involved coordinating with a half-dozen volunteers about dozens of tasks. Thankfully, a trusted friend suggested I read a book on productivity. His suggestion, Get Things Done, opened my eyes to the power of developing routines that rely upon trustworthy templates. My productivity skyrocketed and the job-induced anxiety plummeted. My dive into learning to take Smart Notes, discussed in my email two weeks ago, gave me a way to apply these same principles to academic work.
By now, I have fallen in love with what I used to hate – routines and templates.
Routines
Three things I love about routines:
- Our brains can go on autopilot while fulfilling very complex tasks, once those tasks have become routines (cf. McKeown 2020, 206).
- Katie and I have implemented this philosophy in our personal and work lives with great success. For example, we have routines that ensure we connect with each other personally, discuss upcoming events, share academic resources, pray, and grow in our ability to parent Carissa.
- Our body is designed to adapt to routines.
- When we consistently eat at the same time, our bodies will begin producing gastric acid ~20 minutes before that time so, when the time arrives, we can digest the food properly (Axelrod 2020). Likewise, when we wind down and try to sleep at the same time, our bodies can be trained to fall asleep within minutes (Axelrod 2020).
- We can craft our routines to enshrine the components essential to ensuring our desired outcome.
- In his book, Essentialism, Greg McKeown illustrates this point with Michael Phelps (2020). Phelps’s routines for warming up, stretching, and swimming are so deeply ingrained that, when he shows up at a race, it feels little different than what he does every other day of the week.
Templates
I think of templates as routines that I do not need to remember. I have found three benefits for making templates for documents that I regularly produce:
- I save time typing.
- My templates for taking notes, doing lectio divina, and setting up a hub for my classes all save me time and energy typing.
- The template becomes a safety rail to keep me on the right track.
- I don’t have to remember everything to follow the right path—I just have to follow my template.
- I can change my template to test new “best practices.”
- As a lifelong learner, this particular benefit of templates excites me the most. My templates become an easy way to turn interesting possibilities into beneficial innovations. For example, I use my template for exegesis to guide my study of biblical passages. Whenever I come across a method that could improve how I study biblical texts in preparation for oral Bible translation, I integrate it into my template. Then, the next time I study a passage, my template prompts me to investigate that aspect of the Scriptures.
In addition to these general benefits for templates, I have found two more advantages when studying the Bible using templates: 1. A template that covers areas as varied as my template for exegesis, which I use to guide my devotional exploration of passages, allows me to camp out in passages and tackle them from different angles. This approach keeps me engaged in the Bible every morning. 2. The fruit of my time in the Bible is easy to access for my own personal reference and to share with others. For example, I can easily share my recent study of Mark 7.24-30 with the click of a button!
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
- Routines make difficult tasks automatic because of how our brains work.
- When we make routines of the essential elements necessary to do a good job, we will consistently do a good job.
- Templates are essentially routines that we do not need to remember.
- When we have templates for regular tasks, we can continually update them to test new best practices.
My Challenge for You
Make intentional routines for complex tasks in your life. Use templates to guide normal tasks that you accomplish.
Sources
- Axelrod, Sofia. 2020. How Babies Sleep: The Gentle, Science-Based Method to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night. New York: Atria Books.
- McKeown, Greg. 2020. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. New York: Crown.
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