For good or for bad, routines rule our lives.  Routines can be both positive and negative.  There will be occasions when you find yourself mired in the mundane, often mindless, routines of the jobs we have chosen.  Take heart.  All is not lost.  If you will just take a few minutes to redefine routine work activities in your position, you may discover countless opportunities to energize yourself and your employees again and again.

3 Ways to Redefine Routine Work Activities

1. Take five minutes and write down which of the specific routines in your job you dread or dislike the most and would like to change.
2. Contact the most creative, imaginative person you know.
3. Spend one day a month working at a job other than your own.

3 Ways to Redefine Routine Work Activities

Here are three practical suggestions to help you redefine routine work activities:

1.Take five minutes and write down which of the specific routines in your job you dread or dislike the most and would like to change.

Be honest with yourself.  The first step to successfully managing any problem is to specifically identify that problem.  Your dreaded routines may include the weekly staff meeting, the quarterly inventory, the annual customer review or others.

2.  Contact the most creative, imaginative person you know.

This person may be either a personal or professional friend or contact.  Remember:  It is not necessary that this person understands or has personal experience with each of the routines you have identified.  Call the person and ask to buy their lunch. Over lunch, describe in detail the routines you have previously identified and what you dislike about them. Then ask this person what new courses of action he or she might suggest to breathe new life and activity into old, tired routines. [To see more of what you should ask, check out this blog:  In Search Of Original Thought] Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can see clearly the possibilities to which we have become blind.

3.  Spend one day a month working at a job other than your own.

Volunteer to do the job of a subordinate, a peer, and when appropriate, even a superior.  Explain that your request is based on your desire to better understand the overall working of your organization, to learn more broad-based skills and to develop stronger, more collaborative working relationships.  In the process, this change of pace, change of scenery and activity, allows you to step out of your routines temporarily, thereby infusing you with new insights and energy regarding how you might better serve your clients.

Redefine Routine Work Activities

For good or for bad, routines rule our lives.  At their best, the positive routines we adopt in our jobs can serve as a foundation from which we can continue to build upon.  At their worst, the routine activities in our jobs can lead us to be lackadaisical, bored, and unresponsive in our attitudes and how you lead your people.  Start developing your ongoing plan to redefine routine activities in your position today!

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Phil Van Hooser, Keynote Speaker on Leadership and Personal Development