Why A Template-Based Mentality Can Make Or Break Us

The routines that have engulfed our lives and dictated our modus operandi largely contribute the reasons why we succeed or fail in equal measure. We must always bear in mind that different protocols serve well under specific conditions. It is always a change in routine that gives us away when working incognito. Similarly, it is always the change in prevailing conditions that render certain routines ineffective.

Often we go to our favourite restaurant for a cup of tea because they make it better than all the others. But is this true?

The one thing that remains constant for most people is the "two spoons of sugar" practice. I discovered that the tea at my favourite restaurant tasted much sweeter because they use a relatively smaller-sized cup yet my two spoons of sugar preference goes on unabated.

Psychologically, because the tea is served in a pot, and I get three cups, I feel that it is value-for-money both quantitatively and qualitatively, but it is a trick that has worked since the first home dining room became a restaurant.

My other preferred restaurant is a good rendezvous for business meetings and their tea doesn't taste as good as that at my favourite restaurant simply because they use bigger cups which dilute my two spoons of sugar to a near plain taste.

If I can mentally prepare for the extra sugar needed in the bigger cup - health parameters allowing, I might just upgrade this restaurant above my present favourite.

We are creatures of habit and our inability to make suitable adjustments denied us by deeply lodged templates, only ensures that we return actions consistent with the instructions inscribed therein.

Some find it easy to adjust but the majority find solace in familiar routines.

When scouts or members of the disciplined forces are forward-matching as a team and one person is out of step despite the instructions given, the leader can either stop the whole group or shout out the name of the odd one out of step and ask him to "change step". From then on, the matching proceeds in perfect unison.

Many of us need to change step upon observing that there exists a variance between our normal routines and those demanded by the new environment.

The last year has been a time of disrupted routines. Physical movement has had new protocols imposed by respective authorities. For some, the rules in place make no sense and their failure to adjust has come out as defiance.

Despite the obvious flows that arise from our routine guided approaches, we are better off having them than playing in an unguided state. Safety procedures in any discipline are crucial for our comfort and survival.

Sports such as golf, depend on strict adherence to specific routines for a player to remain successful.

But in general life, we know that variety is the spice of life. To please someone, we go out of the ordinary to make that difference that scores us the points. But even in doing so, we employ a routine that we hardly use to get us the results needed at that moment.

So its time that we do a self-review and consider every routine, step by step. We must debug them so that they are fit for purpose.

Now I look at the size of the cup to determine how much sugar to add to my tea.

Routines bring order to our lives but we must let them serve and not enslave us.