Guitar strings go dull and need changing. Some routines need replacing, not just repeating.

RESILIENCE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Routines wear out the way strings do, gradually and unnoticeably, until the thing that used to work gives a flat result. Repeating something that has stopped returning anything is not discipline, it is a habit running on past its usefulness. The maintenance question is whether this still does what it was built to do. Replacing is sometimes the faithful version of continuing.

Look at a routine you have kept for months and ask honestly what it still gives you. Keep what works and change the one element that has gone dull. Give the new version three weeks before deciding whether the problem was the routine or the timing.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which of your routines has stopped giving anything back?

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