rou·tine: a sequence of actions regularly followed

How have I been able to consistently accomplish the lofty personal goals that I’ve set for myself throughout my life? I have often overcomplicated my answer to this question by trying to outline all the specific actions that I took to advance the pursuit of my lofty ambitions. The reality is that the simplest answer to this question is routines. Regardless of the goal, the path has always been built on simple routines. Decisions to act. To do something that will chip away at the larger goal. Small actions that in time, when followed regularly, always yield prolific results. The pursuit of a dream requires a continuous application of these routines because dreams should be nothing short of prolific.

I was never the best athlete, but I have always been disciplined. My stubborn commitment to achieve goals through simple routines has opened opportunities in my life that most people view as out of reach. I distinctly remember being introduced to the SEAL Teams by a close friend when we were in grammar school. That was one of the earliest memories that I have of truly setting a goal and putting routines in place to systematically make progress toward ultimately accomplishing something very difficult. Along the way there were always distractions. I had close friends work diligently to try to convince me that my goal was unreasonable. I struggled a lot, and experienced periods in my life where even I questioned the goal I was striving for. Looking back over the past 20 years, I can absolutely attribute the success that I have experienced to an unwavering commitment to routines. People always want a simple solution to problems, and I know that routines are that answer. The concept is simple, but the discipline to execute consistently is always the challenge.

The greatest achievements in my life have been built on the foundation of simple routines that work together to drive incremental change, compounding their effectiveness to systematically add dimension to my life. They have given me the capability to do what was seemingly impossible. Each routine served a specific purpose in my pursuit of the goal of joining the ranks of the SEAL Teams. I committed to a routine of running several times per week to become a better runner. I committed to swimming several times per week to become a better swimmer. I wrestled in high school and adventure raced in college to establish routines that would consistently push me beyond my comfort zone and increase that supposedly untrainable quality known as grit. None of these routines by themselves would have allowed me to complete BUD/S, but the incorporation of multiple routines focused on achieving micro-goals built the requisite battery of achievements necessary to realize a seemingly unattainable dream.