Hijack Your Routine - Get Out of The Mundane and Add Zest to Your Life

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company, I'm espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You too can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life. Hijacking your routine. Do you ever feel like life feels stuck? Do you ever feel like life has lost its zest? That every day is literally just a mirror image of the last? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you need to hijack your own routine. Yes, there are many. We have many good routines, right? We have routines for the gym, we have routines for our self care, we have routines for our relationships. And I'm not talking about hijacking those. I'm talking about putting yourself in in uncommon situations or uncommon environments where all of a sudden now your mind has to look for new answers and all of your senses come alive. But this is something that you need to kind of force on yourself because it's not gonna happen by itself. It's not gonna happen on its own. So before we go there, let's first just start. Like, where are you when you think of your day to day? Like, what is that? Those common. What are those common feelings that you feel day in and day out? Like, what is your emotional home? And once you've identified that, ask yourself a new question, like, well, what do you want to feel? Like, what emotions would light you up to feel those emotions daily or even once in a while? Like, think of the things that you've done in the past where you've done them and all of a sudden they've literally changed your trajectory of your entire life and maybe gave you that energy to go to finish that marathon. And then next I want you to think of what are some things that you can do that you could add into your week, your month and in your year that would allow you to shift or shake things up a little bit, meaning put you in a new environment that you're not comfortable in, but it's something that you would want to do. And the last thing we're going to Talk about is literally just cutting off all other options and making a decision to take action. So I'll give you the inspiration behind this podcast. I was talking to one of my good friends that I met on one of my trips, and we're both home now. And in our conversation, he was telling me, you know, Donnie, I'm home. And actually the reason why we were talking about traveling was because I had brought up my, my upcoming trip for this coming year. I want gonna go to Indonesia, Philippines and Kuala Poor. So as I was sharing him with him, my, my travel plans, hoping that he was gonna jump on board and like, hey, that sounds great, let's do it. He was telling me, he said, you know what? I, to be honest with you, I feel pretty content right now. I don't really feel like I have the need to travel. And when he said that, I could immediately understand and empathize what he was saying, because I've also been there. He was saying that, you know, things, he wants to build some stability in his life rather than moving around to different places. And I was sharing with him that I felt the same thing. But I gave him my reasons for wanting to travel and see different countries. And it wasn't just for the sake of, of seeing these countries. I said, listen, I understand that you want, you know, that you want to build a, you want to build like a foundation, you want to feel settled in a place. I understand, because I want the same thing. But it's so easy to get caught up in the routine where all of a sudden now you get stuck in that day to day rut where now like taking any kind of action outside of that day to day feels challenging, even the smallest of actions. And I was explaining to him when some, when I was like, during COVID for example, I would have the routine of going to the gym every single day. But during COVID that wasn't possible. Yes, I had the whole home gym and I started doing that routine, but it wasn't with the same consistency that I was hitting the gym when I was actually going to another location, because there were a lot of stimuli there. I had, you know, I would see friends. It was like my interaction, the social interaction, I got from it and I got motivated and inspired by working out with other people. When that broke, when that was cut off, all of a sudden now, you know, like, I'm like, all right, what do I do? You know, at the time, we weren't really leaving the home. And when things opened up again, it was funny because I found myself literally Circling around my apartment and you know, like, I need to go to the gym, but I would literally be like cleaning things and I'm like, wait, what's going on? Like, why am I, why am I distracting myself and not just literally getting in the car, turn the keys and going? It's because I'd become so comfortable being home that like any step outside of that seemed like a big step, almost made me anxious. Now I recognize that in hindsight and what I was sharing with him, it was, it was not even. Yes, I want to feel like I'm settled in a place, but that's not the main reason I travel. I travel because I want to open my eyes, I want to be stimulated. I don't want to be stuck in the mundane. Because by traveling I get to see new things, meet new people, like eliminate old biases. And it just keeps me curious and hungry for life. Now, is travel the only way to do that? Absolutely not. And I'll give you one more story with this just to prove the point even further. The traveling is one of the most best things I give myself because it fulfills so many needs in my life. Need for connection, need to see new things. It gives me new ideas, inspiration for my business. Just like all the seeing sights that many people will not ever be able to see. Creating memories. I mean, I could go on forever and tell you about why I love to travel and when there's. Normally I travel around, like around November and sometimes I'll try to throw up in a trip in March. But the entire time that I am, you know, in between those trips, I'm working and I'm just doing like the day to day. And all of a sudden when it comes time to like November's coming around, I would feel anxious. I'm like, oh my God, where am I going to go? I got to book this trip, but I really don't want to move. I can't leave my business now. And I started going down that road. But I know from experience, literally for traveling more than 20 years, that that is just me feeling too comfortable in where I am. You know, it's not that I don't want to drive. Who doesn't want to travel, right? It's not that I don't have a lot going on because there are a lot of balls up in there. But what was really being said underneath those words was that I was nervous. I was scared to do the trip. I was scared to go into the unknown. I was scared of putting myself in a new environment that was that Was that was what it was. And so what do I do is I just, you know what, this is where I said I wanted to go. Let me just book the trip and I'll go. So then I would literally, sometimes I would check the flights like once, twice, 20 times. And then finally I'm like, okay, I gotta do it, gotta do it. Because if I don't do it, flights are just gonna keep going crazy, right? Because they're bugging your computer with cookies. So then I would get on there, I'd press it and like, ah, oh my God, I'm going. You know, and there would be like, I'd feel like this energy in my body, this excitement, some nervousness as well. If I'm honest. There definitely is always some nervousness whenever I'm traveling to a new place. But there is that overwhelming sense of excitement. And that is how I always infuse. I cut off all the other options. Because then once I get back from that trip, I'm like fired up. I am ready to go. I'm like, all right, where am I going next? And it becomes that much easier because I know the reasons why, I know what the outcome, I've experienced it and now I know why I'm doing that thing in the first place. When I was connecting with the same friend, I was telling this him. Remember when we were in, when we were in Taipei, I said, remember what you were telling me? We were like fantasizing about living like creating this life, being able to travel around the world and do such and such experiences. And he's very good at doing video editing. And we were talking about the idea of maybe even doing a coffee series and doing video, like working together. And it seems so real, it seems so, so attainable. Why? Because we were in freaking A. We were in like a peak state and we were in it, right? We were, we were there. We weren't back in the rut, we weren't back into that, that day to day patterns and routines. We didn't fall back into those. So that vision was very much real. And I want you to think about your life. Think about the times where you were excited about something, but then all of a sudden, you know, you went back to the quote, unquote, everyday, normal life and you forgot about those dreams. It's time to unpack those and bring them to the forefront of your mind. So I want to ask you a few questions and I want you to just think about these and how you could start moving towards those desires you had, how you could just start Putting in more novelty, not in, maybe into your day, but at the very least, your week, your months, and in something bigger at the end of your year, something that will just add some spice and zest to your life. So let me ask you, what is one thing. We're just going to start with one. What's one thing you could put into your week that would give you some, you know, give you some. Some passion, some excitement. Do that same thing for your month? It doesn't have to be the next month. It doesn't have to be the next week. I mean, it could be something you plan further out when you can use your vacation days. Now let's go to the year. What's something you could plan for the year that would be completely out of your comfort zone, but if you're honest with yourself, it would feel pretty awesome if you did it. And what is the one thing you can do now to lock that in? Now, this is where, like, you know, it might make you shit your pants, right? You're getting scared. Like, oh, my God, I can't. Can't put this on my calendar now. I can't book this now. Relax. Let's just play around with this. I want you to just put it on the calendar. You don't have to buy the ticket, you don't have to book the hotel. You don't have to do any of that. Just put it on the calendar on when, hypothetically this would happen. And then as you write that in, I want you just like, what is the experience of feeling it, right? Because once something gets put on our calendar, it feels real. Otherwise, it just kind of is floating around in your head and you're just like, yeah, that would be nice one day. But once it's on your calendar, it's real. And then the last thing, I want you to get acquainted, like, what are the benefits that you're gonna receive? Like, how after having done and experienced this thing that you were, that you just wrote down, like, how are you gonna feel? Like, what new. What other new experiences would this open up? As I had mentioned before, like, anytime I. Once I book a trip, the moment I am finished with that trip, I am like, where am I going next? You know? And then I'm off somewhere in the world. But it doesn't happen by accident, right? It's because I put myself in a state. I know what drives me, right? I put myself there. And as a result, all the decisions, everything that comes after that is literally fed by pure passion. And that's why. And I'm not gonna say that like life, you know, like my life is perfect in any way or that I don't feel down, like down emotions, because I do, right? You know, probably just as much, if maybe even more than the average person. But I'm always looking to pick myself up. I'm always, I don't stay there, right? I might dwell, I may be there for a little while, but I'm always looking for different answers. You know, I remember I went to a hypnotist once, a little sidetrack. And I don't even remember why I went to the hypnotist. It was a bni group. And I think I was just kind of curious and I was sharing her, sharing with her some of my insecurities. And she told me, she's like, listen, she's like, everybody has these. It's just that nobody talks about them. And I remember that stuck with me. And I thought as I, you know, when grew in my years, meaning as I got older, I would notice that, that like people were. They would kind of hold these things close to them, afraid, thinking that they were alone. When the truth is that everybody, we're all having a human experience. We're all the same, right? So, so that it, I want you just to look at that decision. How is it going to make you feel like once you do it? What are the emotions it's going to give you? Focus there, focus on the outcome. Because that is, you know, anything you want in life is going to require you to overcome this carvas to get past some difficult moments. But when you realize what is on the other side, you'll realize it is. It is always worth it to stretch yourself to take those actions. So I hope you enjoyed this episode, guys. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. If it inspired you to do something great, post it here in the chat. Send me a message. I would love to hear it. And again, thank you so, so much for tuning in. I appreciate you taking your time, your energy to be here with me to improve your life, to conspire together to create lives of passion. If you know anybody who would benefit from listening to this podcast, please share this with friends. Five people, five people whom you feel need that little kick in the butt or that little spurt of inspiration to maybe get out of that comfort zone, maybe to try something new, share it with them. So that is all I've got for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately, and most of all, live now. God, Bless you guys, and I will see you again soon.