Routines Schmoutines: 5 Ways to Avoid Doing the Same Thing Every Day
Damian Bradfield works very hard not to have a routine. Image c/o Bradfield.
WeTransfer Chief Creative Officer Damian Bradfield works particularly hard at one thing–not having a daily routine. “The word alone sends shivers down my spine,” he said. “I dread the idea of having a commute to work or a morning ritual. I find the concept chastising and hope that no two mornings are ever or will ever be the same.” So here, Bradfield shares five things he does each day to avoid the dreaded R-word.
1. Avoid Going to the Gym
“I wake up around 7 am, stretch on some lycra, and prepare to go the gym,” he said. “Then I walk downstairs, pick up my phone, and pretend to myself that something very important has come up, preventing me from being able to work out.” By the virtues of the transitive property, then, if you don’t have a workout routine, you therefore don’t have a routine.
2. Don’t Settle on a Go-To Morning Beverage or Breakfast
Does Bradfield drink coffee every morning? Nope. Tea? Yes, sometimes. And sometimes with milk. And sometimes black! Does he blend his own green juice? Yes, but every day? Heavens no, because he also loves a bacon sandwich and thick lashings of marmite on fat-cut white bread every now and then. Therefore, he indulges in a range of breakfast items, which seems pretty reasonable after all.
3. Beware of the “Work Uniform”
Bradfield once went to boarding school where he wore the same thing every day for 13 years. Why? “I guess the goal was to repress self-expression,” he said. “Why would I continue that Victorian concept now that I'm a grown man?” Therefore, he wears everything from a tailor-made suit to vintage jeans. And he loves knitwear in the winter because it “hides my slowly protruding man boobs.”
4. Plan Your Workday According to Your Commitments (and Vibe)
“Somedays I can happily start at 5 a.m. and have the most amazing semi-orgasmically productive day ever, and on other days I am useless until 3 p.m.,” said Bradfield. “In the winter I live on email, I avoid speaking to people whenever I can, and detest meetings with more than one human being. I'm an einzelganger and a hermit who occasionally goes outside if the sun is shining.” When the sun does shine (which rarely happens where Bradfield lives in Europe) he metamorphoses from a social mole into a social butterfly and will happily talk to people all day long. “They, however, no longer want to talk to me, though, as I've spent ten months of the year avoiding them,” he said. A schedule like that always keepings you guessing!
5. Avoid the Double Negative: Anti-Routine Routine
Upon closer examination, Bradfield realized there might just be a pattern to anti-route behavior. “One routine, I guess I have is deciding how to avoid routine,” he said. “I stick to that religiously.”
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