Few days ago, I had my first run for the year. It also happened to be the last time I’d be running through Festac (at least for the foreseeable future).
That I had the energy to run my second longest course was surprising. For context, the last time I ran that distance was August 2021. And aside from my little routine push ups and the couple hundred metres I covered during Christmas, I’ve been pretty much sedentary.
Reflecting on the run made me realise that it was less about energy and more about routine.
As I ran my muscles got stiff, my mass became super heavy, my lungs felt like they were on fire and my throat felt like a clay river bank in harmattan.
When that time when I had zero energy left came, what kept me going was the driving thought that I've completed this route before. Many times. Times when I felt worse. And I didn't die.
So when my stride faltered and my muscles strained, my spirit was strong because
"You've done it before. You'd do it again"
On and on until I hit the last stop.
This reiterated a lesson I’ve probably heard a thousand times – the key to developing any routine is the resolve to not stop repetitively doing both the micro and macro actions that make up that growth activity or positive habit.
When I started jogging, I would run a new route every day. And everyday I'd come back very exhausted and winded; as though my body wasn't getting used to the exercise.
As time passed, I somehow settled into mapping particular routes I could choose to run. When I mapped a new route, I’d run it until I’ve gotten so used to it, directions and terrain become muscle memory.
Then every day, I came back more energized – like the more mindless the activity became from repetition, the less energy it took to perform.
It became quite easy to grow.
On the macro, there was the main activity: I had to run at least four days a week.
On the micro, there were several other activities that gave finer detail to the main activity – Like choosing to wear a particular running kit everyday,
Or choosing to keep them in the same place after every run,
Or choosing a particular time I had to set out everyday, which route to take etc.
After a while it became like clock work. Once it was 6:45, the gears cranked and the body moved.
Even on days when I was too tired or lazy to move, simply putting on my running clothes became enough ginger to get up and get going.
As I ran through Festac this one last time, I saw it all around me. More than a year after and there was pretty much the same people, individually locked into the routine of one activity or another –
The same people jogging through first avenue,
the church of the latter day saints looking pristine as usual,
the mallam unwrapping his tomatoes under the big tree at 3rd Avenue,
The Loading boys at First gate…
I ran past the old mallam always seated beside the mouth of Link Bridge. As usual he cheered me "yellow!" as I passed and I replied without even thinking about it. "Barka"
Like the two days were actually just two days.
But while routine is great, the key is to know when to switch it up. Understanding what needs to be made into a routine and what has to be mindful, is also very important.
While some activities on both the macro and micro levels benefit from the mindless focus of routine, some others quickly trace a diminishing return curve as they get more routine.
For example, my interest and efficiency in running got stronger and better with routine whereas my interest and efficiency in designing office fit-out arrangements tanked as the logic to it became more routine.
I'm still figuring this out, and will continue to optimise as I discover what works with routine and what doesn't but there's one lesson I'm very grateful to have remembered this early in the year –
Just don’t stop.
(I’ll publish a piece on what my old running shoes have taught me about product storytelling in my substack newsletter The Fifths Iris. You can subscribe to get it when it drops)
