Routines – ISE III Trinity Listening Exam.

FAIL

Now listen again with the script

In my recent book, I discuss the subject of routine and the effects it has on our lives. Actually, my original idea was to look at the working methods of successful creative people like writers and artists to see if there were any helpful lessons to be drawn. The more people I examined, the clearer it became that there was one thing the vast majority of them had in common: they had a regular working routine and stuck to it strictly, even obsessively. Their habits and routines often ended up being more like rituals. To take one example, the composer Beethoven apparently used to start each day with a cup of strong coffee made with exactly 60 coffee beans, which he insisted on counting out personally. And that’s by no means the oddest ritual I discovered. Obviously we don’t all have to behave like that, but it does appear that routine is something most of us need.

Most humans function better when they have some kind of structure to their lives. In fact, without routines for day-to-day activities, nothing much would get done. Transport wouldn’t run on time, schools and workplaces would be in a permanent state of chaos, and so on. So, society as a whole seems to favour, or even require, people with regular lifestyles. But there’s a growing body of research suggesting that too much routine is bad for personal well-being, and it’s this aspect that much of the book is concerned with. Breaking up your routine and doing something new, it appears, increases your happiness. It’s not just a case of getting bored: routine also increases our sense of time passing by too quickly. When nothing new is happening, we’re not so conscious of events and simply don’t notice the days and weeks slipping away.

There’s also an interesting connection between time and memory, or more exactly two kinds of connection. Firstly, a lot of what people accept as naturally increasing forgetfulness as they get older is actually more to do with their lives becoming predictable. It’s not so much that they forget things that have happened but that they didn’t really notice them in the first place because they’d become so automatic. The other thing that strikes a chord with me as I get older is the explanation for why childhood memories seem so vivid. When you’re young, everything is new and your brain is working overtime to take everything in, so your impressions of events are much more memorable. What we need to do is to try and recapture that sense of newness by disrupting routines and actively seeking out new experiences.

Now listen again with the script

In my recent book, I discuss the subject of routine and the effects it has on our lives. Actually, my original idea was to look at the working methods of successful creative people like writers and artists to see if there were any helpful lessons to be drawn. The more people I examined, the clearer it became that there was one thing the vast majority of them had in common: they had a regular working routine and stuck to it strictly, even obsessively. Their habits and routines often ended up being more like rituals. To take one example, the composer Beethoven apparently used to start each day with a cup of strong coffee made with exactly 60 coffee beans, which he insisted on counting out personally. And that’s by no means the oddest ritual I discovered. Obviously we don’t all have to behave like that, but it does appear that routine is something most of us need.

Most humans function better when they have some kind of structure to their lives. In fact, without routines for day-to-day activities, nothing much would get done. Transport wouldn’t run on time, schools and workplaces would be in a permanent state of chaos, and so on. So, society as a whole seems to favour, or even require, people with regular lifestyles. But there’s a growing body of research suggesting that too much routine is bad for personal well-being, and it’s this aspect that much of the book is concerned with. Breaking up your routine and doing something new, it appears, increases your happiness. It’s not just a case of getting bored: routine also increases our sense of time passing by too quickly. When nothing new is happening, we’re not so conscious of events and simply don’t notice the days and weeks slipping away.

There’s also an interesting connection between time and memory, or more exactly two kinds of connection. Firstly, a lot of what people accept as naturally increasing forgetfulness as they get older is actually more to do with their lives becoming predictable. It’s not so much that they forget things that have happened but that they didn’t really notice them in the first place because they’d become so automatic. The other thing that strikes a chord with me as I get older is the explanation for why childhood memories seem so vivid. When you’re young, everything is new and your brain is working overtime to take everything in, so your impressions of events are much more memorable. What we need to do is to try and recapture that sense of newness by disrupting routines and actively seeking out new experiences.

Now listen again with the script

In my recent book, I discuss the subject of routine and the effects it has on our lives. Actually, my original idea was to look at the working methods of successful creative people like writers and artists to see if there were any helpful lessons to be drawn. The more people I examined, the clearer it became that there was one thing the vast majority of them had in common: they had a regular working routine and stuck to it strictly, even obsessively. Their habits and routines often ended up being more like rituals. To take one example, the composer Beethoven apparently used to start each day with a cup of strong coffee made with exactly 60 coffee beans, which he insisted on counting out personally. And that’s by no means the oddest ritual I discovered. Obviously we don’t all have to behave like that, but it does appear that routine is something most of us need.

Most humans function better when they have some kind of structure to their lives. In fact, without routines for day-to-day activities, nothing much would get done. Transport wouldn’t run on time, schools and workplaces would be in a permanent state of chaos, and so on. So, society as a whole seems to favour, or even require, people with regular lifestyles. But there’s a growing body of research suggesting that too much routine is bad for personal well-being, and it’s this aspect that much of the book is concerned with. Breaking up your routine and doing something new, it appears, increases your happiness. It’s not just a case of getting bored: routine also increases our sense of time passing by too quickly. When nothing new is happening, we’re not so conscious of events and simply don’t notice the days and weeks slipping away.

There’s also an interesting connection between time and memory, or more exactly two kinds of connection. Firstly, a lot of what people accept as naturally increasing forgetfulness as they get older is actually more to do with their lives becoming predictable. It’s not so much that they forget things that have happened but that they didn’t really notice them in the first place because they’d become so automatic. The other thing that strikes a chord with me as I get older is the explanation for why childhood memories seem so vivid. When you’re young, everything is new and your brain is working overtime to take everything in, so your impressions of events are much more memorable. What we need to do is to try and recapture that sense of newness by disrupting routines and actively seeking out new experiences.

Now listen again with the script

In my recent book, I discuss the subject of routine and the effects it has on our lives. Actually, my original idea was to look at the working methods of successful creative people like writers and artists to see if there were any helpful lessons to be drawn. The more people I examined, the clearer it became that there was one thing the vast majority of them had in common: they had a regular working routine and stuck to it strictly, even obsessively. Their habits and routines often ended up being more like rituals. To take one example, the composer Beethoven apparently used to start each day with a cup of strong coffee made with exactly 60 coffee beans, which he insisted on counting out personally. And that’s by no means the oddest ritual I discovered. Obviously we don’t all have to behave like that, but it does appear that routine is something most of us need.

Most humans function better when they have some kind of structure to their lives. In fact, without routines for day-to-day activities, nothing much would get done. Transport wouldn’t run on time, schools and workplaces would be in a permanent state of chaos, and so on. So, society as a whole seems to favour, or even require, people with regular lifestyles. But there’s a growing body of research suggesting that too much routine is bad for personal well-being, and it’s this aspect that much of the book is concerned with. Breaking up your routine and doing something new, it appears, increases your happiness. It’s not just a case of getting bored: routine also increases our sense of time passing by too quickly. When nothing new is happening, we’re not so conscious of events and simply don’t notice the days and weeks slipping away.

There’s also an interesting connection between time and memory, or more exactly two kinds of connection. Firstly, a lot of what people accept as naturally increasing forgetfulness as they get older is actually more to do with their lives becoming predictable. It’s not so much that they forget things that have happened but that they didn’t really notice them in the first place because they’d become so automatic. The other thing that strikes a chord with me as I get older is the explanation for why childhood memories seem so vivid. When you’re young, everything is new and your brain is working overtime to take everything in, so your impressions of events are much more memorable. What we need to do is to try and recapture that sense of newness by disrupting routines and actively seeking out new experiences.