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Speaker 1: If you're like me, you probably have a bunch of

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Speaker 1: different routines and rituals in your life. But are your

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Speaker 1: routines still serving you? Maybe they were when you first

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Speaker 1: made them, but are you still getting the same results

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Speaker 1: as when you started. Maybe it's time to start mixing

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Speaker 1: things up.

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Speaker 2: My name is doctor Amantha Imber.

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Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science

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Speaker 1: consultancy invent Him. And this is how I work, a

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Speaker 1: show about how to help you do your best work.

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Speaker 1: I spend a fair bit of time on this podcast

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Speaker 1: talking about what rituals and routines my guests have and

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Speaker 1: what are the things that they do regularly, like daily, weekly, quarterly.

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Speaker 2: And so on.

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Speaker 1: But today I want to talk about the importance of

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Speaker 1: breaking rituals and actually questioning the things that you're doing

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Speaker 1: regularly and deliberately challenging the status quote. So for me,

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Speaker 1: I have been aware of doing this in a couple

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Speaker 1: of areas of my life that are actually non work

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Speaker 1: related areas, But now they have me thinking about what

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Speaker 1: are the rituals that I have with work that perhaps

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Speaker 1: I do need to challenge to almost refresh how I'm

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Speaker 1: approaching certain things. So, for example, if you're a regular listener,

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Speaker 1: you'll know that I have a deeply ingrained routine around exercise. So,

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Speaker 1: without fail, five mornings a week, I'm in my home

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Speaker 1: Jim doing a workout which is set by a virtual.

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Speaker 2: Trainer that I have over in America.

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Speaker 1: So I've been doing this since March last year, so

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Speaker 1: a bit over a year, and I'm just kind of

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Speaker 1: in autopilot when I do it. I mean not when

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Speaker 1: I'm working out like I'm pushing myself, but it does

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Speaker 1: become a thing that I do that I simply don't question. Now, recently,

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Speaker 1: I was talking about my routine with a close friend

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Speaker 1: and that I was feeling like I'd hit a bit

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Speaker 1: of a plateau, and she said, have you ever thought

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Speaker 1: about changing your workout routine? And I said, no, it

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Speaker 1: just hasn't occurred to me. I love my trainer, even

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Speaker 1: though I've never met her face to face, and I

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Speaker 1: just do the routine and what she says without questioning.

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Speaker 1: And my friend said, well, maybe you should investigate something else,

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Speaker 1: And I remembered a trainer that she had spoken about,

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Speaker 1: and I said, can I get his details?

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Speaker 2: Because he sounded really good.

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Speaker 1: So the next day I called up this trainer and

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Speaker 1: I had a session at his studio and it was invigorating.

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Speaker 1: It was so good having someone actually watch my technique

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Speaker 1: and correct it there and then, rather than having to

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Speaker 1: send videos of me lifting weights, which is how I

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Speaker 1: worked with my virtual trainer, And just the energy and

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Speaker 1: accountability of having someone there while I did my training

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Speaker 1: to point out really subtle things.

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Speaker 2: That I could be doing better was just so good.

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Speaker 1: So now I'm really excit that I've decided to see

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Speaker 1: this trainer a couple of times a week, and then

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Speaker 1: I'll still use my home gym a couple of times

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Speaker 1: a week as well. And maybe that seems like a

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Speaker 1: small change, but for me, this is a huge change

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Speaker 1: to what has become an almost daily habit, and as

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Speaker 1: a result, I'm feeling so much more energized and motivated

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Speaker 1: about my exercise routine than I have in a long time.

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Speaker 1: Another pattern that I broke recently was around the psychologist,

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Speaker 1: who I see once a week. I find it so

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Speaker 1: beneficial for my mental health and my own self development

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Speaker 1: as a psychologist to see a psychologist, But a few

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Speaker 1: weeks ago, I thought to myself, do I really need

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Speaker 1: to see my psychologist every week?

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Speaker 2: I'm in a pretty good space.

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Speaker 1: Mentally, and while there's always more work to do, I

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Speaker 1: feel like, or I felt like the frequency of weekly exploration.

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Speaker 2: Was kind of overkill. So now I'm seeing him once

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Speaker 2: every two weeks and again.

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Speaker 1: This might seem like a small change, but for me

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Speaker 1: it's actually been really big. It gives me more space

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Speaker 1: between my sessions to do more reflection, and I feel

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Speaker 1: like as a result of this change, our sessions are

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Speaker 1: much more productive, much more useful, and much more energizing.

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Speaker 1: So I'm also now reflecting on my work routines and

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Speaker 1: some of the rituals I have in place, because over

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Speaker 1: the next six months, I've got a really big project

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Speaker 1: that I've just been given that I need to deliver,

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Speaker 1: and it's going to require me to find at least

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Speaker 1: a day's worth of time every week, if not more,

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Speaker 1: to complete, which means something's got to give. I've got

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Speaker 1: to change something about how I'm currently scheduling or using

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Speaker 1: my time.

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Speaker 2: So I'm in the process of trying to break apart.

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Speaker 1: Some of my rituals that I do for work, and

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Speaker 1: I haven't landed on the solution yet, but I'm working

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Speaker 1: towards it. So I have a challenge for you during

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Speaker 1: the week. I love you to reflect on the things

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Speaker 1: that you do regularly, the rituals and routines that you have.

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Speaker 1: What are the things that you every day and what

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Speaker 1: are the things that you do every week or every month.

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Speaker 2: I want you to take a step back.

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Speaker 1: And ask yourself, could there be a better way of

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Speaker 1: doing things? Any of my rituals starting to feel a

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Speaker 1: bit stale?

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Speaker 2: Do I need to change them.

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Speaker 1: So that I can inject more energy and motivation into

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Speaker 1: the outcome that the ritual is delivering. So I wish

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Speaker 1: you the best of black with that, and please do

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Speaker 1: drop me a note with what you end up doing,

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Speaker 1: because I'd be very curious to hear how you go.

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Speaker 1: That is it for today's show. If you are enjoying

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Speaker 1: How I Work, please hit subscribe and maybe you might

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Speaker 1: even want to leave a review. If you're enjoying How

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Speaker 1: I Work, it's just absolutely I just I'm in love

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Speaker 1: with the several hundred people that have left reviews.

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Speaker 2: You guys are just so awesome.

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Speaker 1: You really do bring a smile to my face and

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Speaker 1: make this work even more rewarding than it already. How

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Speaker 1: I Work is produced by Inventium with production support from

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Speaker 1: Dead Set Studios, and thank you to Martin Imba who

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Speaker 1: does the audio mix for every episode and makes everything

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Speaker 1: sound awesome.