Human beings have advanced to a great extent in the course of evolution and stand with piles of achievements. These achievements have, undoubtedly, blessed human beings with facilities and comfort, yet human beings have not been able to gain satisfaction and comfort in the real sense of the words. It cannot be blamed that the achievements that human beings have acquired they are responsible for snatching human comfort; rather it is the way human beings use them that has to be blamed. In fact, the different systems, structures and patterns that human beings have developed have engulfed human beings in a repetitive circle of activities that have made their lives very much monotonous.
These repetitive activities that human beings perform almost on daily basis are known as routine. Routines are performed by almost all human beings who are old enough to go out of their houses in pursuit of something. For example, the children go to schools almost every day, the aged men go to their offices or works on daily basis and the old men go to their gatherings on each evening. Human lives have been developed in such a manner that they have to follow routines in order to achieve their objectives. Though the routines are helpful in mastering a profession or earning a livelihood, it proves to be very much monotonous and most of the times make the people psychologically weaker and tired.
It is said that variety is the spice of life. Changes in life make life better and colorful. However, routine insists on the repetition of similar activity every day, which ultimately results in boredom. Human psychology is attracted more towards the activities that are new and different. Repetition would make the adventure and suspense vanish and make the activity dull and lifeless. As observed by the American writer, Dave Eggers, “But the grind has begun. The windows don’t open and even the availability of near-constant jokes fails to stem the tide of frustration, decay. We’ve reached the end of pure inspiration, and are now somewhere else, something implying routine, or doing something because people expect us to do it, going somewhere each day because we went there the day before, saying things because we have said them before, and this seems like the work of a different sort of animal, contrary to our plan, and this is very very bad.” Routines can sometimes become the reason of intense frustration and serious psychological problems; therefore, it is necessary to handle it carefully.
The frustration that erupts because of routine displays itself through various means; the example can be easily observed in daily life. People working in offices often have skirmishes with each other on pity matters. Teachers, because of very small mistakes, punish the students and even beat them. Traffic police, who has been working for years on the same square, have zero tolerance for any disobedience. There are many such instances which clearly depict that frustration from routine results in skirmishes and even serious fights.
It is necessary to manage routine in an appropriate manner. Ways should be identified and pursued that may result in lightening the load of the daily tasks. If it is not possible to change the routine, there are certain other techniques that can assist in making routine acceptable to a certain extent. Daily exercise can be very much helpful in this regard. Exercise before the work, mostly early in the morning, can help in keeping good health and at the same time good mind. Apart from that weekly or monthly outings and picnics or even celebrations of different kinds can support people in refreshing their minds. These will also help in maintaining a balance between work and fun, which is very much necessary for all human beings. Exposure visits or trips to other cities and countries annually and biannually can also be very much supportive in this regard.
The techniques to fight routines are not only helpful for the individuals but they can be very much supportive for the management of different organizations as well. Today’s modern techniques of management would require taking care of the human factors in work environment as well. They want to make sure that their workers are provided some sorts of activities that can help them in escaping the ghost of routine and monotony as it would ultimately result in less production and output. Therefore, they have different sorts of field trips and training facilities to keep on increasing their capacities and changing their perceptions and understandings. Management of the organizations can also bring about changes in the daily work environment, like changing the seating arrangement and decorations, in different ways so as to avoid monotony.
Although the routines can be very tiresome, they can be very much helpful in achieving an intended objective. Sometimes the goals are really very difficult to achieve; therefore, persistent efforts would be required to achieve them. A good example can be considered in this regard; water is considered to be very soft as compared to rock and it is very difficult to think that water would ever break the stone or make a hole in it. Nonetheless, it can be observed that with consistency, water can break the stone or make a hole in it. Same is the case with human cause or purpose; if there is a great cause and that is very much fruitful for the society as a whole, it is worth a routine. As rightly mentioned by John Connolly, in his book – The Book of Lost Things, “We all have our routines,” he said softly. “But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all. Without that, they are like the endless pacings of a caged animal. If they are not madness itself, then they are a prelude to it.”
In short, we as human beings need entertainment and refreshment as well in addition to a monotonous routine. We have to understand this basic fact that we are not machines but human beings with a sensitive heart and a hard working mind.