One of my goals for this year is to do more reading both theological stuff for my studies and work as well but also personal development resources to, well improve myself. Ideally this would be reading visually but I’ve been driving a lot the last few months for work, so I’ve been trying to listen to audiobooks and podcasts. 

One book I have listened to several times over the last year is ‘Routine Machine’ by John Lamerton. 

I know John from my past life in Plymouth and my attempts to be a budding entrepreneur. He’s written few books and his down to earth style and the fact that I know him makes his content that little more believable and ‘I might be able to that too’ 

Routine Machine looks at how success is built not by genetics or one off attempts but by consistent, effective and specific routine and habits. It’s also not done by one big goal but the many, many smaller actions that make up the big ambition. 

John uses the analogy of the human, the computer, and the monkey to explain how our brains work and how we can develop effective routines.

The human represents our conscious, rational mind. It’s the part of our brain that sets goals and makes plans for the future.The computer represents our subconscious mind. It’s the part of our brain that performs automatic tasks, like driving a car or typing on a keyboard. These tasks are so ingrained in our subconscious that we don’t even have to think about them.The monkey represents our emotional, impulsive mind. It’s the part of our brain that craves instant gratification and seeks pleasure over long-term goals.

John explains that in order to develop effective routines, we need to train our computer to perform the tasks that will help us achieve our goals. We also need to train our monkey to enjoy the process of working towards our goals, rather than seeking instant gratification.

To do this, John suggests breaking down our goals into small, manageable tasks and performing them consistently over time. By doing this, we train our computer to perform these tasks automatically, and we train our monkey to enjoy the process of working towards our goals.

Overall, the human, the computer, and the monkey analogy is a useful way to understand how our brains work and how we can develop effective routines to achieve our goals.

John shares numerous examples of things he’s done throughout his personal and professional life to work towards building routines that make his life easier, builds greater success and will create lasting impact. He also shares a number of examples from well known people who have become incredibly successful as well as those in his mastermind group ‘The One Percent Club’ who are working on their lifestyle business. It’s great to have a variety of examples in different contexts to be able to get ideas for myself. 

Some of my key takeaways from the book are 

• Evaluate what I’m doing now – what is the computer doing now?
• Constant never ending improvement – continue the good stuff, stop the bad self sabotage stuff
• Reframe the language – reframe thinking (drinking)
• Compounding effect – not just for savings 
• Warren Buffet – earns caviar and champagne money but has a burger and coke lifestyle
• Time blocking
• Do what works for you
• Get routines to blinking level
• Sometimes boring is the better way ‘Boring boring Arsenal’ 
• Work on things for 30, 60, 90 days
• The success killers taste good in the moment (burger tastes good but won’t be good for my waist every day) it’s not the one offs that kill but the continually. Train yourself 
• Feedback is fuel, use it to keep you on track
• Disciple + flexibility =freedom

His emphasis on the importance of consistency, discipline, and self-awareness in creating successful routines. The book provides step-by-step guidance for creating effective routines and practical tips for maintaining them.

I’d definitely recommend this book for those looking to start on their personal development journey as well as those well versed. It’s a great book, not just because I know John but because he’s not trying to be next level guru master about it all but he makes it achievable, inspirational and encouraging that makes me want to try to see what I can do. He does the narration of the audio book so you can really imagine how he’s writing it as he’s saying it. 

Let me know if end up reading it and what you think!

Routine Machine – John Lamerton

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