I was talking with a friend this week.

She asked how I was going at the gym.

“OK”, I said.

“Only just OK?” she asked.

“It’s boring”, I blurted out.

“Boring?”

“Yes, I do the same exercises every time and I find it boring. It’s the same with some yoga classes I’ve attended as well. The same thing week after week after week.”

“Hmmm.  Do you think that some people might like that? They might like the security of knowing what they will be doing each time and also improving as they practise and repeat?” she enquired.

“I suppose so, but that’s not me. I need variety. In one way, that’s why I like yoga because you can do so many different poses, depending on what you feel like at the time.”

I’m the same with breakfast. I can only eat the same thing so many days in a week before I get bored and have to change that too.  Ross is happy to eat cereal every day of the week.

The conversation moved on.

We’re all different. We all have different personalities and different needs and wants.

I remember doing a systems project one time with a finance team in real estate. They loved the fact that they knew what they were doing at any minute of the day on any given day. For example, at 9:00am they started the bank downloads. At 9:30am they started reconciling the entries. At 11:00am they stopped for morning tea. Every second Thursday the processed the pays etc. etc. etc.

I was impressed with how much they liked their structure and routine.

I couldn’t bear it.

How about you?

Are you a routine sort of person?

Do you like knowing what’s coming next? (The Counsellors and Advisors in the REACH profiling system.)

Or, are you like me, a Coach or a Driver, who loves spontaneity, variety and change?

Either answer is ok.

It’s about knowing yourself and the people around you and finding ways to satisfy those needs.

I realise now why I loved being on Relief Staff, 40 odd years ago. I travelled around the region and relieved in various motor registries when the permanent staff were on leave. I loved meeting new people. I loved learning about new locations and I wasn’t there long enough to get involved in the office politics and I didn’t know from one month to the next where I would be working. It could all change in an instant. (It’s also where I got a lot of my systems training and mindset from because I could go into any motor registry in New South Wales and do the job. No training required because they were all the same.)

How about you? What is your preference and what ways have you found to satisfy yourself?

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