Routine Routine Routine...

I have had the most fantastic month being home on the beach. I have not been offline but I dont need to be offline to get rejuvenated, just off the road.

This year I will refocus on the power of routine. I am rethinking routine as it relates to everything these days. Attitude and imitation will only get you so far. Routine matters. Routine gets you out of bed and executing.

A daily 5-00 AM PST routine since 1996 has helped me manage a fund and stay on top of the markets. The routine has helped me take back some time for other interests as I have refined my strategies and execution for my hedge fund.

A lot of my recent thinking about routine has to do with my kids sudden interest in golf. I don’t know if I should have forced the game more on them, but they finally have a bit of the bug. My son is almost unteachable, but bangs hundreds of balls at the speed of light. His form during the swing is great.

He has imitated his way to decent ball striking, but refuses to build a routine about anything so I just let him play. I try my best to slow him down and teach him a pre-shot routine. He will do it once in a while, but not with an understanding of why it is important. My daughter is a perfectionist and wants to play with me. She likes the driving range and learning about the pre shot routine, but because she has not banged enough range balls, struggles on the golf course.

One example I aim too fix with my routine, is the consistency of my blog. Twitter did not kill my blog, nor stocktwits, just a bad routine. I spent most of 2011 overthinking, not picking a topic and letting it fly on my blog. The last few weeks I am writing something before I go to bed. I can touch it up in the morning and off it goes. Routine.

My public speaking is another area I aim to improve in 2011. I did a lot of speaking in 2011 and did not take it serious enough. I did not have a routine and winged it every time.

The thoughts/topics that resonated most:

1. Talk about a failure. We all fail and so you might as well come clean with a doozie or two.

2. Strong Visuals.

3. Punch a Banker…Hug a Developer ( Bank of America and Goldman have made this line too easy but Code Academy will give this phrase infinite legs ).

4. Foreplay Foreplay Foreplay. You can find what you want on the web in seconds, but it does not mean you should ask for it.

5. How to Sell…from cold calls to red eyes.

Talking about the long -term power of building a routine will be an addition to these talking points.

Do not underestimate the power of routine.