If any of these were routine, he would have written somewhere in his journals or letters about when he preferred doing this or that. Some friendly philosophical banter with Fronto or Sextus. It’d be hard to sum it up better than Cassius Dio: “He didn’t have the luck which he deserved… but was confronted, throughout his reign, by a multitude of disasters.”īut what centered him through all this were his daily practices. And it didn’t let up for any of the 15 years during which he ruled. While his adopted father and cherished mentor, Antoninus, enjoyed a peaceful reign for over two decades, from the day Marcus put on the purple, it was one obstacle after the next. That’s to say nothing of his personal life-he buried eight children, his wife was probably unfaithful, his stepbrother and co-emperor was a ne’er-do-well, and his only son to outlive him was deranged. As we’ve talked about, he lived in a time of chaos and dysfunction, featuring brutal wars, devastating plagues, natural disasters, famines, political turmoil, and a plummeting economy. No two routines are the same.Īnd yet the key practices are nearly universal… Others when they are building momentum, so they know where to pick back up tomorrow. Some stop working when they run out of momentum, so they know where to pick back up tomorrow. Others like the quiet after everyone has gone to sleep. “It’s a wild collage of human behavior,” as Austin Kleon has said about studying the routines of creative people, “like visiting a human zoo.” Some artists like the quiet before everyone else wakes up. Over the last couple years, I’ve gotten to interview some of the best artists on the planet about the behind-the-scenes of their work. One can be ruined by something as simple as hitting the snooze button one too many times or getting called into work unexpectedly. Being vegan or eating kosher is a practice. Eating at the same lunch place and same time everyday is a routine. and watching the news while you have your coffee: that’s part of a routine. They are things you return to, time and time again, to center yourself.
Practices are things you do regularly-perhaps daily, perhaps not-but in no particular order. Suddenly you’re not going into the office at all… because there is no office to go to. Suddenly you’re not able to go to your favorite gym at your favorite time. Assuming, of course, that those other parts haven’t been crushed or subducted themselves. And then every part of your routine that is triggered by dropping the kids off starts to shift, like tectonic plates after an earthquake. Hasn’t this pandemic shown that? Suddenly you aren’t taking your kids to school. Although daily routines are important, and many of us rely on them, the truth is that routines are fragile. It’s something that human beings have needed for all time-whether they were kings or artists, parents or farmers, senators or soldiers. In a world where everything is uncertain.