Regular days are a new thing for me. As a recent graduate from physical therapy school (May 2016) I finished a 22-year “career” as a student. Students never have more than a few months, a semester maybe, where you have the same weekly schedule. Even within those short periods of time, you have breaks, holidays and other “routine killers.” I am now in a stage of life where I have what feel like regular days and it is very strange.

I feel like I have learned some things from this season of life so far, though.

1. Regular days aren’t as bad as I thought they would be.

Maybe it is the millennial in me coming out, but during school, I had a slight fear of the mundane, regular work days. I thought that I would feel so uninspired, bored and burned out by them. I have actually found the exact opposite. Regular days give me the sense of accomplishment, productivity, and recharge. I have found that the regular days that I once feared have become something that I cherish.

2. Regular days are what life is ultimately made up of

For most working adults our lives are really a whole bunch of regular days with a seasoning of extraordinary ones, both good and bad. Because of that, what we choose to do with ourselves on our regular days really makes a massive impact on the journey and outcome of our lives.

3. Regular days are where you become excellent or complacent

I have already felt the tension between excellence and complacency in my short career thus far. Most of that tension is felt on the regular days when I could either become more efficient at what I’m currently doing OR become more effective what would I’m currently doing. What I mean is that I could either become an expert at being mediocre, aka finishing notes super fast, treating loads of patients with OK care, being able to manage my time well…or I can hone the craft and become more effective. Now my perspective is physical therapy but I think it applies to every industry. You can either strive to make your current work easier to pull off…requiring less brain power and effort to get the same level of work done. Or you can strive to make your work of a higher quality. I want fewer things more than to do the latter.