Life Cycle of a Routine

1.    Chugging along, the Happy Idiot.

2.    Disruptive threat to the routine emerges.

3.    Dismissal of the threat as beyond the realm of the possible.

 
4.    Anger at realizing the threat is in fact real.

 
5.    Despair and befuddlement over how to deal.

6.    Tinker with or blow up the old routine, often under time pressure.

7.    Surprise.

8.    New routine, the Happy Idiot redux.

 

9.    Repeat.