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I am a man who likes routine. Who performs his best when he knows what’s next. I’m not great with surprises or sudden changes of plans.

Indeed, in Turkey, I built my own house in a hard-to-get-to village almost solely to escape the social habits of friends and family, turning up uninvited at the least convenient moment, aborting our own plans without warning.

Routine, where it would bore others, suits me to the tee. I’m the kind of person who must always fly the same airline from the same airport, taking the same taxi there and back. I don’t care if that makes it expensive: it’s more important that I know what to expect.

Spontaneity is the spice of life, say some. Good for them. I’d rather know what awaits me. Curve balls, though lobbed daily at work, have a tendency to throw me completely. Routines have the benefit of keeping me consistent.

It used to be that I would spend Sunday mornings travelling across counties for a morning of study in Luton every week. On my way home, almost without fail, I’d do the weekly grocery shop, breaking the journey at Dunstable Aldi en route.

After months of practice, I had the perfect routine. I’d buy nearly the same items on each visit. The same quanties of fruit and veg. I knew exactly where to find everything. I knew what it would cost. The order I’d put it in my trolley. And my checkout procedure? I’d honed it to a fine art.

But that was then. These days, I’m considerably unpractised. I’ve become a disorganised purchaser of bits and bobs from the local corner shop as required. Yesterday was my first big supermarket shop in ages, and my disorientation was palpable.

I recalled that I had replaced those routines with a new one: a weekly stroll in the countryside with a friend, breaking midway at a café for coffee. Occasionally, our routes may vary, but the destination is always the same.

It turns out that I am a chap who needs routine if I am to achieve anything at all. I need to develop habits, lest everything fall into disarray. Otherwise, my mind will be all over the place, fleeting from one thing to another.

The trick is developing habits that are beneficial. Doing a good deed. Being kind or giving charity. A tiresome job done regularly. But, alas, too often, the habits that occupy us are those passive actions: reach for phone and scroll.