The Art of Routine

We often balk at it. Me more than most. But routine helps us make daily progress on our creative path by ensuring we show up.

Tasks have a habit of expanding to fill the time available.

​Anchoring blocks of time in my daily calendar makes me more efficient at getting other tasks done as there is just no time to run on with them.

​Since getting back from a long period over the summer where my attention was unavoidably focussed on things other than art, I have been trying to get into good daily habits of which studio time and a session on my yoga mat are the basic foundations.

I have a simple little goals app called Dream Saver on my phone which I like predominately because the wording of the reminder is ‘Time to Practice’.

It always reminds me of this quote from Natalie Goldberg,

“This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it…You practice whether you want to or not. You don’t wait around for inspiration and a deep desire to run…”

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

​Of course, I have to accept that there will be days when my routine goes out of the window - and really I wouldn’t like to imagine a life where that wasn’t possible.

But the quicker I can get back to the routine, the less likely it is that I will fall off the creative wagon.
​
​