The Art of Routine

Cubist sketch in my altered book with quote from Seth Godin in The Icarus Deception; How High Will You Fly?

Much as we often balk at it - and me more than most - Routine helps us make daily progress on our creative path by ensuring we show up.

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.

Tasks have a habit of expanding to fill the time available, so anchoring these blocks of time in our daily calendar makes us more efficient at getting other tasks done as there is just no time to run on with them.

I have a simple little goals app called Dream Saver on my iphone 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, we have to accept that there will be days when our routine goes out of the window - and really I wouldn’t like to imagine a life where that wasn’t possible - but the quicker we can get back to the routine, the less likely it is that we will fall off the creative wagon.

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In my book, Blast Your Creative Blocks, I talk more about Routine and her sisters, Rhythm and Rest - all of which are necessary for a balanced creative life. Get it now on your Kindle/Kindle app*.

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*Don't worry if you don't have a Kindle - get the Free Kindle Reading Apps for your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Android phone here.