Why Routine is Important. And So is Breaking It!

Some weeks creative work is more drudge than drama. More rut than inspiration. 

While grunt work is always going to be part of the creative process, sometimes we need to change things up.

​There are weeks when I’m super-productive in the sense that I tick off everything on my to do list. While there’s a certain virtuous feeling at the end of them, oddly these weeks don’t feel very satisfying - segwaying as they do, into the next week, and another round of to do’s.

But occasionally I have a week where my inner rebel refuses to follow the plan. 

• I’m supposed to draft a blogpost, I edit an old one.
• I’m supposed to share my latest post on social media, I go trawling for interesting new podcasts.
• My to do list says to finish a project, I start gathering reference materials for the next one.
• I should stay in and edit a document so I go out and walk on the beach.
• I should be painting so I do abstract drawing instead.

What’s interesting about these weeks is that I generally feel ful-filled at the end of them. Full and filled. I’ve filled the creative well.

I’ve probably taken in more than I’ve sent out into the world.

I’ve often tied up a lot of lose ends that have secretly been bugging me, but no amount of adding them to a list ever seemed to get them done.

I’ve followed hunches and scratched itches that at some point will create the basis of new work.
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​“We mistake leisure for idleness, and work for creativity.”
Roger Scruton

​At first glance my behaviour might look like some kind of crazed procrastination. It’s not linear, orderly or ‘productive’ in the classic to-do list sense, but on some strange level, it needs to be done.

Perhaps you could think of it as an antidote. 

Or a balancing act. 

At heart I’m quite a rebellious sort of person. I have a natural aversion to routine. 

But I know that routine is good for me in the most part. It’s mental muscle-memory that takes the decision-making out of getting things done. It gets my blogposts posted on a Sunday and my newsletters out quarterly. It has my butt in my art chair at the same time most days advancing my current project forward.

Routine has an honoured place in my life but part of me also finds it sacred to periodically break it.
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“...if you define “productive” as meaning “get more done” or “do more”, then no, Do Less won’t lead to that kind of productivity.

But if instead you define “productivity” as a means of making the most of your actions, of the time you spend working (or doing anything), of being as effective as possible, then Do Less is the best way to be productive.”

Leo Babauta (https://zenhabits.net/the-lazy-manifesto-do-less-then-do-even-less/)

​In routine-breaking times, I ride bare-back on the Muse.  I allow the beauty of nature to sweep me away in a frenzy of photo-taking. Or I drown myself in deep dreams that leave my mind clear and fresh as sparkling mountain dew. 

On these dazzling days, I throw up the puzzle pieces of my life and let them fall down anew. Awed at the way familiar patterns form with a different twist; how unfathomable puzzles suddenly clarify before my eyes. 

So when you wake up one day and your creative routine feels...well...just not creative. Maybe it’s time to sacredly break it for a little while. 

To go out and dance with the Muse.

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More like this?

Read: Why you need to infuse your creative practice with Joy.
​and get your FREE Creative Joy Worksheet

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