Wednesdays were my ācreative days.ā I tried to remind myself that the reason I made the dramatic career change was to do what I loved: create stuff. So even though The Dad was growing and there were all kinds of new responsibilities and intense non-creative stresses, I kept Wednesdays sacred for creative time.
That was my routine. I stuck to it.
Every Wednesday, I woke up fired up and ready to start creating, overflowing with inspiration and creative motivation. LOL yeah right.
Some weeks Iād absolutely NOT be feeling it. Iād have no ideas, no spark. But Iād do it anyway.
Wednesday creative days were sacred not just so the time would be untouched by other obligations, but also to force myself to actually create stuff.
If I only did creative work when I felt like it, Iād very rarely do creative work.
Creativity is sometimes spontaneous. But I find that to be rare, at least for me. I need a rigid structure and routine that sets the guardrailsā¦ day, time, place, mediumā¦ and then I create stuff within that framework.
Routine is critical for making consistent progress on anything, but especially for creativity.
Author Mark Manson says:
āAction isnāt just the effect of motivation, but also the cause of it.ā
If you only created stuff when pure inspiration struck, you probably wouldnāt create much.
You canāt wait around until you āfeel like it.ā Get started anyway. āDo something,ā as Mark Manson states in his principle aptly called the āDo Somethingā principle.
Donāt wait for inspiration in order to do something. Do something and that will cause the inspiration.
Usually. Sometimes. It definitely helps. And either way, youāve done something. And itās something you clearly wanted to do, which is why you created the routine in the first place.
Perhaps it goes against your artistic instincts to send yourself a recurring calendar invitation titled āCreative Time.ā Creatives arenāt that structured and rigid! Theyāre free spirits sipping scotch in a bathrobe at 1pm waiting for inspiration to strike!
Only in the movies.
Try it. Pick the project you really want to make progress on. Then create a rigid routine and STICK TO IT. Could be a daily, weekly, monthly block of time. When the time comes, get to work, no exceptions.
Donāt feel motivated? Do it anyway. The motivation will follow.
The post you just read ONLY EXISTS BECAUSE OF ROUTINE. I promised myself Iād write a substack every Monday morning. And here we are.
Actually, this Wednesday is my 15th wedding anniversary. Laura told me the only gift sheād like is for me to write the story of how we met and fell in love. So my plan was to use my substack time to write the story. Iād share it here and with with her.
I casually mentioned this to her, āIāll be writing the story for my stubstack on Monday!ā And she said āHahahahaha good one.ā She thought I was kidding. Which of course I was. OBVIOUSLY. Hi Laura!
So instead of a sentimental story that moves you to joyous tears, you get a pretentious self help piece about routine. Donāt blame me, blame āthe concept of romantic love.ā
Now if youāll excuse me, Iāve got a story to write with a rigid deadline.