Creative People Seek Routines

Creative People Seek Routines

You know the stereotype of the creative genius who it spontaneous, keeps odd hours, disappears for a time. Let us blast that stereotype. This weekend I leave for Germany and another trip through the labyrinth of Hannover Messe. Typically at trade fairs, we are exposed to the fruits of a year’s labor developing new products. These will be touted with words such as creative, ground-breaking, unique, Few, in reality, will be that extreme. Many will be useful. Maybe a few will push a boundary. Maybe a couple will break new ground. I will be in search for the creative.

Curious about creativity, I read through Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Sunday morning. By the way, the pursuit of less (simplicity) is itself a fruitful discipline.

He quotes Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit), “Routine…In fact the brain starts working less and less. The brain can almost shut down… And this is a real advantage, because it means you have all this mental activity you can devote to something else.”

Ah, routine. I glanced at the clock as I depressed the plunger on the French Press this morning. 5:51 am. That is plus or minus five minutes from every day as I prepare the morning’s coffee for Bev and me (except today it’s all mine–she’s traveling). Then I sit down with a light breakfast and gather my thoughts for a couple of posts.

Back to McKeown. He cites Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his classic Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, said, “Most creative individuals find out early what their best rhythms are for sleeping, eating, and working, and abide by them even when it is tempting to do otherwise. They wear clothes that are comfortable, they interact only with people they find congenial, they do only things they think are important. Of course, such idiosyncrasies are not endearing to those they have to deal with… But personalizing patterns of action helps to free the mind from expectations that make demands on attention and allows intense concentration on matters that count.”

Maybe try:

  • Get adequate sleep
  • Rise, drink water, move a little
  • Meditate, read something spiritually oriented, pray
  • Light breakfast with some protein
  • Exercise
  • Get ready for the day

Go with the flow! Decide many things ahead of time so that more energy is available for real work–Deep Work as Cal Newport describes it.

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