Routine fueling creativity

I'm probably misquoting but I think it's been said before by some old lady,

"Routine replaces strength" 

This really touched me when I heard it. And it is absolutely true, I am not talking about waking up or going to bed at the same time every night although that has countless health benefits and will no doubt lead to greater productivity. That doesn't necessarily mean sleeping less or waking up early either, you can get more done.

I think it is very straight forward, as humans our bodies and minds crave routine, and regularity. For example some artists have only one set of clothes so that they never have to think about what to wear, a black shirt and jeans. Every single day. That frees their mind up just a little bit more to think about more  important things.

Setting aside an hour or half an hour a day to do ONE thing, it can be anything productive. For example, every morning I spend 30 minutes writing, I write about anything. And immediately after that I spend 30 minutes drawing figures from photos. 30 minutes is not a lot of time to practice these things, but that time is not the only time that I do them, I may write later in the day or I may figure draw all day, but I do those two 30 minute sessions every day.

Eventually that has grown and leeched onto my other working methods, now instead of working on "this" for a little white and letting four hours go by without doing anything I'll open a file and decide, "I will work on this for one hour, then I will evaluate what I accomplished at the end of the hour."

I encourage you to try it, set aside 30 minutes each day when you know you will be free and do something that you know will help you, for me its writing and drawing, but for you it can be anything and it can be at any time of day. Stick to it for one week, I think you will notice a difference.