Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Routine?

Do you find yourself stagnant in life? Are you living each day by going through the motions, unaware that that you have the power to transform your life? Do you see others accomplishing so much and begin to feel that they must have all the time in the world?

Surely these people don’t have the same commitments as we do because we aren’t getting half the things done as they are as we continue to live in the cyclical world of mediocrity.

Newsflash to people who are in this destructive mindset, we all have the same 24 hours in a day.

The people who seem to be doing the most are the ones who live their lives by strategically cultivating a daily practice.

A productive routine allows you to show up everyday, even when you don’t feel like it. It helps you keep short work aligned with your long term objectives. Setting goals becomes less intimidating and you are eager to stand up to the challenge.

Following a routine gives you a sense of control in your life and we are going to talk about 4 ways I guarantee will boost your routine to generate success.

1. Scheduling Your Success

We all have a tendency to overestimate what we can produce in a short period of time. At the same time, we underestimate what we can produce over a long period of time. This generally happens because we don’t schedule our success.

The reason people are crushing life is because they live and die by their calendar and not their to-do list. They schedule blocks of time for designated activities each day.

Having a to-do list can be good, however, with no set deadlines or scheduled times to complete them, the list will keep growing and nothing will get done as there is no sense of urgency.

Tony Robbins states,

“What gets scheduled gets done. End of Story”

Scheduling different blocks of time for designated activities each day will:

keep you on track and move you on to the next task in a timely fashion
stop you from encroaching on your other important work
help you avoid over working

To be transparent, scheduling is something I’ve recently started to do and it’s made a huge difference in the past few months. I purchased a 4 month, white board calendar for setting up solid deadlines and blocking off time allotments for my tasks and goals. I’ve seen increased accountability and productivity with these changes.

The ordinary routine of scheduling blocks of time and deadlines will transform into creative rituals.

2. Creative Rituals

Creative rituals are the process of performing patterns of the same tasks knowingly or unknowingly. This stimulates your mind to where you find your zone and are able to flex that creative muscle.

These rituals can consist of creative triggers such as;

waking up early at the same time
using the same tools
being in the same surroundings
having the same background music
having the same food or beverage

These creative triggers signal that “it’s time to throw down”

Become aware of these rituals you perform and begin to use them to your advantage. When you can eliminate distractions and practice a process that is proven to work, you begin finding a rhythm and things start to work themselves out.

We as creatives need to learn what is working in our routine and what isn’t. The people who are the most successful have figured out that they need to do more of what works.

3. Frequency

Doing more of what works and doing it with consistency will propel you to the next level. Scheduling out your time and honing in on the power of creative rituals will allow you to become more frequent in your practice.

When we are producing at a high frequency, we are cultivating good habits which foster productivity and creativity. This helps us strive to be excellent and put out good work.

Aristotle states,

”We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Frequency allows us to begin looking for more ways to add more productivity in our routine. It’s less daunting implementing new tasks into our practice because we see the benefits of consistently performing our current ones. It leaves you wanting more and the pressure and intimidation of trying something new is absent.

Once you’ve become efficient and frequent with your work flow, you realize the importance of scheduling blocks of activity that can help promote a healthy lifestyle. You must schedule time to take care of yourself.

4. Preserving Yourself Mentally and Physically

It’s easy to keep pushing our bodies to the limits day in and day out. If you’re like me, you have embraced the art of hustling and seeing results has become an addiction.

I struggle mightily with the feeling of needing to invest every minute into work. If I take a break, I feel as if I am sleeping on opportunities to get better. We have a voice in our head telling us that someone else out there is working harder than we are and that we are losing the competitive edge.

However, we are setting ourselves up for burnout and creative block. In order to keep our minds and body working in top shape, we need to schedule time to take care of ourselves.

Picture your body as a car. Your car needs proper fueling and maintenance to keep running smoothly. We take take care of our bodies by:

Eating properly
Getting enough sleep
Exercising
Taking breaks

Eating properly and getting enough sleep are your fuel. You’re car will not function properly when you are running on fumes. Be aware of what you are putting in your body and realize that getting enough sleep will help you stay focused and feel alert instead of using sugary drinks as a crutch.

Taking time to exercise releases endorphins which make you feel good about yourself. It can also boosts creativity levels because you step away from your work only to have new ideas hit you when you’re in a different element.

Make sure you’re taking breaks. Step away from your work

I’m not trying to sound like your mother here but scheduling these into your routine will do wonders for your work flow and overall life.

My Routine

Tenacity and self-discipline has landed me into a routine that optimizes my work flow and gives my life fulfillment. Just so you know, I'm not living out the perfect dream life and my time in a week is scarce with all my commitments. I do work a 40 hour graphic design day job along with a freelancing gig several times per week at a t-shirt design company. Many of my friends think I am crazy as they are content working their 8 hour shifts and going home to watch hours of TV. The excuse of not having time is absent for me. I make time to accomplish goals and schedule success so that I can make Perspective-Collective become a full time job sooner than later with the Overlap Technique.

Below is a little insight to my weekday hustle and how I make things happen.

Mornings

My creative ritual starts by getting up at 4:20 a.m. so I can be in my office at 4:30 a.m. I immediately drink a glass of water. I than pour myself a coffee along with a bowl of cereal or steel cut oats. While I’m eating, I visualize the attack that I prepared the night before. Then it’s time to grind.

I sit in front of my screen prepared. The flashing cursor welcomes my thoughts. My mornings start with writing as that is when I think the most clearly with no distractions. (I will go more in depth on the benefits of early wake next week.)

I will write for nearly 2 hours before I need to start getting ready for work around 6:45 a.m. (I have to squeeze in a few minutes to feed my cats.) After I’m ready, I drive to work in complete silence so I can collect my thoughts on where I left off from my personal work and mentally prepare myself to take on a busy day with lots of client work and communication. When I arrive at the corporate office, I walk in confident, punching in at 7:25 a.m. 5 minutes early, every day.

Afternoon

Throughout my shift, I listen to podcasts and audio books all day. I fill my head to the brim with knowledge and inspiration. I have to keep a Field Notes sketchbook by my side as I am constantly getting hit with good ideas for blog topics or drawings. Lunch breaks consist of traveling the 5 minute commute home so I can work on a drawing or tend to e-mails as I avoid those in the morning so I can focus on my most important work.

Evening

After work, if I don’t have to go my secondary job, I perform my most important creative ritual which is going to the gym. I work out a minimum of 4 times per week. The gym is my sanctuary where I can let my brain escape from focusing on the pressures of writing and drawing. I transform into a different person as I let my competitive side take over whether I’m lifting or playing basketball. I leave feeling refreshed and all the endorphins I’ve released have me feeling on top of the world. The gym actually stimulates my creativity and I can’t wait to get home to hustle some more.

I get home around 6:30–7 p.m. where I will eat dinner with my wife and catch up on how our days went. I’ll head to my office till about 9 p.m. I’ve learned that drawing at nights is more productive for me rather than trying to write after a day full of noise and distraction.

I will usually stretch and then read for under an hour before I hit the lights at 10p.m. Before I go to sleep, I take a moment to prepare my moves for the next day and give thanks to the Man above for the day I was able to live out. I’ve trained myself to wake up early and work hard so that when it’s time to fall asleep, my body is begging me to stop working.

I’ve been performing this routine for over three months now and the results speak for themselves. There is always room for improvement and better efficiency, but I’m definitely headed in the right direction.

In Conclusion

The number one thing that drives me crazy is when people want something, yet they use the excuse that they don’t have time. This is the easy way out because it’s easier to tell yourself that you don’t have the time rather than taking a risk, being proactive and making some moves.

I'm also irritated when people complain that they aren’t creative or never feel inspired. Come on now people…

Inspiration doesn’t come to those that wait for it. You need get moving to find that motivation. The more you keep moving in your routine, the more focus you find in order to make things happen.

You’ll never reach your potential if you sit around being a slave to your newsfeeds and screens. Figure out what you want and start scheduling it into your routine. Stop making excuses and start making moves.

Key Takeaways

We all have the same 24 hours in a day
Schedule your success
Do more of what works
Use a calendar over a to-do list
Have creative rituals
Creative work first, reactive work second
Take care of yourself
Gym, Nutrition and Rest are essential
Make the time

As I wrap this up, I challenge you to implement one of the aforementioned rituals in your daily routine so you can slowly start to see the benefits in your work flow. I suggest your start with waking up early and focusing on you and your creative work!

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How to Create a Successful Routine & Optimize Workflow