Getting started on a creative routine

This post will not just be talk on how I establish my creative routine, but you can join me in some simple exercises to get creative yourself.

Okay, let’s start with the following premise: You just decided to take on your creative dream. You have the day ahead of you. Where do you start?
(Or if you have a day job and have to leave for work, try to get up early and do at least one of the following exercises.)

Morning pages

I started today with writing my morning pages. For me this is actually a new exercise, that was recommended by fellow writers and the book „The Artists Way“ by Julia Cameron.
It’s simple. You get up, first thing you do (after a bathroom break) is take a pen and paper and start writing down what’s on your mind.

If you have no idea what to write, just write about how you have no idea, no motivation even to do this exercise. Write down your grocery shopping list or fragments you remember from a dream. Write about how your hand starts hurting from a cramped grip on the pen or how the birds nest on a tree in front of your window. Anything. Write three pages. Don’t stop to think. Don’t judge. Just write.

This kind of freewriting is just to get into a flow and to establish a habit of daily writing. Because if you already wrote something, you might as well keep doing so and work on an actual idea. A story, a novel, a script, a game concept.

You can also do something similar if you’re an artist. Just do some quick sketches. In that case you may want to set a timer to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Now these morning exercises are just to get you to fill those darn empty pages.

Morning meditation

I continue with some streching and a morning meditation of twenty minutes. This is something I picked up last year when my dayjob was stressing me out to a point, where I felt, I just had to find a way to relax. I’m using Playne (link) and it has really helped me. But if you’re not the meditation type, feel free to skip this part.

Writing

After a light breakfast (like a bowl of cereal) I start my actual writing routine. I sit down at my desk and I either write down ideas or continue working on where I stopped the day before.
I will talk more about my writing process in another post.

I try to stay free from distactions during this time. Turn off your phone, close the door. Stay off the internet. There are tools (such as Cold Turkey) that help you block websites for a certain time, if that helps you.
As I’m not a blogger, I do not include emails or social media posts in my writing time. There is time for that later.
I keep working until noon when I have a lunch break for half an hour.

Afternoon: code and study

A quarter or half of my creative work day is already over by now. (Depending if you’re aiming for a six or eight hour day.)
I prefer to use the afternoon for tasks like studying or programming.
Is there a tool you need to learn? Now is the time to look at it.
Bonus if you’re a writer: You may read as many books as you can carry.

Relaxing tasks: art sketches

When I feel my concentration is reaching a low, I switch over to playful creative tasks.

Something new I like to try is creating some simple pixel art, the equivalent to morning pages or sketches. I set a timer to a maximum of 5 to 30 minutes depending on canvas size and start pixeling.
I first decide on a size 16x16 up to 32x32 for very quick sketches. I don’t do anything bigger than 64x64 in these exercises, though. I want to try and finish a piece.
Again this is not about perfectionism. It can be a draft. If you end up with something halfway done, try to focus on what’s there and not on what’s is missing.
Tool wise I prefer to use Aesprite, but you can use any tool of your choice. If you don’t have anything installed, you can use Piskel in your browser.

You can of course do the same in the art style of your choice. You can draw, paint or if you’re more into 3D modelling you can also do that.

If you enjoy photography, you may want to look through your collection of recent pictures that you want to share online. Maybe they need some light tweaking?

Are you done with your creative and cognitive-heavy tasks of the day?

Is there one thing that you feel is done? Good. If not, ask yourself, does it feel like you will get this done today? If not, maybe your task was too big and you should split it into smaller bits tomorrow.

Boring tasks: the rest

There may be some tasks left that you feel you should do, but you really don’t feel motivated. First: write them down. These may be daily tasks like going to the store, taking down the trash, feeding the washing machine or doing the dishes. Now is a good time to do those.
You may ask, but isn’t this cheating? Your 6 or 8 hours aren’t over yet and this doesn’t feel like real work.
Well, consider this: In the office, how much time is spent on meetings or a quick talk on the hallway by the coffee machine?
So yeah, you’re welcome to do them now. You’re girlfriend/boyfriend, wife/husband, cat/dog, collectibles/stuffed-animal friends will probably be glad.

For those into structure / time tracking / gamification

There are a whole bunch of tools to keep track of tasks and your time and setup little fun challenges along the way.
You can even do that on paper. Write down tasks as they come to your mind. Important ones first. If you feel like you’ve reached the limit of what you can do on a day, you can stop.
If you’re free to structure your whole day, you may want to know where your time is going. You can use a tool like aTimeLogger on your smartphone to track how long you did what. If you intend to put most time into task A and feel frustrated you got little done, you may want to look at task B which ate most of your time. This is a way to notice those time-sinks.
You also might want to set a time to remind you, when your work day is over.

Personally it helps me to keep up streaks. I have daily tasks that I want to put some time into, even if it is just 15 minutes.
This can be especially helpful if you’re following your creative dream next to a day job and other obligations.
You really would like to do that creative thing, but there just is no time.
Say you want to write a novel, but when should you sit down to write it? It’s just so much work, right?
Well, why don’t you decide you want to write one page a day. Sounds doable?
Keep that up for a year and you easily have a debut novel-length manuscript.

Take care of yourself

Important for those stuck at home: Don’t forget to take breaks. There are even tools for that. I use BreakTaker, which reminds me once every hour to stretch my legs.
Remember if this is supposed to work, you need to take care of yourself. Your health is important.

Unwind

Congratulations, you did it! Your creative work day is complete.
You created something that wasn’t there before. It may not be perfect (nothing ever is). You may not be perfectly happy with it (try to be at least a little bit).

The beautiful thing about creative work is, each day at a time you can make a difference. It’s always about that. Every great project is built one idea, one page, one sketch, one subroutine but most importantly one day at a time.

For the rest of the day, you’ve earned to relax in your favorite spot and do whatever you enjoy (other than your work).