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"A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods."
The routines of successful creatives fascinate me.
Here are 10 of my favorite routines from some of history's most prolific people
Thread...
The routines of successful creatives fascinate me.
Here are 10 of my favorite routines from some of history's most prolific people
Thread...
1/ W.H. Auden
“A modern stoic,” he observed, “knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.”
“A modern stoic,” he observed, “knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.”
2/ Anthony Trollope
"All those I think who have lived as literary men will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. But, he should train himself that he shall be able to work continuously during those three hours."
"All those I think who have lived as literary men will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. But, he should train himself that he shall be able to work continuously during those three hours."
3/ Gertude Stein
"Stein confirmed that she had never been able to write much more than half an hour a day—but added, “If you write a half hour a day it makes a lot of writing year by year. To be sure all day and every day you are waiting around to write that half hour a day.”
"Stein confirmed that she had never been able to write much more than half an hour a day—but added, “If you write a half hour a day it makes a lot of writing year by year. To be sure all day and every day you are waiting around to write that half hour a day.”
4/ Henry Miller
Two or three hours in the morning were enough for him. But he stressed the importance of a daily creative rhythm.
“I know that to sustain these true moments of insight one has to be highly disciplined, lead a disciplined life”
Two or three hours in the morning were enough for him. But he stressed the importance of a daily creative rhythm.
“I know that to sustain these true moments of insight one has to be highly disciplined, lead a disciplined life”
5/ Haruki Murakami
Murakami wakes at 4:00 A.M. and works for five to six hours straight. In the afternoons he runs or swims (or does both), runs errands, reads, and listens to music; bedtime is 9:00. “I keep to this routine every day without variation,”
Murakami wakes at 4:00 A.M. and works for five to six hours straight. In the afternoons he runs or swims (or does both), runs errands, reads, and listens to music; bedtime is 9:00. “I keep to this routine every day without variation,”
6/ Chuck Close
“In an ideal world, I would work six hours a day, three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.”
“Inspiration is for amateurs,” Close says. “The rest of us just show up and get to work.”
“In an ideal world, I would work six hours a day, three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.”
“Inspiration is for amateurs,” Close says. “The rest of us just show up and get to work.”
7/ BF Skinner
".. treat his daily writing sessions like a laboratory experiment, conditioning himself to write every morning with self-reinforcing behaviors: he started and stopped by the buzz of a timer, and he carefully plotted the number of hours he wrote on a graph"
".. treat his daily writing sessions like a laboratory experiment, conditioning himself to write every morning with self-reinforcing behaviors: he started and stopped by the buzz of a timer, and he carefully plotted the number of hours he wrote on a graph"
8/ William James
"The more details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers will be set free for their own proper work. There is no more miserable human being than those where nothing is habitual but indecision
"The more details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers will be set free for their own proper work. There is no more miserable human being than those where nothing is habitual but indecision
9/ Ernest Hemingway
You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there. You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next. Then you stop until the next day.
You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there. You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next. Then you stop until the next day.
