Smash Your Morning Routine

Every weekday morning, I get up at 4:30 am. I journal, exercise, and meditate. All before my family wakes up around 6:30 am. I’ve formed this morning routine over years. And it has served me well. In fact, I also credit it with keeping my sanity during the pandemic.

It has also been holding me back.

I had the opportunity to go on vacation for a week with my family. Like always, I took my gear with me, planning on continuing at least a partial morning routine. But, then life happened. The days at the park were long. Little sleep was had. My morning routine slipped. For the first time in at least a year, I missed my morning journaling.

And, for the first time, it felt freeing. I felt like I was free to just be – no planning, no thinking, just allowing the creativity of my surroundings marinate.

Habits, consistency, discipline – all of them are useful. But, when habit becomes routine, we risk slipping into limited view points. And for a creative, limiting our view point is corrosive. Our routines are meant to provide us with structure to take our wild ideas and channel them into something beautiful. But, the view can start to look stale after a while and that affects the quality of your work.

Now does that mean I’m abandoning all my routines? No. But I am tweaking them. Taking a break allowed me to see what wasn’t working anymore, motions that were now so habitual they weren’t feeding my creativity but rather stifling it.

Take the opportunity to change your routines, your habits when you can.