Creative people rebel against routines as a method of stifling their creative juices. But without habits, your life becomes a series of firefighting chaos every day to get things done. Fighting against structure and organization leads to confusion.  Most successful people have structure and organization as a means of being productive and getting things done. It provides a way to control stress and do the things that are important to you and your life.  Does it have to be rigid?  No, flexibility within boundaries leads to feelings of accomplishment, furthers the ability to have time for creativity, and focus on what is essential to your life, not what others want for you.  It gives you a sense of ownership, establishes the order, and organizing frees up time spent on the chaotic frenzies to accomplish your needs. You can see what you have done, not focus on what you have not done. Instead of hard task-driven schedules, give yourself some flexibility.  The one thing I am faithful to is a set bedtime and a rise time. The rest of the time, my routines are in blocks of time, rather than in minute increments.

For Instance: my morning routine consists of washing my face, drinking a cup of hot lemon water, making my bed, getting dressed, even when working at home.  I put on regular shoes, not my pj’s and house shoes. Take the dogs out and water the garden.  I allow approximately 20 -30 minutes. Work: Since I work out of a home office, I schedule 8- noon as work time relating to the different reports, calls, research that are important to each of my clients. Noon until 2 pm: I eat, take the dogs out, take a short walk or nap. 2 pm until 4 pm: office work.

4 pm-6 pm make out my task list for the next day, fix dinner, feed animals, and exercise.  6pm-8pm: writing sprints. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I have scheduled writing groups for 1.5 hours. On Saturday: work in the garden 6 am-8 am, work on my blog, attend writing meetings or sprints. 3 pm-9 pm family visiting time. Sunday; free day. Usually, work in the garden, write in my blog, catch up on my knitting vlogs, plan out menus and schedules for next week.  I have no problem borrowing time from the different sections.  For Instance: If on Monday, my son needs me to go with him for a medical procedure. Whatever time it takes, I use the same time out of the family time to catch up on the work time that I missed. That allows flexibility in order and supports sanity in our lives. Are there times that everything goes wrong, or life interferes? Of course, just chalk it up to life and start back on track the next day.