Before I take off my shoes, I throw out any garbage or take out recycling. When I feed my cat, I clean her area. When I go to the bathroom, I will wipe the glass at least once a day. Making these associations have helped me keep my house clean. I like to knit uninterrupted so everything needs to be done for me to make tea and knit.
The way this video is shot, how it’s edited, the music choice etc… is STUNNING! It’s so beautiful to watch and I feel so lucky to watch content so thoughtfully made. Thank you so much! ❤️
I love that you've posted this just as I'm learning all the same things for myself! I thought that having a routine would distract from my creative work, but in reality the lack of routine let things pile up and created a far worse distraction. When my house/workspace is clean and tidy, I don't have any of those nagging "I should really get around to that" thoughts. Instead my mind feels free and confident that there's nothing else I should be doing in this moment but create, and I feel like I can really sink into the flow state. I've made so much more work that I'm proud of as a result lately - which I'm hoping to start sharing online soon too!
That's amazing! I hadn't even thought of the mental weight of being behind on maintenance tasks and how that would affect us each day! Thank you for sharing that!
I feel one thing that really helps me is in the past for doing art live streams, or when I was in my graphic design class, I'd rock out as much work as I could in that blocked off time that way it's strictly focused on that. Really miss those sort of days and hopefully will find that rhythm again to get myself back on that track of getting crap done. Have so many Christmas ornaments to get painted! Also happy birthday Rocket!
Mmmm! This is where i think that conceot of doing one thing at a time is important. It means even if we have lots to do we can still be present. Obviously I know there will always be times of stress but minimising that and compartmentalising what i need to do is what i'm working towards. I think in terms of psychology the confidence in myself that following routine can give me will make me more calm to not stress about other tasks while i'm working on something else.
Hmm. Yup, I have definitely struggled with routines to the point that following them really stressed me out. I didn't realize it though. For several years, I tried to follow routines that helped me set goals, plan, write todos and also to journal to keep track of it all. It was so stressful. I never felt like I had captured enough, or planned effectively enough or that I knew enough. Weird right? So after years of developing systems, trying to follow routines, planning and journalling, I stopped. I stopped trying to follow a routine and capture everything in a journal or notebook. And suddenly, I could breath again. I could focus again. My brain felt free and my creative spirit and inspiration started coming back to me. Whew- what a relief! Guess I had the wrong routine ;)
Yup! This essay made me think about routine as not one type that fits everyone (before i wanted to just do routines i had heard of before that worked for others) but a routine as a broad thing that can be tailored to our needs - now that a verbalise it - duh! But i honestly wasnt thinking about it that way. So really at a minimum - I suppose we could choose the thing we find easiest to do and make sure we show up to get some of the psychological benefits of routine!
one little trick i do is if im making tea or microwaving some lunch, while the kettle is boiling or the microwave is going i challenge myself to unload the dishwasher or load it up again, depending on which needs doing, and race the appliances to do it before they finish. i use pomodoro timers to race the clock too (it works when im writing, i have never written 1000 words faster than when i only had 10 minutes to do it) so for me finding other little challenges like that helps get other tasks done - and using the kitchen appliances as timers works cos the dishes are in the kitchen so it all happens in one area!
Thank you for your thoughts on this! I struggle a lot with chores and housekeeping on top of day job work and creative work. 100% agreed on using timers to make it easier. My brain struggles estimating how long things take and then, just like you said, I don’t want to do the dishes because it cuts into my fun time; when honestly 20 minutes for dishes is a blip during a whole day. One way I’ve tried to frame it in my mind is, “What’s a little favour I can do future me right now?” Something that I try to do in my writing is never leave myself on a blank page. If I wrap up a chapter and I’m ready to stop for the day, I at least plug one or two sentences into the next chapter so I don’t come back to an empty page; it’s like reaching out a hand through time and space. Same goes for household stuff: if I get started on sorting the laundry now, tomorrow I just have to take the hamper to the washing machine. It can be something as small as putting my shoes away into the cabinet. Most of the time, thanks to squirrelbrain, it snowballs into picking up one or two other things to tidy away. Tl;dr - Task initiation is hard for me, so framing it as a favour to future me and putting timers on things to show myself it’s not actually that huge of a time sink really helps.
Omg this is so so interesting!!! I love the idea of being a timetraveller and being friends with my "future self". Helping my future self out as I would help a friend! In the same way that we should talk to ourselves in the way we treat our friends!
I hide a spare key in a fake rock in the garden - saved us countless times! 😉 oh Rocket may like a song called Steady Rollin’ by the two gallants - his guitar playing reminded me of that song 🤓
@ thanks and do tell him he’s a very good driving instructor…if it was me I’d be screaming haha but I am terrified of driving in Sydney. The third work space could be the car 😊 I always feel like I need to get things done but I find that having a task on a post it note and rearranging them in priority order works for me, definitely stepping away and enjoying nature gets the imagination going ✌️
I thoroughly enjoyed this , that ceramic market looked amaaaaaaazing! The candle holder animals are so cute and your cat is the sweetest muffin , whenever he stretched right out upside down in your arms made me giggle , so incredibly cute , pets are so important .my little dogs share my art journey with me every day and they always make me smile . Thanks for sharing your days with us all❤️ p.s excuse my grammar , I’m always confused where to put commas and things lol
hiya 👋new subscriber, here. i struggle SO much with routine. im a biz owner and i work from home in my RV (little tiny baby mini 27 ft of life/work balance lol) and we travel constantly so the forces in my life are always making it tough to stick to routines but LAWD did i need to hear some of those quotes from that book (which will be DEF end up in my kindle later) thank you for sharing this absolutely LOVELY video 💝
Mhmm!!! Not everyone has the opportunity to naturally have what we typically think of as routine - but in the chaos where can we anchor ourselves each day or week. I think it's like - doing with what works for us so we can reap the psychological rewards outlined in the essay that come from routine!
When I start to feel dread or procrastination about tasks I need to do but aren't nice to do e.g. taking down and putting away laundry, cleaning the bathroom, just clearing the sink of dishes, sometimes I have to slog through them, but once I'm done I talk positively to myself about how I feel once the task has been done, and the reward of a clothing/clutter-free bedroom, a bathroom that feels fresh, or knowing next meal time I'm just able to focus on the meal ahead and not on navigating the messy kitchen first. Funny enough once the task is done I nearly always can't help but think "wow, that task did not feel as bad as I thought it would feel!" or "this didn't take so long at all!" Over time, doing this positive thinking has helped me to boost motivation for the great things I will feel after the task, and slowly I've found it easier to do those yucky/boring activities as I have started to shift my understanding of them from "I hate doing this" to "I don't enjoy this task but the effort is worth it for [xyz reasons]." Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences regarding routine!! It's nice to know other people are going through similar things, and trying thoughtfully to balance all the things they want in life!
This is actually great to remember too! Think about the end result if you aren'r enjoyinf the process. Because really if we didn't desire the end result why would we be doing the task in the first place! Thank you for sharing!
