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Or, worse, you fight through your anxiety using an earlier solution that required willpower, and the exertion of willpower makes you feel like you’re trying. But the feeling of effort doesn’t mean that you’re Actually Trying.

At the end of each week or month, ask yourself:

• What routines supported me? What did I genuinely like?


• What felt forced or draining? What came naturally?


• What’s one small adjustment I can make?

The system should always be alive, not stagnant. You build and build until you’re set up for a routine that just works.

A good routine bends but doesn’t break. Plan for travel, late nights, or things not going according to plan. It’s a rhythm! If you miss a day, return the next—momentum matters more than perfection. Striving for perfection never gets us anywhere.

Build Rituals, Not Just Tasks

Rituals help you “cue” your brain into routine. Small, repeatable actions—like making coffee before writing, lighting a candle before brainstorming, or taking a short walk before editing—signal it’s time to shift gears.

Start with Anchors, Not a Full Schedule

Try to plan out your day as much as you can, but don’t fret about planning every hour. Instead, choose 2–3 anchor points in your day (e.g., wake-up time, morning creative block, bedtime wind-down).

My routine has become a vessel for my creativity and sensitivity flourish. It has offloaded those small decisions, those lackadaisical tasks, so my mind is freer to problem-solve, invent, and imagine.

Creativity, I’ve learned, requires a f*ck ton of cognitive fuel. If you’re constantly deciding when to work, where to work, or how to organize your day, you burn energy on logistics instead of ideas.

And while the act of creating is inherently unpredictable, we have to reject the idea that creative breakthroughs only appear out of nowhere. They actually show up when you’re consistently doing the work! A routine grounds you in something stable so you can take risks in your work without feeling unmoored in your life. It’s a kind of anchor that... See more