Routine can be good. It can mean simple, minimalistic days with productive habits and behaviours so deep they leave grooves in the workshop; days so predictable and dependable you don’t need a schedule. These kinds of days are perfect for low stress, high productivity, deep work and reflective practice – but they can drive you slowly up the wall. They don’t take you out of your comfort zone which is where, amongst other things, growth, zest and inspiration can happen.
My first makeovers were my bedroom. I’d move everything in my realm around. In doing so, layout problems would be solved, possessions would be sorted out Kondo style, and I’d enjoy a sense of newness and novelty for months afterwards. This external, environmental, compensatory control can be a significant inner life hack if you don’t have control of much else (even of your own thoughts and emotions). For example, by rearranging the items on your desk you are enacting a ritual that can help you focus.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with my days; giving them a makeover. I’m not rearranging my environment but rather the timing of the elements in my days. The point of this post is less about the original problem I was trying to solve but is more about the delightful secondary benefits: the sense of play and inevitable new thinking and fresh perspective that arises from the objects in my day being in different places. This started as a question of optimisation but has become more about play.
When things are new, time slows down.
Work doesn’t have to fit between 9 and 5. You can experiment with a more integrated day and tap into different cognitive energy resources (many people are more creative in the evenings). Can you move meetings outside? Can you play with Pomodoro timing if you haven’t before? See what energy you can unlock and what new quality you can give the time in your day.