From the Inspirational Thought Unit
Back in January I posted this quote for the inspirational thought from French author Gustave Flaubert:
“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”
I got asked by a reader of this newsletter how one actually executes this.
The more structure you can add to your life, the easier it is to deal with problems when they arise and oftentimes many problems vanish.
For example: I used to lose my keys, wallet, and sunglasses ALL THE TIME. It was so frustrating to need to go somewhere and have to spend 10 minutes searching the house for all my stuff. It was always a mini crisis when I couldn't find those things. That's just one example...but my entire life was that way. I had a cluttered office, I had a cluttered schedule, I had a cluttered mind. Eventually I woke up to the fact that these mini-crises were eating away at my creativity because the mental capacity it took to deal with them sapped the cognitive resources I needed for my creative work.
I implemented a "Solve Problems for Future Jake" mindset.
It went like this: One spot for my wallet, keys, and sunglasses. Whenever I get home they go to that spot. Whenever I have to leave, I don't have to search the house, I just need to check that spot. It takes the tiniest bit of more work on my part when I come home, but it is worth not having a crisis in a time crunch later.
I repeated that mindset in every area of my life. Whenever I got a new piece of information I needed to remember, I had a spot to put it: My planner.
I established a daily and weekly schedule for almost everything in my life. I knew when I would be getting up everyday, when I would be eating, working out, showering, and going to work. And each week I knew when I would do certain tasks like my newsletter, inbox (still trying to perfect his one) and patreon updates.
Over time as more and more structure was implemented in my life I found that I was more creative and productive because so much more brain power was available for creative endeavors instead of having to solve scheduling problems and chaotic situations.
Hope this helps someone like me!
-Jake