Can Habits Benefit Creativity?

"To be successful, you need to work hard." You've probably heard this idea in some form many times in your life. And it's hard to argue with it. The main problem is that working hard is much less effective if you don't plan for it.

Of course, you can get up in the morning (or in the afternoon — it doesn't matter when you wake up if you have no work plan) and reflect: Do I have inspiration today? Where will I work? And what will I do? But asking yourself these daily questions can be a waste of resources and impede your capacity to do your job.

The opposite is also true: the more actions you perform automatically (i.e., habits), the more valuable time and resources you give yourself for asking yourself more interesting questions and doing fascinating things.

If you're still sure scheduling only hinders highly creative people from doing their job, check out biographies of Franz Kafka, Joan Miró, and other famous writers and painters. You'll see that most of them stuck to a strict schedule every day.

An approach like this really works and leads to success. If productivity depended on waiting for inspiration to strike and avoiding stable routines, not much would ever get created or finished.

To become successful, no matter your goal, schedule your essential activities and make sure they don't depend on motivation or inspiration. Even if the workflow is tough and its quality doesn't meet your expectations, try not to be discouraged. Remember that this is just an essential step of training on the way to a fantastic result.