By Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert)
Years ago, I engineered my routine to concentrate my creative energy into a few hours in the morning.
That makes sense for me because I am the creator of "Dilbert." My value is based on my best ideas in any given day, not the number of hours I work.
Creativity is not something you can summon on command. The best you can do is set an attractive trap and wait. My mornings are the trap.
I wait for the ideas to arrive at their leisure, like a hunter in a duck blind. And in order for the trap to work, I exercise tight control over my physical environment.
The first 20 minutes of my day are exactly the same, step for step, every day, including weekends and holidays. I even eat and drink the same things — coffee and a protein bar — as soon as I wake up.
In other words, I set my physical body on autopilot for the morning. That frees my brain for creativity.
I am lucky to be a morning person. My alarm is set for 5 a.m., but if I wake up any time after 3:30 a.m., I call that close enough and pop out of bed with a hum and a bounce.
I’ll sleep when I’m dead, which might be soon; science tells us that averaging four hours of sleep per night is unhealthy. I have been under-sleeping for decades, and I just keep getting healthier. But don’t take medical advice from cartoonists.
Within 10 minutes of waking, I am at my desk in my home office. I enjoy my protein bar with my coffee because the tastes are amazing together.
Read the rest here.
What an uplifting article. Nice to have one scattered in there every once in a while.
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