we should all have an ✨output✨ morning routine
seriously, it changed me forever.
I woke up overwhelmed.
nothing happened, per se, but my mind was reeling and I felt anxious. my days were a little chaotic and going to the gym was almost impossible - I was fighting a cold that. just. refused. to. go. away.
so it’s not a complete surprise I was also feeling the most un-creative being on the planet. I didn’t want to write or publish on Instagram or Substack, for that matter.
no, all I really wanted to do was re-read all three books from The Empyrean Series for a third time and drown myself in fanfart and fanfiction so I could cope.
I doom-scrolled instead.
in my defence, most of my scrolling was related to theories about the books and what the fourth installment will bring (who knows when that will come??). still, it wasn’t the most productive of weeks.
one day, though, when I was starting to have some energy to fight the horrible habit I fell back into, I decided to look for a new challenge. maybe I should try experimenting with my routine, see if I can shake this book hangover and start feeling joy in creating again?
I turned to my favourite creativity/writing writer:
. I love the ‘Steal Like An Artist’ trilogy and I turn to those books whenever I need a creative pick-me-up. they’re short, easy to read and visually appealing to me.now, Austin has a very different lifestyle than me. for starters, he doesn’t have a 9-5 anymore, which I do. he has a wife and kids, and I’m single and not looking to be a mother anytime soon (or ever). he lives in Austin, Texas, and I made Montreal, Canada, my home.
so I had to consider that when trying to apply his routine to mine.
however, while I was researching his way of doing things, I realized something.
maybe I should start my mornings outputting instead of inputting.
I know, those terms are super startup-y and productivity-related, but I can’t for the life of me think of a more straightforward way to put it. the feeling of overwhelm I was dealing with wasn’t because I was doing too much, but because my mind was full of useless information all. the. time.
I was consuming more than creating and if you’ve seen even one video/Instagram post/book about creativity, you know that we need to consume less to create more.
so I needed to recalibrate the scale.
austin kleon is my muse
I don’t want to idolize Austin Kleon (even though I’m doing it already, sort of), but I’ve always been fascinated by his way of looking at things, specifically, the creative practice. he keeps telling us that the first rule of writing is ‘apply ass to chair’, and I was doing anything but that, even though I was spending most of my days sitting down looking at a screen.
and the truth is, I missed writing. just for the sake of it, you know? without a specific output in mind. even journaling was out of the picture for me.
I talked a little bit about my feeling of being invisible here, and this creative slump just made it worse. I was feeling behind in life and with my art. everyone was writing more than me, creating more than me, making more money with their writing than me, hell, just living more than me.
so, as most of us do when we need a little comfort, I went after my favourite person to look for guidance. in 'Steal Like an Artist', Austin tells us that the ‘right’ kind of stealing is a combination of another’s idea or practice and your own twist.
I thought I could do that.
I was positive there was some article/podcast/video/tweet where Austin talked about his morning routine in full (I could only find this article though), but I knew he spent the first hours of his day writing his journal, updating his notebooks and taking a long walk with his family.
the order of my routine can change depending on how long it takes me to get up after my alarm rings. I have a dog and a formal job to attend (even though I work from home), so between walking Michael Scott (yes, that is his name. for real. I know!), exercising and showering and getting ready for work, I might need to move things around a little bit.
it’s been almost two weeks since I started this mourning routine revamp exercise and I realized there’s no better way to start the day than allowing myself time to dump everything that’s in my mind before adding information to the mix.
I think we underestimate how much useless stuff we accumulate daily and how cluttered our minds can get if don’t pay attention. so allowing myself to get things out instead of in transformed the way I was facing my days.
I was calmer and concentrating on tasks became easier
I was also more creative and writing started to be fun again
I looked into creating art that was more aligned with what I believed in
I became more patient with myself and others
mindlessly scrolling starting to look dull and annoying again
the most important thing, though, was that I was feeling optimistic again. I never noticed how sad and pessimistic we can feel after investing so much time in looking at the creation and life of others and disconnecting from our own.
because that's what I was feeling: disconnection. I allowed myself to step away from me and be judgmental and mean with how I was acting and feeling. like being sick was a problem, a mistake and a sign of weakness. as if being affected by the harsh canadian weather was a character flaw because, after all, I'm supposed to be strong and smart and good all the time, right?
(eldest daughters, let's please hold hands.)
I’m trying not to make social media the villain in my story, but it’s hard. I’m also trying really really hard to not be one of those ‘you should quit social media!’ type of people because, again, I know how difficult that can be and how addictive these platforms are.
but it’s getting harder, you know?
anyway, I don’t mean to sound repetitive. coming back to my morning routine, I noticed day after day, my increasing mood and how clear my mind felt. I was able to think about my goals again and how I wanted to achieve them - hell, I even went out on my first day of the year! (please clap, I need the validation!)
my new morning routine (output version)
getting back to Austin Kleon, I took everything I could find about his daily practices, mixed it up with my own and came out with an adapted version that’s been working wonders. again, the idea is to output and not input - take things out of my mind before I even start thinking about consuming any kind of content or information:
I (try my best to) wake up at 5 am. I've been doing this since I was ten because I had to, and that’s pretty much my default setting.
take Michael for a quick walk around the block so he can do his business.
back home, I make breakfast.
instead of reading after eating, I journal for 15-20 minutes.
I then update my bullet journal with notes from the day before and create a list of things to do on the current day.
I also update my reading journal / commonplace book with whatever is on my mind or quotes from books, movies or TV shows I read/watched the day before.
I finally go to the gym, do my regular workout or walk the treadmill - the same distance Austin covers, about 3 miles (~4km in real people distance).
back home again, I shower and get ready for work.
have my second walk of the day with Michael so he can see the world.
make coffee and a snack and sit down to work
only after I sit at my desk to start work I’ll take a look at my notifications, messages, etc., to check if there’re any pressing matters or urgent texts I need to answer (that’s rarely the case). also, consider that depending on how difficult it was for me to get up that day (hey, it’s still winter and I still like my very cozy very warm bed), I have to go to the gym before doing the whole bullet journal / commonplace book thing.
sometimes, there’s not much updating to do on that front and I have more time to read before working. or it’s snowing/raining/miserable outside and my walks with Michael are shorter. the key word here is flexibility. I’m trying to adapt and reroute as much as I need but the first rule applies:
put all your thoughts in the paper before everything else.
it’s been working so far. and I love it. I hope I don’t get pulled into another addictive fantasy book series that will destroy me emotionally and disrupt my self-control, but so far, I think this is the best morning routine I’ve ever tried.
hopefully knowing about it can help you feel better too.
hey, did you enjoy this essay? if your answer is ‘yes’, can I ask you a huge favor? share it with someone you love - it might do wonders for them too! you only need to hit the buttom below:
that’s it for today.
take care,
Love this ♥️ going to try next week!