On creating anchors over routines
Words by Madeleine Dore
Routine isn’t for me. That might sound odd given routine is in the title of this very project, but over the years of interviewing people, I’ve found I’m not alone in my inability to stick to a schedule.
Instead of elaborate routines, many people I interview have simple anchors or checkboxes.
A personal favourite belongs to renowned author and illustrator Maira Kalman who starts her days reading the obituaries – an anchor that serves as the ultimate wake-up call. “Reading the obituaries every morning makes you really conscious of the fact that you have a very limited amount of time,” she said.
Another favourite belongs to artist and author Austin Kleon who has a portable routine composed of checkboxes.
On any given day, he hopes to journal, write, read, and walk. Those activities don’t follow a particular order, nor do they happen every day, but the days he does do those four things, it’s a good day.
What I particularly liked about Kleon’s checkbox approach is how some tasks compound. He writes a short blog post each day, which go into his weekly newsletter and over time he starts to notice themes that often form a talk, and that talk might become the foundation for a book.
One simple checkbox leads to the important thing he wants to be doing – the book, with wonderful rewards along the way.
There’s a simplicity and flexibility to both examples that create a rhythm far greater than the singular anchor or checkbox alone.
As much as I struggle to stick to a routine, I’ve come to understand how important it is to have an anchor for the things that require a compounding rhythm.
In the essay Of Power and Time from her collection Upstream, poet Mary Oliver wrote that creative work needs "a place apart – to pace, to chew pencils, to scribble and erase and scribble again."
It’s perhaps more difficult than ever to find this uninterrupted solitude. Whether we currently find ourselves with more time or less time, we all have things we really want to do, but keep putting off.
I’ve been wanting to write a book for the past three years, but struggled to make a solid start. I know I write best in the morning, but I often sleep in having stayed up too late the night before doomscrolling. So for both connectedness and accountability, I’ve found it useful to tie my anchor to other people.
For me, Momentum Mornings has become that anchor. On Sunday nights, I prepare a short talk I share at the beginning of the virtual work session. During the session, I refine it so it can become either an article for my newsletter (such as this one!), a book chapter, or a mini-episode for the upcoming second season of Routines & Ruts.
When the alarm rings early every Monday morning I’m often tired, cold and wishing to return to bed, but over the weeks I’ve come to rely on that hour of uninterrupted solitude. It's now an anchor for all of my projects – the events, the newsletter, the podcast and ultimately my book.
These simple additions both defend against our whims while adapting to the contrasts of our days. Be it an anchor or a checkbox, each allows for the work and the play, the useful and the pleasant, and help us to make room for the unexpected – both the distracting and the compounding.