How do you keep your mind fully productive? - Here is my Routine!

Hey everyone,

Some of you have expressed curiosity about how I come up with many tasks like creating new illustrations weekly, writing posts, answering messages, managing other jobs, etc. The truth is that I have a strict routine in which I cover a big part of my needs in order to perform the best I can. In today's post, I'll share with you what I do on a daily/weekly basis to keep myself 'fully productive.'

What is fully productive?

By 'fully productive' I mean performing the best you can when the time is needed. It's not working 24 hours straight for 7 days; that would not be sustainable. Fully productive also means consistency long term, so the trick here is balance, more than anything else. Imagine you are like a machine that requires all kinds of resources in order to function; if you fail to provide these resources, you will not be able to produce. So let's dive into what 'resources' I mean:

1. Waking up

I set an alarm at 7 am, I wake up and often spending about 30 minutes in bed before taking a cold shower. Why cold? I've read it has many health benefits and also wakes me up quickly. Afterward, I make a cup of green tea and start the day. I do this every day, though some days it's hard for me to wake up at 7, but often I'm fully functioning by 9 am.

2. Work Routine and Discipline

After I'm done with the shower and tea, I sit and write down a list of things I need to get done that day. The order of these tasks often changes depending on the time they might consume and the importance, but I tend to prioritize what I consider my strongest source of income, Patreon.

Currently, I have an idea of how much time I often spend on Patreon tasks, like the number of hours writing an article, making a piece, or answering patrons' doubts. Based on that, I can speculate or 'predict' how the day will go. This predictability allows me to make simple plans.

When building your work routine, regardless of whether you are freelance or hired, pay attention to your performance time and think of ways you can optimize the process. For instance, one of the things that consume most of my energy and time is creating a new illustration. This process is very intuitive and chaotic sometimes, but the steps towards its development are somehow repetitive to some degree. The repetitive part consists of:

• Concept: A series of questions I ask and a very simple list with information points I seek to address with shapes, values, and colors in the composition. No Photoshop is used during this phase, just writing. This conceptual exploration often varies in order, but at the end, my goal is to address the same 3 or 5 points.
• Execution: A series of technical steps that consist of shapes, colors, and values, often with shapes being the tough one, because this is where I define a big part of the ideas listed in my previous step. If you are part of the mastering maestro tier, you will find this process very well documented in each post where I share the process video and PSD file.

Aside from that specific challenge, I spend 2 to 3 hours writing. These tasks are divided across the week on specific days I have. I try to get the hardest part of the job done early in the day since I go a bit slow after lunch. By 6 pm, I should either stop or do the minimum necessary; otherwise, I can't perform as well the day before.

3. Healthy Diet: 

Here is my routine:

• Breakfast: I don't eat breakfast. As I mentioned, I have a cup of green tea and just water until lunch. I fast from 7 pm the day before to 2 pm the day after.
• Lunch: At 2 pm, for lunch, the combination is often the basic one: protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates. After that, I get a fruit and make another cup of green tea. At 3 pm, I'm back at work.
• Snack: I take a break at 5 pm and eat a bowl of yogurt with dried fruit, muesli, blueberry, ginger, and strawberry.
• Dinner: At 7 pm, I have dinner, often tuna or eggs with a carbohydrate like bread and a salad of spinach, walnuts, goat cheese, dates, and olive oil.

I only drink water and green tea, no soda, alcohol, or energy drinks. I try to keep it as simple as I can in order to be sustainable and provide the necessary stuff my body needs.

How about junk food? I like burgers, Japanese food, and Italian food. So one or two days a week, I get one of these for dinner, mostly when I'm sure the next day will not require high performance. This is because I perform best when I eat at home; I guess the food is healthier that way.

If this, in some ways, is fascinating to you, I recommend you read a book called Ikigai This book helped me come up with this food routine.

3. Physical Exercise

During the week, I'm mostly sitting (working), especially the days I'll create an illustration (2 days per week). But the rest of the days, after 6 pm, I often go for a walk or just avoid sitting. I go to the gym every Saturday morning, this is my routine (2 hours and half):

• Squat: Because most of my work requires sitting, and I want my leg muscles to stay strong over time.
• Back: To take care of my posture, back muscles, and neck in order to release stress and avoid pain in the long run because of my work.
• Chest: Aesthetical.
• Arms: Biceps, to be precise, mostly to perform back exercises better.
• Forearms: To strengthen my wrist, especially for work.
• Abs: I use the "ab wheel" to strengthen my core.
• Cardio: I run for 15 minutes, mostly for my heart.
• Stretch: I have a routine of 12 stretch poses that are a combination of Jiu-Jitsu and Yoga.

My routine exercise is designed to balance the amount of time I spend working, seeks to avoid muscle atrophy, release stress, help with my circulation, and maintain my mental capabilities.

5. Mindfulness and Meditation

Before going to sleep, I meditate for ten minutes, often focused on myself and my surroundings. I breathe, listen to my thoughts, check my feelings, and try to be grateful. Sometimes I speak with myself as if I'm a different person, sometimes I just try not to pay attention to my thoughts. This is like a personal check in search of balance.

If this is new to you, search for mindfulness guided meditations and try to do it with guidance for a few months, just to have a sense of what to do at its most basic level. I've tried different sources, and eventually, I ended up creating my own.

6. Sleep

I try to sleep at least 8 hours; sometimes 6 is enough, but I'd say 8 is fine. If I don't sleep, I often can't think, everything is depressing and meaningless, even if there is no reason to worry. So, I take sleep very seriously.

7. Personal Projects

When I'm not working on Patreon, I work on my project. This pushes me to learn new things and have a sense of direction for the long term, kind of like a vision that motivates me. Many of the arts I share here on Patreon, I believe, have some kind of connection with this higher purpose, and that all these characters at some point will exist in a universe. It's good to have something special going on outside of the daily work. This 'project' I have can be seen as more work, but hopefully, I'll build something in which others can participate, regardless if I'm around or not.

8. Family and Friends

I often don't like to share my personal life, as it's often irrelevant for people. I'm here to teach about art, but since we are talking about routine, I'm in a relationship, and we share daily. I take care of my family and help them as much as I can when necessary. For social activities, I often go outside on Saturdays, like for dinner, park walks, or just casual stuff. I don't share too much with friends; it takes a lot of mental energy from me, but when I do, I try to enjoy it.

Conclusion

This process isn't straightforward. On some days, these steps are very difficult to achieve, or I fail to do so. Yet, this provides an overall structure, showcasing my basic daily goals on both a professional and personal level.

The goal of me sharing my routine is not for you to straight up follow the same; this is the way I like to get things done, and it took me a while to get to this point. Everyone has different journeys; this is mine. The point is for you to understand what it takes to perform the way I do.

Is this routine right? The answer will depend on your values, goals, and who you are. This routine works for me, but like anything in life, it might change tomorrow. The real question is, how can you design yours? My advice is to focus on balance, document your work to set realistic timelines, eat well, sleep the best you can, take care of your body and mind, spend some time with relatives, and set some personal challenges, maybe not even work-related. Balance and awareness, that's the big takeaway to keep you 'fully productive,' in my opinion.

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Tomorrow, I'll be sharing the process video of this piece along with the files and insights. They will be available for Mastering Maestro tier and above. Feel free to upgrade if you want more insights about my work.

Welcome to all new patrons!. Drop any questions here in the comments, via DMs here on Patreon, or in our Discord group. I'll be more than happy to answer and track your progress.

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