March 17, 2025 • 7 mins
Consistency and discipline are essential for success in creative endeavors, and building reliable morning and evening routines provides the structure needed for sustainable progress.
• How I build my morning routines to fill in the creative well and prepare me for the day.
• How I end my day to wrap things up and prepare me for the next day
• Facing setbacks and being flexible
• Small, consistent systems are more effective than relying on motivation or feelings
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Richmond (00:05):
Hi, you're listening to Pockets, a podcast about
finding joy, meaning and purposein life's simplest moments.
I'm Richmond Camero.
Let's dive into today's journey.
If there's one thing that Ifind hard to do, it is
(00:26):
consistency.
I like to start a lot of things, but I always have a hard time
finishing them.
In terms of writing and doingart, I used to work on them
based on my feelings andmotivations, but I am perfectly
aware that consistency anddiscipline are needed for me to
succeed.
And for me to succeed in bigthings, I know I need to succeed
(00:54):
in small things.
That's why I built my morningand evening routines as pocket
of of space that I can rely on.
James Clear said in his bookAtomic Habits you do not rise to
the level of your goals, youfall to the level of your
systems.
I'm a fan of this book and afan of this principle, but I
(01:14):
haven't really executed that inall parts of my life.
I asked myself, though what'sthe smallest thing that I could
change to have a system that Icould rely on.
My answer is to tweak mymorning and evening routines.
I'm working full-time in thesoftware industry and, at the
(01:35):
same time, I want to flourish inmy creative endeavors writing
this podcast and creating art.
This is my motivation inwanting to have a system and
tweaking my routines.
My strategy is to focus onsmall progress and consistency
and, on a semi-regular basis, Iwanted to follow through on my
(01:55):
system.
I'll start by sharing how I keeptrack of this.
I'm using Notion as my mainplanner.
The most relevant page for thistopic is my "my Day page.
It's a small page that containsmy daily tasks across different
areas, books that I plan toread that month and a checklist
(02:18):
for my morning and eveningroutines.
This page is heavily integratedin my system, as you'll find
out later.
(02:46):
.
30 .
.
to fillNow for my morning routine.
I usually come in at work at 10am in the morning, so I have a
(03:29):
page in Notion do what I wantand need to do.
To allow me to focus on thingsthat matter, I also set up a
blocker for social media apps inthe morning.
I can only access them by 9.30.
When I'm transitioning to work,the first in the list is to
read for at least 10 minutes.
When I wake up, I want to havesome time for quiet before I go
through the day, as I've toldyou in the previous episode of
this podcast, reading is animportant part of my life.
It's my way to feel the welland it's one way to get
influences on the stories I wantto create or how I write.
So I also have to make time forit, and mornings are a good way
to do that, when the world isstill quiet.
The next thing in my morningroutine is to check my tasks for
the day.
As I mentioned earlier, I havea patient notion that tracks
this.
Checking this in the morningprepares me mentally for what
comes ahead.
It allows me to check whichones would need more effort and
which ones I need to prioritize.
At this point, what matters forme on the list are the creative
tasks that I need to do,because the last item in my
(03:51):
morning routine is to spend 15minutes doing something creative
.
I am not the type who wakes upreally early, but I recognize
mornings are the best time forme to do something creative.
Given my day job, the rest ofthe day might be unpredictable
and I would mostly feel tired inthe evenings.
So in the morning I make sureto spend"my a few minutes doing
(04:15):
art.
My creative focus varies.
At most times I would writesome paragraphs in my current
draft or outlining.
Sometimes I would journal, or Iwould write some paragraphs in
my current draft or outlining.
Sometimes I would journal or Iwould draw.
What matters is that I dosomething so I know that I'm a
small step closer towards mycreative goals.
After that, I consider myminimum morning routine done.
(04:41):
When I'm able to do thesethings, I would feel creatively
fulfilled.
After my morning routine, Itransition to my day job by
looking into my daily tasks.
Then, after I'm done for theday maybe an hour to an hour and
a half before I go to sleep Istart my evening routine.
It starts with planning thenext day.
(05:02):
I look into the my Day page inmy Notion workspace and check if
there are remaining tasks Iwasn't able to do that day.
If there are remaining tasks,those will be included in the
next day.
I write down one to threethings that I need to do for
work, school and my creativeendeavors.
This part of my evening routinehelps me anticipate my tasks
(05:26):
for the next day.
Next is my creative reflectionin my crafted-to-day journal.
As I mentioned in my previousepisode about journaling, I
maintain a daily journal for mycreative work.
This contains my reflection onthe things I created that day
and it makes me mindful on how Ispend my time.
(05:50):
The next step is mise en place.
This is a culinary term thatmeans putting in place or making
sure that ingredients areprepared and organized before
cooking.
In the context of my eveningroutine, it's a reset of my
digital and physical workspace.
I make sure that my table isclear.
I put my pens, papers andnotebooks back in their cases
(06:14):
and shelves.
If there's anything that Iwould need for the next morning,
I make sure that they arevisible on my desk.
It's an important step toprepare my future self and it
lessens the resistance for thethings that I have to do for the
next day.
Finally, the last piece of myevening routine is to read for
10 minutes.
yReading in the evening helps me
(06:36):
shift to rest mode and it givesme extra time to explore worlds
that I want to be into or learnstuff that I want.
In most days I would be able todo these things, but there
would be days that I would missa step.
Sometimes I would have to shiftsome of the things that I need
to do from the morning in theevening and sometimes I wouldn't
(06:58):
just have the time for some ofthe steps.
When this happens, I try mybest to remind myself that I can
try again tomorrow and to trustin my system.
It will write to miss a day ortwo.
I would just need to pick it upagain and follow the system,
and that's how I built my smallsystem.
(07:18):
I hope you're able to learn afew notes on how to build one,
and I'm looking forward toseeing you experiment in
creating a system that fits yourlife.
You've been with Pockets.
Thank you so much for sharingthis space with me.
Now go embrace the moments,build your pockets of meaning
and keep curiosity a sure guide.
Hi, you're listening to Pockets, a podcast about
finding joy, meaning and purposein life's simplest moments.
I'm Richmond Camero.
Let's dive into today's journey.
If there's one thing that Ifind hard to do, it is
(00:26):
consistency.
I like to start a lot of things, but I always have a hard time
finishing them.
In terms of writing and doingart, I used to work on them
based on my feelings andmotivations, but I am perfectly
aware that consistency anddiscipline are needed for me to
succeed.
And for me to succeed in bigthings, I know I need to succeed
(00:54):
in small things.
That's why I built my morningand evening routines as pocket
of of space that I can rely on.
James Clear said in his bookAtomic Habits you do not rise to
the level of your goals, youfall to the level of your
systems.
I'm a fan of this book and afan of this principle, but I
(01:14):
haven't really executed that inall parts of my life.
I asked myself, though what'sthe smallest thing that I could
change to have a system that Icould rely on.
My answer is to tweak mymorning and evening routines.
I'm working full-time in thesoftware industry and, at the
(01:35):
same time, I want to flourish inmy creative endeavors writing
this podcast and creating art.
This is my motivation inwanting to have a system and
tweaking my routines.
My strategy is to focus onsmall progress and consistency
and, on a semi-regular basis, Iwanted to follow through on my
(01:55):
system.
I'll start by sharing how I keeptrack of this.
I'm using Notion as my mainplanner.
The most relevant page for thistopic is my "my Day page.
It's a small page that containsmy daily tasks across different
areas, books that I plan toread that month and a checklist
(02:18):
for my morning and eveningroutines.
This page is heavily integratedin my system, as you'll find
out later.
(02:46):
.
30 .
.
to fillNow for my morning routine.
I usually come in at work at 10am in the morning, so I have a
(03:29):
page in Notion do what I wantand need to do.
To allow me to focus on thingsthat matter, I also set up a
blocker for social media apps inthe morning.
I can only access them by 9.30.
When I'm transitioning to work,the first in the list is to
read for at least 10 minutes.
When I wake up, I want to havesome time for quiet before I go
through the day, as I've toldyou in the previous episode of
this podcast, reading is animportant part of my life.
It's my way to feel the welland it's one way to get
influences on the stories I wantto create or how I write.
So I also have to make time forit, and mornings are a good way
to do that, when the world isstill quiet.
The next thing in my morningroutine is to check my tasks for
the day.
As I mentioned earlier, I havea patient notion that tracks
this.
Checking this in the morningprepares me mentally for what
comes ahead.
It allows me to check whichones would need more effort and
which ones I need to prioritize.
At this point, what matters forme on the list are the creative
tasks that I need to do,because the last item in my
(03:51):
morning routine is to spend 15minutes doing something creative
.
I am not the type who wakes upreally early, but I recognize
mornings are the best time forme to do something creative.
Given my day job, the rest ofthe day might be unpredictable
and I would mostly feel tired inthe evenings.
So in the morning I make sureto spend"my a few minutes doing
(04:15):
art.
My creative focus varies.
At most times I would writesome paragraphs in my current
draft or outlining.
Sometimes I would journal, or Iwould write some paragraphs in
my current draft or outlining.
Sometimes I would journal or Iwould draw.
What matters is that I dosomething so I know that I'm a
small step closer towards mycreative goals.
After that, I consider myminimum morning routine done.
(04:41):
When I'm able to do thesethings, I would feel creatively
fulfilled.
After my morning routine, Itransition to my day job by
looking into my daily tasks.
Then, after I'm done for theday maybe an hour to an hour and
a half before I go to sleep Istart my evening routine.
It starts with planning thenext day.
(05:02):
I look into the my Day page inmy Notion workspace and check if
there are remaining tasks Iwasn't able to do that day.
If there are remaining tasks,those will be included in the
next day.
I write down one to threethings that I need to do for
work, school and my creativeendeavors.
This part of my evening routinehelps me anticipate my tasks
(05:26):
for the next day.
Next is my creative reflectionin my crafted-to-day journal.
As I mentioned in my previousepisode about journaling, I
maintain a daily journal for mycreative work.
This contains my reflection onthe things I created that day
and it makes me mindful on how Ispend my time.
(05:50):
The next step is mise en place.
This is a culinary term thatmeans putting in place or making
sure that ingredients areprepared and organized before
cooking.
In the context of my eveningroutine, it's a reset of my
digital and physical workspace.
I make sure that my table isclear.
I put my pens, papers andnotebooks back in their cases
(06:14):
and shelves.
If there's anything that Iwould need for the next morning,
I make sure that they arevisible on my desk.
It's an important step toprepare my future self and it
lessens the resistance for thethings that I have to do for the
next day.
Finally, the last piece of myevening routine is to read for
10 minutes.
yReading in the evening helps me
(06:36):
shift to rest mode and it givesme extra time to explore worlds
that I want to be into or learnstuff that I want.
In most days I would be able todo these things, but there
would be days that I would missa step.
Sometimes I would have to shiftsome of the things that I need
to do from the morning in theevening and sometimes I wouldn't
(06:58):
just have the time for some ofthe steps.
When this happens, I try mybest to remind myself that I can
try again tomorrow and to trustin my system.
It will write to miss a day ortwo.
I would just need to pick it upagain and follow the system,
and that's how I built my smallsystem.
(07:18):
I hope you're able to learn afew notes on how to build one,
and I'm looking forward toseeing you experiment in
creating a system that fits yourlife.
You've been with Pockets.
Thank you so much for sharingthis space with me.
Now go embrace the moments,build your pockets of meaning
and keep curiosity a sure guide.
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