Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work. – Gustave Flaubert
That rock and roll life with crazy hours and chaos makes for great mythology, but it does very little for your success. The truth is that creativity and winning every day takes an immense amount of focus and energy.
It’s why I have two sides to my personality and existence. I live for the violent creativity. I like to keep things simple so I can jump in and be creative. It’s a form of readiness.
I have a great wife, wonderful kids and some loyal friends. I like getting out to walk and enjoy socializing. I keep my business systems powerful, streamlined and simple.
If I am being pulled into crises in my life, then my work suffers. It’s the way it is, thus, keeping it simple suits me. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a level of order and simplicity is foundational to success. At least, it is what I observe in my clients and others who are able to focus and produce great work.
I can see how it is easy to let things creep in. Bad eating, no exercise and neglecting key relationships come to mind. That would only take away from violent and original work.
Why not take some steps before going after the dream to order your life? It’s likely taking some things away rather than adding. Some ideas:
- Get your workspace clean and down to the essentials
- Cut out drama in your relationships
- Walk more
- Focus on finishing a book a month
- Cut out TV time
- Express gratitude daily to old and new friends
- Cook in more
- Clean your inbox
- Enjoy a nice tea or glass of wine regularly
- Hug your family as much as you can every day
- Get rid of debt one bill at a time
It takes work to get your life orderly and regular. But in the process, you start to free up bandwidth to attack your work. It’s connected.
