Bratmike here and welcome to know the addition of the art of manliness podcast.

You struggle with being productive, so you decide to establish a routine for yourself.

You get real gung ho about this routine.

This is going to be the thing that changes everything, but then you fail to stick to it.

So you flageulate yourself for that failure, decide what you need as a different routine,

but then you don't stick to that routine either.

The cycle then repeats itself, leaving you no more productive than you were at the start.

My guest, Madeline Doher, found herself stuck in the cycle.

So she decided to start interviewing successful creative types to get their secrets to an optimal

routine, yet these folks would confide to her a different secret.

They actually didn't have a routine either.

Madeline has come to believe something that I've discovered too.

Routines aren't all they're cracked up to be, and you can actually still be very creative

and productive even if you go about each day in a looser, more ad-hoc fashion.

Today on the show I talked to Madeline, who's the author of, I didn't do the thing today,

letting go productivity-gilt, but how the all-or-nothing thinking which surrounds routines can

actually sabotage our effectiveness.

We then discuss alternatives to keep-n-estrict routine that still allow you to get stuff

done, including moving to a portable routine, taking advantage of splodged time, and embracing

cycles and seasons in your work.

We also discuss other ways to let go of unusual productivity-gilt, including setting realistic

expectations, and not eating the frog first.

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