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My Daily Routine for Maximum Productivity & Creativity

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Achieving ambitious goals requires consistent daily discipline and habit formation, rather than sporadic bursts of intense effort. Building a structured daily routine is crucial for sustained productivity, well-being, and long-term success.

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This video is sponsored by Artgrid.

There is the overall misconception

that putting in a lot of hard work for a short period of time,

brings you long-lasting success.

We think that the intensity of our work is more important than its consistency,

but in order to achieve ambitious goals,

you need to show up every single day for a long time.

Muscles don't build up by lifting heavy weights once,

houses aren't built within a day,

and there is no such thing as an overnight success.

All of the successful people didn't get to where they are

because they performed at their peak when everybody was watching them,

or because they got lucky.

They got there because they disciplined themselves to show up every single day.

You have to develop habits,

which push your productivity and creativity,

and overall adapt your life to an effective schedule

which helps you reach your most ambitious goals.

You have to put in years of focused work

in order to build up to a point where you have the chance of succeeding,

and in the end, it all comes down to your habits and your discipline,

or in other words, your daily routine.

About one year ago, I quit my full-time job with regulated work hours

in order to work as a freelancer and Youtuber.

And what that meant, was that I now had complete freedom

over how I would manage my time.

No specific time when I would have to show up for work,

no regulated work hours or breaks,

and no strict deadlines by my boss.

And while all of these points sound like massive advantages,

a work life without any of them

made it much harder for me to stay productive,

and reach my ambitious goals.

I mean, all of us have times in which we are highly motivated and our work just feels effortless,

but we also have these days where we are just lacking motivation,

where we don't want to work,

and where we feel uninspired and just don't get anything done at all.

So if I had one of these bad days back then,

when I was still working at the company,

I would still show up on time,

and I would still get it done, obviously.

But now that I was my own boss,

and I didn't really have a strict schedule nor a routine,

it was just so much easier to drop the ball on these bad days,

and just procrastinate for the rest of the day, by looking at my phone.

Whenever I had one of these bad days after quitting my job,

where I didn't get any of the to-do's done,

I always felt bad about myself,

and I had the feeling that I was behind,

and that I needed to compensate for those lost work days

by working on the weekends as well.

So all in all, I was putting more time into the work,

but I was seeing less results,

which isn't good at all.

To be honest, my days back then just didn't have any structure at all.

I had no recurring time when I would wake up,

no dedicated time slots for work and free time,

and no overall guide book that I could follow in order to tackle my day.

And for this reason, about 2 months ago, when we entered the new year,

I came up with the idea to create the perfect daily routine.

The first step was to prioritize my goals for the year,

and plan my daily time slots accordingly.

My goal was not only to become more productive and efficient with my work,

but also to find a good balance between work and free time,

as I felt like they just melted together over the last year.

Overall, I wanted to build up a daily schedule which could help me stay healthy

reach my work goals, enjoy my free time,

and ultimately be happier.

So I got to my laptop and opened up Notion,

which is kind of my all-in-one workspace which I use for almost anything relating to drafting ideas,

planning my videos, writing to-do lists, and all sorts of other things.

If you'd like to see a full video on how I organise and plan all of my videos,

let me know in the comments.

So, I drafted an outline of my daily routine by writing down the specific time slots

and the according activities that I wanted to do.

I assigned different colours to the time slots, depending on what the activity was about.

I wrote down the times when I wanted to wake up and go to sleep,

where I would do some kind of physical exercise, where I would eat food,

and dedicated time slots for both my work and my free time.

Next up, I had to define some rules which would help eliminate possible distractions,

and help me stay focused on the activities I wanted to do.

Rule number 1: I can only use social media during food slots.

Rule number 2: it's possible to meet friends from 4 p.m. on, if no work is urgent.

Rule number 3: I'm able to take two days off each week to do what I feel like.

And rule number 4: as long as I'm feeling healthy and motivated,

the routine can be followed every single day without any off days.

Alright, so now I want to show you my current daily routine,

step by step,

which I follow each day,

so let's go.

I wake up at 7 a.m. each day,

also often on the weekends.

In the beginning, when I started testing out my routine,

I got up at 6 a.m. to have an extra hour of time,

but that didn't really go too well.

I tried it for a week and felt too tired throughout the day,

which made me unproductive and overall moody.

So I changed it to 7 a.m., which works fine.

After waking up, the first thing I do is take a shit.

No, just kidding.

The first thing I do is take a shower to clean myself,

then I dry my hair, put in some hair wax,

and brush my teeth.

After that, I finally let some light come into my room,

and I pick my clothes for the day.

So, I think it is extremely important to shower each day, and also to dress up nicely,

to just put on some normal pants and a shirt instead of just some sweatpants and a jumper.

It just makes you feel a lot better,

it makes you feel like you're ready for the day,

it gives you a fresh feeling, instead of that kind of like...

Slumpy mood.

Do you say "slumpy"?

But yeah, it just kind of flips that switch in your head,

from chill mode to work mode, so I think it's super important.

Another thing that I established, is keeping my phone off for the first hour of the day,

or keeping it in flight mode,

until I have breakfast.

I used to grab my phone right after turning off the alarm to scroll through social media,

and looking at photos of other people.

And I think it makes a huge difference to just start your day

in your life,

not in somebody else's life.

So by not checking my phone right away, I just start the day much more present,

and also,

I don't let my mood be influenced by external factors right away.

So I think it's super important to keep your phone off for the first hour of the day.

And one more thing I do each morning is making my bed.

I think it is super important to keep your room tidy,

to just have that kind of environment where you can focus.

Just make your bed, it's not a big deal,

and also, by doing it the first thing in the morning,

it kind of gives you that feeling of

"okay, today is gonna be a good day, I'm gonna get something done",

and it just kind of encourages you to do the next tasks, so yeah,

make your bed,

you lazy fa***s.

At 7.30 a.m., I go for a 15 to 20 minutes walk outside.

I leave my phone at home and just give my body some time to boot up the system.

So, moving my body and just breathing some fresh air as the first thing in the morning,

makes me feel very very present, and also gives me some time to wake up,

and also some time to think, to be honest.

During these walks, I have a couple of ideas of what I want to do throughout the day.

And also, I think it is very very important to start your day in a present mood,

because if I just jump into my work right away,

I'm a lot less motivated,

and it's a lot more difficult to get into that flow state,

where work becomes a lot easier and where you get more done.

So yeah, I think that these walks are very very beneficial,

and yeah, I love my walks.

When I come back home at around 7:50 a.m.,

I eat my breakfast.

I either pick something up at the bakery during my walk, or eat some muesli.

But today, I went all in for you guys.

This is the first point of time when I turn on my phone

in order to read messages, look at emails, or go on social media.

Most of the times, I just quickly check if there's anything important,

and then I watch the news from yesterday evening while eating my breakfast.

At 8:15, I open up my laptop,

and schedule all the work-related tasks which I want to get done today,

and also whether or not I will do sports.

Having those open to-do checkboxes really helps me to push through and get those things done.

One thing that can easily happen if you write down too much on your to-do list,

then in the evening, you just look at the list and you see "okay,

I just got done half of the points that I actually wanted to do",

which is really demotivating, and...

So yeah, I always suggest that you're realistic with the points you write down.

So this is what I do for scheduling my day.

I think it gives a good overview, and then I can get started with the real work.

Let's go.

So, as a freelancer in a creative space like myself,

I'm a filmmaker, editor, freelancer, Youtuber, whatever you want to call it,

you basically have two different kinds of work.

One part is the creative part, the other part is the organizational part.

Creative tasks would be for example scripting, shooting, editing videos,

or for me, also developing products for my new online shop,

while the organizational tasks would be more like replying to emails,

reaching out to potential sponsors,

or taking care of taxes.

Yeah, obviously the creative part is more fun,

but I also think that the creative part

is more important to my business,

and that's why I always try to prioritize first,

so that I'm doing all of these creative tasks that I want to do,

in this first work block of the day.

So, actually I used to do it the other way around,

and I would start my days by replying to all of the emails,

and just sorting out all of the organizational stuff.

But what ended up happening, was that all of these to-do's,

they just piled up on each other,

and in the afternoon, sometimes I wouldn't even be done with these,

or I would be completely drained and my mind would be filled with unimportant shit,

so that I couldn't really focus and concentrate as well on my creative work.

So that's why I just switched it up,

and it just works a lot better for me.

So, I would always start with the most important tasks right in the beginning of the morning,

when you are still functioning at 100%.

When it comes to focusing on your work, I think the best advice I can give

is just to eliminate all kinds of distraction.

As soon as there are any distractions that could pull your focus,

you're not going to be...

100% present and 100% at your work, so turn off your phone,

put it away where you can't see it,

and it will make it a lot easier for you

to be really productive and also creative.

If you're also editing videos like myself,

I actually created a video on how to become faster at editing videos,

so if you haven't checked that out already, you can check it out here.

So yeah, the next thing I'm gonna do is...

Sports.

At 12, after my first block of work,

I do a physical exercise of some kind.

If the weather is bad, I just do a home workout in my apartment.

If the weather is nice, I go running or do muscle training in the nearby calisthenics park,

which somehow turned more and more into a playground for kids.

That was a pretty dope move, though.

So, sport is also a very important part of my routine.

I really like to go outside to do sports,

either running or going into the calisthenics park.

Sport is just a really really good compensation for all the desk for that I do in front of my laptop,

so it gets my body in motion, and also,

regarding my mindset, it just frees up my mind.

Like, when I'm going running, it's kind of a meditation for myself,

where some new ideas can spark, and...

Overall, I just don't have that stress in my head.

When it comes to sports, I actually follow the 2-day rule by Matt D'Avella,

which basically says that I have to do sports at least every second day.

So, that means that I can do sports every day, I can do sports every second day,

but I can't skip 2 days in a row.

And that rules actually helps a lot in general when it comes to building up habits,

because if you just skip one day and you get back to it, you still feel like you're pushing through,

and you still have that motivation

that you're, yeah, pulling through with your habits.

But if you skip 2 days in a row,

it's really easy to say "okay, I'm gonna skip another day",

and then it's very easy to kind of lose that good habit.

So yeah, I always try do to sports at least every second day.

Let's go.

The days are getting so warm now,

I really feel like summer is here.

I can just ride without a jacket, what is that?

Thank you.

Also, don't forget to drink something, guys.

I forgot to bring something to drink while doing sports.

Always stay hydrated.

So good.

At 1 p.m., I eat my lunch while looking through social media or watching a YouTube video.

At 1:30, my second block of work starts.

I often start where I left before lunch and do another 2 to 3 hours of creative work,

like scripting, editing or shooting.

Then I switch to the other business tasks which need to be taken care of,

like replying to emails, managing my taxes and other organizational work.

So, during the second work block of my day,

I'm always trying to do all of the organizational parts, as I said before.

One thing I also wanted to talk about is multitasking.

I think that it is actually a little bit of a myth.

Obviously, you think that if you do more things at the same time,

you get more things done,

But at least for me,

I always do my things a lot better

and I'm also more productive, if I do one thing at a time.

So even if I do my organizational work,

I'm just trying to do one thing at a time, and just focus on that thing and do it really well,

and then I'm going to jump onto the next one.

I used to have like 20 tabs open at the same time,

because I thought it was much more effective,

but at least for me, it works a lot better to do just one thing.

I usually finish work at around 7 p.m.,

and if a video needs to be exported, I let the laptop do that overnight.

As soon as I'm done with my work, I really try to keep my hands off of my laptop.

I just try to kind of switch my mindset towards something else.

I had to build up that kind of discipline throughout the last years,

because especially as a freelancer, there's always something to do.

But yeah, I used to also work until late at night,

and sometimes even pull all night just to get my things done,

but I just found out that it doesn't have any advantages for me.

I would much rather have a good night sleep,

and have my body functioning properly on the next day,

and just get up early, and...

Just repeating that.

I think that's what a healthy routine really makes that.

It is sustainable,

because if you just stay up late at night every day,

you either have to sleep in until noon on the next day,

which doesn't you any advantage in terms of work hours,

or...

You do it for a couple of weeks, and you're just stressed out, and...

You kind of hate your work.

Like, that's when you really disconnect with your passion,

when you just work too much and you don't like it anymore.

So yeah, I'm always trying more and more to discipline myself,

to kind of like meet that border

of where I just say "okay,

I'm done for today, and now I'm gonna do something else".

The best.

After work, I often meet up with friends to hang out or go for a walk.

I brought some wine.

Hopefully he's going to like it.

Thank you!

Hi!

I think that face-to-face interactions should have a high priority in everyone's routines,

as they give you a break from your work,

help you stay motivated, and make you feel inspired.

Most of the time, at around 7 p.m., I either cook dinner together with my friends,

or we grab something on the go, and spend the rest of the evening together.

If I don't meet a friend for dinner, I use my time from 7:30 on to just do whatever I feel like.

This could be facetiming with my family or friends,

or simply watching YouTube videos or Netflix.

I also use the time to reset my living space

by tidying up my room and washing the dishes,

so that I can start the next day without any friction or distractions.

From 9 p.m. on, I try to give myself some time to explore new topics

in order to get inspired and develop new ideas.

This either means watching a documentary on Netflix or reading a book.

I listen to audiobooks.

At 10:30, I brush my teeth,

get ready for bed and go to sleep.

You should always go to bed 30 minutes before you actually want to sleep,

as you probably won't fall asleep right away.

So, I think in general, there is not the perfect routine that everybody can follow.

Maybe my routine works for you, maybe it doesn't.

Each of us has individual needs, individual goals,

so therefore, you shouldn't...

Be scared to readjust your routine.

Obviously, you should have an outline in the beginning, with...

Specific time slots and activities you want to do,

but don't be scared to readjust them.

As you saw in the beginning, I started by waking up at 6 a.m.,

but it just didn't work out for me, so I changed it.

So play around with these times,

and find a routine that really fits your lifestyle.

Next up would be to find a good balance between some deep and focused work,

and also some free time to re-energize,

get some inspiration and motivation.

I think it is really important to have that balance in a routine,

because if you just do it this way,

that you just have like work-related to-do's all day long,

in the end you will hate your routine, because you just feel...

Like you're following each step like a robot.

And the last thing that I learned and really want to improve in the future as well

is to take breaks from your routine.

That's really important, you need some free time and free space

to not follow any rules.

So I suggest that you definitely take one or two days off throughout the week,

that kind of like, reignate your motivation and passion for your work.

You can also think about doing like short vacations for a couple of days

to just get a mental reset,

and be really motivated to follow the routine again.

I'm happy to say that this video is sponsored by Artgrid,

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So yeah, feel free to check that out.

Thanks for watching, I really appreciate the support,

and I'm trying to read every single comment below my videos.

Let me know if you enjoyed this kind of self-development content again.

If you don't want to miss out on any of the upcoming videos,

make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications.

And I'm going to see you guys in the next one.

Peace out.

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YouTube Transcript:My Daily Routine for Maximum Productivity & Creativity