Stefan Sagmeister Quotes

I have certain rules that I've established for myself that took a while post-day job to figure out. Everyone says people who freelance or are writers struggle with the structure of it. I'm not allowed to check email before a certain hour. I'm not allowed to run errands during the day. I have to write a certain amount every day.

I have a timetable, but no routine.

Writing responds well to some gentle scheduling. A day job not only promotes solvency, it promotes creativity as well.

One can make a day of any size

I write on a very strict 2-hour-a-day schedule, and I really respond to structure and invented rules. So even if I'm finding out good information on a character, I will stop when I'm set to stop.

I work on quiet call nights in the hospital, on airplanes and on my sailboat when I have a bit of time - I cram it into wherever it will fit.

I always have a lot of things going on because some things take years to make and others take five minutes. I like that there's always something going on. Working doesn't have such a momentous feel - like it's all or nothing.

You need a routine, to be able to spend some time with a person, and my lifestyle is constantly on the move.

You really need to have that discipline. It's not even discipline. I just put down these rules. It's not like a vague, 'Motivate yourself!' and do something. It's specific hours set aside every day for certain things.

When I'm working, I always make time to get exercise into my schedule.

I generally blog between 5:30 A.M. and 7 A.M. I will from time to time add something during the day, but for the most part blogging is an early morning activity for me.

I used to start at about 10 at night and work until early morning. My preferred way to work is to start in the early afternoon and work until about 3, go do errands, have dinner, and then write for a few more hours in the evening.

If I don't get something done at the office at 4:30 in the afternoon, I can go back to it at 10:00 in the evening.

There's never enough hours in the day to do what you want to do. What I've become OK with is that not everything can be done today. As long as I can get that time in with my son, then I can get all of the other stuff done today or tomorrow.

I don't go to bed at 1 A.M. and wake up at 5 A.M. and say, 'Let's see if I can get this done today.'

If I waited to be inspired to go to the gym, I'd never get there. I schedule my exercise time; I schedule my work time. This is especially important if you have a day job as I did while writing my first seven novels.

I wake up an hour and a half before I have to leave the house to do everything I need to do. But I have my routine, and I stick to it.

The habit I've developed is to write in any free half hour I might find.

I'm a time person. It's the one discipline I manage.

I write when the baby is asleep or when I'm on the road I write a lot... There's always time to do it. It's like getting exercise.

I have found that if I spend the first hour of my day at home, I get more done, and less people steal my time.

As for my schedule, I tend to go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning, and I try to be as productive as possible. Some days, I can devote to one specific thing. Other days, it's a catch-all day.

Even though I know I can work out at any point in my day, I set a time that I want to get this workout in by. I set times when I'm waking up and having breakfast. Finding a few things you can stick to in your daily routine is helpful when there's a lot of uncertainty and your scheduling is really off.

In France, we have a mania for meetings that start very early and finish very late. It wastes time and creates rigidity in schedules. Everyone knows I hate long meetings.

I try to keep a regular work schedule.