Think Small: Routines

I'm a big believer that process and productivity - be it creative invention and making, day job work load, cooking dinner, washing dishes, getting a good night's sleep - is supported by routine. By productivity I don't mean churning out X and Y at top speed and highest efficiency. Perhaps I should have used the word practice, except actually accomplishing something - i.e. productivity - is central. I think of productivity as movement rather than a quantitative end goal. 

Moving house, surprisingly to me, shook up my morning routine. Little things like a new kitchen layout, limited counter top locations to place the coffee maker near an outlet, mugs in a cabinet rather than on the counter, threw me off my half-asleep morning stride. But this week it clicked. Start coffee, shove thick-socked feet into boots, fill bird feeder, wash hands, put away clean dishes in the dish drainer, pour first cup of coffee. Ahhh. I'm chuckling at myself for how much impact these little routines have. But, truly, repeating these steps every morning set the stage. The rest of my slow, gentle entering of the day has yet to coalesce, but it will come.

With the couch dressed in it's winter wool and wood for the stove stacked on the front porch, I'm thinking some evening routines involving being parked on the couch in front of the fire are in order. First up: knitting and felting a thick woolen hearth rug.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

P.S. I have a little movement (productivity) on the web to share, not the result of routine, but rather getting started. A new Odd Bird Studio website is in the works.