The routines of highly creative people

I recently read a post on MindBodyGreen about “The Daily Habits Of Highly Creative People”, which included the following infographic:

What can we learn from these great examples for academia?

1. Exercise

Almost all great minds used to go at some point during the day for a walk. Walking is an excellent way to sort out your thoughts. Similarly, concentrating on lifting weights or going through your thoughts while running are activities that we should try to build into our daily schedules.

2. Don’t work too hard

The number of work hours of these people was often limited, but nonetheless they did ground-breaking work. Become more organized, do your deep work, try to cut down on admin and mail (let me know how you do it!), and spend enough time refueling at night with other activities so that you can begin the next day with a fresh look on things.

3. Taking care of a family?

One pitfall of this infographic is that all bright minds, except for Maya Angelou, are men – and they seem to have had all their time to themselves without needing to invest a good part of their day on taking care of a family.

4. Find a routine that works

Finding a routine that works for you is important to juggle all tasks you have to deal with in academia. I’m still trying out different things, and I tend to plan more on a weekly and monthly basis, but certainly, having a set time for waking up and exercise seems to help to remain energized.

Do you have a daily routine that you follow? Can you share your schedule with us?