Treat your work as a refuge—an oasis of control and creative satisfaction in the midst of the bad stuff

Treat your work as a refuge—an oasis of control and creative satisfaction in the midst of the bad stuff. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re not on fire creatively every day—give yourself credit if you show up for work and make even a small amount of progress. When you put down your tools for the day, you may even see your personal situation with a fresh eye.

Samuel Johnson famously wrote his book Rasselas in one week to cover his mother’s funeral expenses. Shane Carruth wrote, directed, produced, and starred in his cult movie Primer, filming it in five weeks and keeping the cost down to $7,000 by filling the cast with friends and family and doing everything himself. In order to capitalize on the chart success of their singles, the Beatles recorded ten songs in a single day at a reported £400 to complete their debut album, Please Please Me.

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series)) by Jocelyn K. Glei