Morning Routines that Keep Creativity Flowing

A well planned dawn ritual can turn half awake moments into your most original work session. Below are four evidence based habits drawn from peer reviewed research and contemporary artist interviews.

1 Work at your “non optimal” hour

Psychologists Mareike Wieth and Rose Zacks found that people solved more insight puzzles when they tried them at a time opposite their natural preference because lower inhibition lets distant ideas connect [1].

2 Move before you make

In four Stanford experiments a short walk boosted divergent idea generation by about sixty percent compared with sitting. Later meta analyses confirm that habitual physical activity is linked with more original thinking throughout the day [2][3].

3 Clear mental clutter with morning pages

Expressive writing studies show that a ten minute free writing exercise can improve memory, learning and even exam scores. Many artists adapt this by filling three uncensored morning pages before any other task [4][5].

4 Reserve an early focus block

Painter Amy Sherald and designer Paula Scher both start their creative work soon after a quiet reading session and protect the first stretch of work from email or meetings. Guarding even ninety distraction free minutes can compound into remarkable output [6][7].

Key takeaway Experiment with timing, movement, writing and protected focus to design a morning that keeps ideas flowing.

References

1 Wieth M, Zacks R. 2011. Time of day effects on problem solving: When the non optimal is optimal. Thinking & Reasoning 17(4):387–401. (creativiteach.me)
2 Oppezzo M, Schwartz D. 2014. Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition 40(4):1142–1152. (aaalab.stanford.edu)
3 Schmid J et al. 2022. Acute and chronic physical activity increases creative ideation: A meta analysis. Sports Medicine Open 8:117. (sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com)
4 Ramirez G, Beilock S. 2011. Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom. Science331:211–213. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
5 DiMenichi BC et al. 2019. Effects of expressive writing on neural processing during learning. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 13:389. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
6 “In the Studio with Amy Sherald.” Artnet News interview, 2018. (news.artnet.com)
7 “Interview with Paula Scher.” Forward Festival, 2023. (forward-festival.com)