Schools are back, and with that some routine. I need to make the most of the few hours this gives me.

Here are 5 things I schedule into each day to protect my creativity.

Learning

To keep things fresh, you need to learn.

This learning needs to be deliberate, with a start and end point. There needs to be some kind of curriculum. Time for this needs to be blocked into my calendar.

It can't be theoretical learning. For it to be creative, I need to have made something with what I learn.

Fitness

The mind and body work as one.

The time you spend looking after your body will lead to massive gains in your creativity. Improved focus, better sleep, enhanced neuroplasticity, self-discipline - the impact cannot be understated.

Journaling

20 minutes of brain dumping at the start of each day will unearth so many different threads of thought that you can then pull on with your creativity, opening up so many questions for you to answer.

Planning

Time is precious, so know how you are spending it.

Mark Manson, in "The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck" says for every minute you spend planning, you save 10 minutes. Each evening, spend 10 minutes planning what you will do tomorrow. This will save you almost 2 hours a day.

Daily Creative Challenge

Give yourself a 15 minute creative challenge each day.

This can't be related to any "work" you are doing. You can doodle, draw, write a poem, take photographs, sing - anything. You can change this each day, can set it as a week challenge or longer. The main thing is, it's a freesytling of your creativity that is unrestricted and free of any output.

It's creating for pure joy.