For most people, the idea of repeating a fixed set of actions day in and day out, maintaining a routine, in other words, conjures vivid images of boredom and monotony, the apparent sameness suggesting their lives lacks excitement.

But everyone I know who produces consistently lives and swears by a routine. They take advantage of the things we dread the most, monotony and predictability, and use it to direct their time and energy to work on things they care about. To them, routines are deliberate choices about how they use their time.