Creative Structure is Key by Haruki Murakami

There is a quote I read today by Haruki Murakami that really made me sit back and think about how I handle all my daily task and projects.  Especially with my obsession lately for absolute peak performance in my life.

“When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five or six hours.  In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen-hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music.  I go to bed at nine p.m.  I keep to this routine every day without variation.  The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism.  I mesmerize myself to read a deeper state of mind.  But to hold to such a repetition for so long-six months to a year-requires a good amount of mental and physical strength.  In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training.  Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.”