The creative brain doesn’t like structure. If you show it a timetable for the week of when and where you have to show up and do your Most Creative Work, it will fight you on it until you just drop it.
Another way to think about structure and schedules is simply the idea of rhythm.
A drum pattern can be simple, but the beauty of it is keeping it going so that you can add other rhythms on top of it. Now it starts to swing and it’s got that groove to it.
You don’t have to maintain a complicated schedule of achievement in order to be effective.
Being able to do small amounts of practice each day takes us much farther than going into burst mode once in a while and then burning out afterwards.
If you find yourself overwhelmed, lower your expectations and the frames that you work inside.
When your mind starts to think about a Pulitzer Prize award, instead you can consider thinking about a short story that gets printed onto 8.5 x 11 paper on your home printer and sent in the mail to a friend.
Find scrappy little projects to keep your rhythm going.