Routine Work

Finding creativity and challenge in repetition

If you find yourself doing the same thing every day, a little bit bored or checked out, no longer learning or being challenged, that’s a good sign it’s time to look for a new job.

That’s not where I am at all. But I do have a pretty stable routine and set of tasks and work elements. In fact, I’m largely doing the same bundle of professional tasks I’ve been doing since my first internship at a magazine in 2016. In a self-employed and distributed manner, I pretty much work the equivalent of a magazine editor’s job.

But having a fixed schedule or routine isn’t the same as being in a rut, or bored, or unchallenged. In fact, it sets up a challenge in its own way. I think of it like a restaurant with a fixed menu. In some ways, innovative or fusion cuisine or whatever can obscure or mask mediocrity. Who can really tell how well a dish that doesn’t really exist has been pulled off? A chef at a restaurant with a predictable or familiar menu, on the other hand, has the challenge of executing it just so.