How to create a daily writing rhythm and use exercise to boost your creativity

Haruki Murakami’s routine is one to envy, but it requires discipline. He wakes up before 5 a.m. and writes first thing. In the morning, his focus is at its peak, a moment when he can work on the most essential work of the day, which is usually writing a novel.

Then he works out. His discipline is reflected in his running routine. He aims to run every day or at least six days a week. That is a commitment. When he gets back home, he focuses on work that’s doesn’t require much concentration. He concludes the day by relaxing, reading and listening to music. Then he goes to bed early.

Does this routine make him one of the most prolific writers in the world? In his book, ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’, he argues that exercising sharpens the pencil of his creativity. He runs daily to stay in the best shape to create as focused as possible and as long as life lets him in good health. Talking about dedication to his craft!

The book is a delight to read. You get a glimpse into the mind and manners of one of the world’s favorite writers. When I read books like these, I’m always the most interested in what makes the creative person in question tick. What can other writers learn from him?

Haruki Murakami teaches us something simple yet powerful. A daily exercise routine helps you stay fit and focused, which dramatically complements a writing routine. You will stay productive, motivated, and creative. Here’s how he does it and how you can too.

“For me, writing a novel is like climbing a steep mountain, struggling up the face of the cliff, reaching the summit after a long and arduous ordeal. You overcome your limitations, or you don’t, one or the other. I always keep that inner image with me as I write.” – Haruki Murakami.

#1: Writing is a marathon, not a sprint

Murakami draws a comparison between running a full marathon and writing a novel. Both endeavors are highly measurable. For writing novels, it can be how many words you’ve written per day. For running a marathon, it’s about training your body to be able to run over 26 miles. Every time you train, you make progress, either in the number of words or miles. The end goal is finishing that manuscript or completing the full 26 miles.

A second measure is timing. You can write 100 words a day and finish a novel in three years, or you write 300 words a day and finish in a year. The same goes for running. You can run a mile in 15 minutes or train yourself to run a mile in 10 minutes. If you strive to become better, your endurance increases and, with that, your productivity.

Running and writing is both about setting standards for yourself. The fact that you can make it measurable makes you commit and feel responsible. You’re able to develop an inner motivation to become better. Haruki Murakami: “The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance running, the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.”

#2: Running boosts your creativity

“The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky as always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky. The sky both exists and doesn’t exist. It has substance and at the same time doesn’t. And we merely accept that vast expanse and drink it in.” – Haruki Murakami.

If you drive yourself hard physically, you can locate new sources of creativity within yourself. Murakami argues that he runs to acquire a type of void. You’ll have to allow your mind to enter that void and let random thoughts and ideas pop up. When running, you can let your thoughts wander and organize. If you go out running without listening to a podcast or even to music, you give your brain the space to think.

You can even leave the house with a mental exercise. Stuck with a particular scene? Not satisfied with the growth of your character or why she’s taken a specific action? Let it simmer over a run. You can even record your notes on your phone or smartwatch while running.

It’s not my aim to make you go running, nor is it Murakami’s. You can also go for a walk. Tie it in with a certain number of steps you want to make in a day or new areas you want to explore. It’s about moving and thinking to boost your creativity.

#3: Exercise boosts your productivity

“Once I started sitting at my desk all day writing, my energy level gradually declined, and I started putting on the pounds. I was smoking too much, too, as I concentrated on my work. Back then I was smoking sixty cigarettes a day. All my fingers were yellow, and my whole body reeked of smoke. This can’t be good for me, I decided. If I wanted to have a long life as a novelist, I needed to find a way to keep fit and maintain a healthy weight.” – Haruki Murakami.

Writing requires a lot of you. You have to focus, select the correct words, keep the structure of the work in mind, imagine novel ways to telling a story, etc. Most of your muscles are atrophy while sitting down to write. Your mind, however, is pumping iron like a heavyweight lifter. Your entire being is making up stuff from scratch that exhausts the mind considerably.

To keep that mind of yours supple, prevent injuries and make sure that it can lift more weight with every session, you’ll have to train your body. Exercise lifts that tension. All muscles can relieve themselves, including the brain. With his daily running routine, Murakami keeps his mind and body healthy for the next intensive session.

If you want to be productive as a writer and sharp as a fountain pen, you’re going to have to start moving. Smoking, drinking and sitting all day will deplete your body and therefore tampers with your productivity. This doesn’t mean you can’t write; it just means that it’s more challenging for you than for a fit writer.

#4: Talent isn’t everything; perseverance is

“The problem with talent, though, is that in most cases the person involved can’t control its amount or quality. You might find the amount isn’t enough and you want to increase it, or you might try to be frugal to make it last longer, but in neither case do things work out that easily. Talent has a mind of its own and wells up when it wants to, and once it dries up, that’s it.” – Haruki Murakami.

Sure, it requires talent to become successful in writing. The level of skill is different for every writer. We’re not all born Oscar Wilde’s. But more than talent, writers need the ability to focus and to endure.

Focus is a prerequisite for guiding your talent for a few hours to actually produce a story. If you have sufficient focus, Murakami argues, it can make up for an erratic talent. How to focus, you ask? Every writer has a different process. Murakami sits down every morning and thinks about nothing but what he’s writing. He makes sure there are no distractions around, just his pen and paper (he manually writes in Japanese signs first). Similarly, I taught myself how to focus. Usually, the first thing I do in the morning is to write. On days before work, I carve out half an hour, intending to write at least 350 words. On off days I up my game, sit longer and often write 1,000 words. This is about producing new material. Afterwards, I use my time to edit, research or set up scenes for the next day.

After focus, the next most important thing for a novelist is endurance. To be able to endure a daily writing routine, one needs energy, according to Murakami. If you want to endure, you need a writing routine first and an exercise routine second. Sharpen the mind, train the body.

Murakami: “Fortunately, these two disciplines—focus and endurance—are different from talent, since they can be acquired and sharpened through training. You’ll naturally learn both concentration and endurance when you sit down every day at your desk and train yourself to focus on one point. […] And gradually you’ll expand the limits of what you’re able to do. Almost imperceptibly you’ll make the bar rise.”

#5: The art of a good routine

“Somerset Maugham once wrote that in each shave lies a philosophy. I couldn’t agree more. No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.” – Haruki Murakami.

Countless books have been written about the benefits of a solid routine. Without routine, progress is gruesome. As described in the previous section, Murakami writes first thing in the morning. Do that every day and progress is inevitable. I follow suit and write every day too, well, at least 6 days a week.

If you find your moment to write, you can connect it with a goal, like a certain number of words you want to write. This way, you can make your progress measurable.

An extra benefit of this setup is that the hard part is over before lunch. The afternoon can be spent reading, researching, answering emails and everything else related to writing that’s not actually writing. Mornings are for thinking; afternoons are for blinking. The work that doesn’t require your brain’s total capacity.

If you set priorities, divide your time and energy well and become a creature of habit, you’ll attain a potent recipe for success. It’s like running a marathon. Train every day, set goals to go faster and farther. Eventually, you can run that marathon.

By creating a writing or running habit, you train your metabolism to become stronger, more productive, energetic and full of focus. The extra benefit of running is that you’ll stay healthy too. What more do you need?

Well, some sort of rhythm. Some kind of challenge. Murakami: “Sometimes I run fast when I feel like it, but if I increase the pace, I shorten the amount of time I run, the point being to let the exhilaration I feel at the end of each run carry over to the next day. This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. To keep ongoing, you have to keep up the rhythm.”

Ernest Hemingway did indeed, and it works. Play around with pace. With running, of course, but also with writing. Try to write 500 words a day instead of 350. How does that feel? Is it a stretch, or can you actually pull it off? Seek the limits of your capabilities.

Conclusion

Writing and running complement each other, at least for Haruki Murakami. By sticking to a running routine, you can become a more focused and productive writer. Exercise can boost your creativity and productivity, but it also can teach you about routine and setting goals.

How to motivate yourself to run and write? Murakami does this by telling himself that he can do what he does because of his running routine. Because he’s found that balance between writing and exercising, he doesn’t have to commute to work and achieve someone else’s dream. He can set his own hours and like according to his rules. That should count as daily motivation. Murakami: “For me, the main goal of exercising is to maintain, and improve, my physical condition to keep on writing novels, so if races and training cut into the time I need to write, this would be putting the cart before the horse.”

It doesn’t have to be running, as long as you find some type of exercise that keeps you fit enough to write. For me, it’s HIIT training and rebounding. What’s it for you?

Need more writing tips from the Japanese wordsmith? Read my previous article about Murakami here.

Join my email list to keep in touch.

Please note: this post contains affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of the items linked, I will receive a small fee I use to host this website and keep it free from ads :-)

Haruki Murakami’s Writing Routine and (Running) Habits