Editor’s note: Before Paul Graham started his first company, he was a painter—a practice that he likens to hacking. “What hackers and painters have in common is that they’re both makers,” he said. We know that, like Graham, a lot of our readers are lateral thinkers, branching out into different modes of producing work. So today, we’re re-publishing a piece from our archives with painter Brian Rutenberg. It’s part of Superorganizers, our ongoing series about how smart people organize what they know.
With military precision, the painter Brian Rutenberg wakes up every single workday at exactly 7:10 a.m. Then, the ritual begins: a series of daily tasks, guided by muscle memory and his immutable routine. He rises and makes his bed, then spends 20 minutes at the gym, followed by oatmeal and coffee at the same diner, every day.
Afterwards, he heads into his New York studio, where he churns out some of the most well-regarded abstract paintings in modern art. Every day. On time. For decades.
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Want the full text of all articles in RSS? Become a subscriber, or learn more. ### Summary - Artist Brian Rutenberg is firmly of the belief that talent is nothing without the corresponding work ethic and that creativity is born of limitations rather than freedom. - Rutenberg wakes up at 7:10 every morning, walks to the gym, meets his actor friends at the diner for oatmeal and coffee before heading to his studio where he works "like a 9-to-5 job". - When that gets monotonous, he takes walks, watches movies, or has dinner with his friends to unlock his creativity; his advice to others is to give up when they're experiencing a creative block. - He puts everything into his work and isn't ruled by ideas of success or failure, his studio is a mess but he runs it like a "well-oiled machine" and completes everything to deadline. - As well as painting, Rutenberg makes YouTube videos to share his creative process and experience and builds community for other like-minded creators. #### By Kieran O‘Hare / Superorganizers