I’ve noticed that my work is better when I embrace my curiosity and lean into it as part of my daily routine.
Watching cartoons and playing games regularly doesn’t pull me away from my work. It supports it. It helps me to grow and learn all the time, in ways that are easy to overlook if you’re only measuring productivity by visible output.
What This Habit Replaces
This habit replaces that feeling of scrambling at the last minute.
The feeling of needing a quick, creative solution. Of sitting down to create and realising there’s nothing creative in your mind, and you are trying to force ideas to appear because they have to.
Instead, it gives me a kind of subconscious library.
When I watch cartoons or play games consistently, I’m not doing it with a checklist or an agenda. I’m letting patterns sink in. I’m noticing what works, what doesn’t, what feels thoughtful, what feels lazy, what I’d want to try, and what I wouldn’t repeat.
Over time, that builds up into something steady and reliable. A store of best practice, half-ideas, and possibilities. So when I do arrive at a creative project where I have full autonomy, I’m not starting from nothing. I already have material to draw from, even if I can’t always trace where it came from.
When I First Noticed It Helping
I first noticed this when I was working mainly in animation.
I remember joking that I would make a great mum because in my house (population: me) we watched a lot of cartoons. And that I was always watching deeply. Appreciating how things were done and being impressed by things that I couldn’t do, equally noting how the enjoyment in certain shows plummeted when the animation was tacky and cheap and I could do better in my sleep.
Later, when my work shifted more toward game design, I noticed my habits shift too. I played more games. I paid attention to what other people were doing. What worked. What didn’t. What felt considered. What felt clunky. And whether I thought I could do something better or differently.
It wasn’t about copying. It was about understanding. About learning through exposure rather than forcing myself to sit down and “study” creativity.
What Happens When I Skip It
When I skip this for too long, I feel it.
I start worrying that I’m falling behind. Not just on trends, but on understanding what’s happening more broadly. I feel less connected to the world I’m creating for.
More than that, I notice inspiration thinning out. I don’t want to stop finding ideas in the things around me. I don’t want to stop being curious.
And honestly, even if I wanted to skip it completely, I’m not sure I could. This isn’t something I do as a break from work. It’s part of how I stay engaged, learning, and open, but also how I relax and unwind and feel inspired to keep being creative.
Protecting Curiosity
If I protect curiosity first, productivity doesn’t need to be forced. It arrives with more ease, more depth, and more generosity than it does when I’m running on empty.
So yes, I watch cartoons. I play games. Regularly.
Not instead of working. But because it helps me to work better (that’s the story I’m sticking to anyway!)