What is the first thing you do in the morning? The last thing you do at night? Your first action when taking on a new project? Your impulse when receiving good (or bad) news?
If you asked those questions to many highly productive creatives, they’ll have immediate answers. Not because they are micro-obsessive about their schedules, but because over time they’ve developed predictable rituals around key areas of their life and work. (I’m currently reading a fantastic book about the daily rituals of many great artists and writers.) Over time, they’ve learned that the messiness of creative work requires a supportive structure, lest everything devolve into chaos. According to Orson Welles, “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” Rituals provide necessary limitation on your focus, time, and energy so that you can delve deeply into the disorder of creative problem solving.
Rituals are important for several reasons. First, they provide solid ground when facing the uncertainty of your daily work. A ritual is like a bucket you can fill over and over again rather than trying to decide which bucket you should use. A good, solid set of rituals provide context for your work so that you can spend the majority of your energy focusing on the problems you’re trying to solve.
The enemy of art is the absence of limitations. – Orson Welles
Second, rituals help you forge healthy habits. When you return to the same ritual over and over, you are reinforcing the kinds of behavior you want to see manifested in your life and work, which creates a kind of infrastructure or supporting scaffolding for your creative process. Be mindless about the non-essentials so you can be mindful about the essentials.
Finally, ritual helps you achieve flow in your work. Just like your body adapts to a regular bedtime and a predictable sleep ritual, your mind will also learn to settle into regular rhythms and rituals related to your work. If you always focus on specific activities at certain times of the day, or if you dedicate blocks of time and energy for your ritual, you are far more likely to settle into a state of immersion in your work.
Here are a few rituals that have served me well over time:
– The first thing I do when I wake in the morning (at 6:15a) is prep coffee in my French Press and spend an hour reading, thinking, and writing. It’s become such a ritual that it’s now a habit. Most of my best ideas for my work come out of this time. I couldn’t function without it.
– I listen to the same music over and over when I’m writing. In fact, I wrote all of [amazon_link id=”1591846242″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Accidental Creative[/amazon_link] and most of [amazon_link id=”1591845890″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Die Empty[/amazon_link] listening to Ambient Music Therapy’s Deep Meditation Experience. (I subsequently switched to listening mostly to a Philip Glass channel on RDIO, which is now my go-to.) When that album kicked on, my brain knew it was time to start writing.
– When I’ve signed my last few book deals (including the one I signed this week) I eat a packet of Ramen noodles for lunch. Why? Because I remember a time in my life when having $100 in my bank account at the end of the month meant I felt flush with cash. I always want to remind myself to stay lean, focused, and hungry, and this ritual roots me in a place thankfulness and gratitude. (Then… I go celebrate with my family!)
These are just a few of the sorts of rituals I’ve found helpful in my life and work. They ground me in what’s important, ensure that I have time and energy for what I care about, and help me create space in the margins of my (very) busy life.
What are your rituals? I’m sure that you probably have some. Please share them below. (I’d love to steal them!)
“One of the best books of the year. Passionate, practical and powerful, Todd will help you do more and do it better, starting right now.”
– Seth Godin, author of The Icarus Deception
Available now! Amazon.com – Barnes & Noble – IndieBound
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Stitcher
iHeartRadio
I love that you eat Ramen Noodles! That’s a great habit with a great story behind it. My most effective ritual has been drinking 1 liter of water as soon as I wake up. Nothing refreshes my mind and body better than pure water.
I also started the water in the morning habit about a year ago, however the pure water has developed to water,lemon and Cayenne pepper mix.
I agree with the water, Jeff. I failed to mention that I typically down a glass of water straight off before the coffee.
Great post Todd. Our morning rituals are quite similar. I wake up every morning pour one cup of coffee and then sit down and write or create non-client work for the first hour of the day.
As soon as I finish up, I look at my daily task list, and figure out what my priorities and goals for the day are. Then I spend my morning working on a client project for about the next 2-3 hours, before breaking to tackle e-mail around lunch time.
You are right, ritual creates flow in work and flow is quite an amazing thing.
I love this, Jake. I’ve carved some new time rituals with my day since I’m working on my third book, and setting dedicated time in the morning to get the writing out of the way helps a ton. Pushing the more mindless work back helps a lot, too.
Todd, you are so right. Structure is a creative’s best friend in so many ways. After living life as a night owl for decades, I made a switch to rising early a year ago. (Because of a book:”Early to Rise” by Andy Traub) I now rise at 4:00 am (most days), coffee timed just right, and create for the next 3 hours. It has changed my life! (And my bedtime!) Thanks for all your work Todd!
Jim, that was the thing that turned my life as well. I started getting up at 5:30a about a decade ago (I now sleep in just a tad more…) and it radically changed the trajectory of my days.
Todd You are a hidden treasure of the creative process. Thank you for your important work. I just purchased Die Empty.
Could you do a favor for me Please? Would you put all your links to open up in a new window. Everytime I click I have to find my way back. :-)
Love ya man!
Bob – I will absolutely do that moving forward. Sorry for the inconvenience. :) Thanks for your kind words.
Great post. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I have a tea pot with a warmer. I light the candle and it lasts for 4 hours. When I light the candle I know it’s game time. I use a fancy pen and sit at the same desk at the same time every morning. These little details have been important for me.
Love the candle ritual, Ben. I used to do a similar thing whenever I had a meeting in my office. I’d light a candle, and it was a subtle sign that there was something “connective” happening. The small details can make a huge difference, including pen choice, paper, time, etc. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Todd for talking about rituals – I thought my rituals were getting old and possibly needed a change, but I now realize how critical they are to my hectic paced day (& that’s why they are called rituals!). The one ritual that I do share with people is walking – before my day begins I need to walk for 20-30 minutes. This walk is incredibly healing – I think about my day, talk to the creator, work through a problem and just breath. I prefer to be alone at this time, not talk on the phone, etc – just to be with myself in nature for that short time makes the difference in my day. I recommend it – you just need to make the time.
Great article, Todd. I’ve read many times that human beings (by design) are creatures of habit. We create our habits whether they’re good or bad, and often we exercise little, if any, conscious effort in choosing them. I like that your article articulates the importance of choosing good, productive habits by making them ritualistic conscious choices.
This is very true, Jim. Setting good rails is critical.