An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
~Mohandas Gandhi
How often do you sit at your computer with all intentions of being creatively productive but find that all you can do is stare at the screen? Your hands are placed on the keys ready for your next command, but….nothing. What would you say if I told you that productivity is just a well nurtured habit?
You see, we humans love routines. They calm us and bring order and predictability to an otherwise uncertain and chaotic world. From brushing your teeth, to daily writing practice, to your daily run, all of our routines start as new behaviors and slowly, with practice, become habits and then routines. What I have learned is that you can encourage those habits by creating the right environment – create a ritual.
behaviors on demand
When I was having trouble getting a good night sleep, I did some research and discovered that daily routines enhance sleep. As it turns out, our love of routines is physical as well as mental. It gets us into a rhythm so that our bodies know what to expect when these conditions are true. For example if you have a a warm cup of tea, read for 15 minutes, brush your teeth and then go to bed every night at the same time, you will naturally begin to get tired at the same time – your body craves and expects that experience.
experiment in rituals
So I thought – if this works for sleep, why not for other activities? What if you could create a ritual that encourages your muse to arrive just when you needed to write? Well, I did my own experiment (highly unscientific) and discovered that the rituals we create for ourselves can influence our productivity. It’s almost like having creative productivity on demand!
I chose two areas where I wanted to develop creative productivity on demand. For each one I established a ritual and then executed that ritual on a daily basis for several weeks. What I experienced is exactly what the sleep article described: my body and mind got into a rhythm and began to expect the behavior. I can now be creatively productive on demand. Here are the two rituals:
the morning ritual
I realized early in my virtual worklife that how I start my day influences the remainder of the day. So I make it a habit of starting my day in a calm and centered way. Time alloted: 45 – 60 minutes
- coffee: hot, aromatic, and fresh
- candle: lit or not the aroma is evident
- music: from pandora’s spa radio channel
- calm: take 5 deep breaths and check my posture
- action: launch gmail / calendar and begin!
I do this almost every day, no matter where I am, to help set the tone for the rest of the day. On the off days, I truly feel off . I guess that’s why we call them off days! (see more of my inbox zero activities here.)
the writing ritual
Guess what? All of those recommendations to create a daily writing practice are true! The more I write, the easier it becomes. But like most writers, I struggle with staying creative and productive. Time alloted: 2 hours
- white noise: quiet is too distracting, the white noise of a coffee shop (if mobile) or music enhances the habit
- physical comfort: temperature, chair / table, lighting – if not comfortable can be distracting
- eliminate distractions: close all other applications, better yet disconnect from the internet; turn off phone.
- be inspired: I read a few pages of an encouraging work before starting (currently using If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland)
- prime the pump: five minutes of free writing – both a physical and mental activity
- start with notes: nothing blocks me more than a blank page. I always have several articles started and am continuously capturing ideas. Start with existing notes and go from there.
The idea behind any routine that we establish is to get both the mind and body accustomed to the activity we are trying to engage. I have found that engaging as many of my senses as possible increases the likelihood of productivity on demand.
This builds on the last article: from clutter to zen office. Not only is your environment important, but so are your habits within that environment. The habits / rituals are also valuable on their own for the virtual or mobile worker as you don’t always have the luxury of being in your base office. So even if you have created the perfect zen home office, you can not always count on being able to use that to be creatively productive. Establishing routines that are mobile can add to your creativity and productivity.
take action
It’s your turn. What behavior or activity do you want to make a habit in your life? Where do you want to be able to engage on demand; be creatively productive on demand? Select one daily habit and begin to develop a ritual to support your behavior. Make it uniquely yours and it will be uniquely powerful. Establish creative productivity on demand!
Hi Linda,
Great Article. I have to admit, I usually have the opposite problem; rather than finding myself staring blankly at the screen I find myself multi-tasking into doing other things. When I am feeling productive, that means anything from CSS tweaks on a website to developing new slides for some project I am working on (and usually more than one at a time). When I am not so productive – adding songs to a playlist, or wasting time on facebook.
I’m toying with the idea of trying to introduce time in my day for certain rituals; spend at least 30 minutes a day writing, some time specifically dedicated to the “to-do” list, etc. My problem is, it is hard for me to say that time will always be between 8:30-9 am, as my day-to-day schedule shifts quite a bit. That seems to throw off my ritual, as just allocating time doesnt always work. What would you suggest in a situation like that?
David,
Thanks for bringing up the time issue! I too tried to schedule my day so that I could create habits that turned into rituals. But it messed with my creativity too much and became work instead of passionate productivity! Try not to look at your ritual as something that happens at a particular time, but rather that happens in a particular sequence. For example if you want to establish a writing ritual, decide what priority to assign and then place that in your daily activities. So if you have meetings in the morning and can not get to writing until later int he day – fine! Just make sure that you assign writing a priority 1 (after your scheduled appointments). That is actually the power of the ritual. If you use a certain pen, or listen to a certain type of music while writing, your brain will begin to associate that pen or music with writing. It’s not a matter of when (i.e. 9am every morning) but rather a matter of ‘how’ you approach your habit.
I hope that helps!
I have a tough time with rituals.
I’m mostly task oriented in the morning and my creative juices flow late in the evening, but quite often I need to perform in just opposite manner. So I find trying to set a schedule that both works with my inner being and outer self very conflicting.
If you have any idea how us Gemini’s can get our act together I’m all ears.
Thanks for sharing this.
Joe,
hmmm that’s a good one!
First, I always look for ways to ‘go with the flow’ meaning to follow where your creativity takes you. If you are creative late in the evening, then plan your work that way. This may take some time and you may have to allow yourself more time to do the creative work – for example you may need more lead time if a client wants a creative work delivered by Friday end of business, don’t wait until Friday morning to start.
On the other hand, the reality is that life is not that organized and we often have to call on our creative (or task oriented) selves when they are dormant. That is where you need to experiment with your settings, your environment, the things that inspire you and ‘get you through’ when the work is not aligned with your state of mind.
The biggest question I have is: do you have the flexibility in your work to go with your normal patters of tasks in the morning and creativity in the evening? If so, why not? If not, try to set up the environment and mindset through rituals and habits.
I hope this helps start the process 😉