Tags
daily, flow, habit, habits, Productivity, rituals, self-improvement, system, workflow
I’ve recently read a book called Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. This book lists out all of the Artists and thinkers over the years and how they ran their days. Some didn’t have any plan at all, but these were rare. Most had a very specific list of things they did each day. They got up the same time, retired the same time, and followed a system. I’ve always believed in rituals because they build consistency in my day and reinforce the things I want to focus on.
Let’s look at some things that are good for us. Sleeping 7-8 hours a night, exercising, meditation, reading, writing, hygiene, social networking, etc. By focusing on these simple things, you build a habit of doing these things and building a solid foundation that has been proven to be healthy and efficient. Who wouldn’t want that?
Here’s what my morning ritual looks like:
- Rise
- Record my dreams if I recall anything
- Make my bed
- Hygiene
- Meditate
- Visualize the completion of my most important goal
- Breakfast
- Check Email
- Check Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn, and email iteration 1
- Post quotes to social media sites and write down my recorded dream in my dream journal
- Writing in my Gratitude Journal
- Verifying my plan for the day (top 2-3 things I set to accomplish)
Daily rituals are cool because they provide a stability to my day. Now that I’m retired it gives me a structure, a system to follow, addressing what I consider important. I also have an evening ritual.
Here’s what my evening ritual looks like:
- Dinner
- Exercise
- Planning for tomorrow
- Gratitude Journal
- Check Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn, and email iteration 3
- Write in my Gratitude Journal
- Write in my diary
- Hygiene
- Evening Reading
- Retire
These are things I do every day. Not necessarily in the order, I’ve put them in. Things happen. If I’m sick or have an appointment that disrupts my ability to accomplish some of those ritualistic things, I’ll blow them off that day. The key to rituals is they build habits that are strong enough to deal with the chaos of our lives and survive as templates for our activities.
The key to building a great ritual is to select those things you deem important to your life or are very passionate about. Some of the things on my list may be a given for you, like hygiene. Some folks may decide hygiene isn’t one of those things they want to deal with in a ritual because they are going to do it. The ritual can be composed of anything you want. The key is to build your ritual on those things that you believe will provide value to your life if they are done consistently.
After using rituals for the last 6 months I am a firm believer in their efficacy. I am on automatic each morning and launch into my evening rituals with the same tenacity. My morning ritual is triggered by my waking in the morning and the bulk of my evening ritual is triggered by my dinner. After dinner is complete, I exercise, plan for the next day, check social media and this blog, hit my gratitude journal and my diary, and get ready for a relaxing evening.
I hope some of these ideas are helpful and wish you well on creating rituals that provide value to your day.
Until next time…
