The Creative Ritual
Sustained creativity isn’t easy. It originates from routine, a bedrock of creative productivity. We struggle with it at times here at Posture – maybe you do as well.
One of the most rewarding things about working in design and development for me is the flow I can fall into during a project, not coming up for air until I feel whatever I’m working on is “finished” and that part of my mind feels satisfied with the results.
Getting to that point, however, is honestly incredibly challenging for me. Coming up with a creative ritual, a foundation and groove I can build and carve out to keep myself moving I’ve found is much more difficult than just plugging headphones into my ears and going to town on something.
Benjamin Franklin made sure to end every day by asking “What good have I done today?” Maya Angelou only wrote in tiny hotel rooms. Jack Kerouac made sure to touch the ground nine times before writing. – 99u.com
One of my favorite sites to visit to recenter my mind for work is 99u, which featured a really great article entitled “10 Creative Rituals You Should Steal” that does a deep dive into the creative routines of some of the world’s best thinkers, entrepreneurs, researchers and creatives.
While I am far and away not practicing any of these as religion (yet!), some of them just make sense to me. Namely:
- Holding a retrospective team meeting after a project to see where everyone’s head is at, how they feel, gripes they have etc.
- Getting out of the building; sometimes just a 15 minute walk clears my head enough to get back in the game.
- Take time to let your mind breathe; a vacation of sorts isn’t always a reality but something as simply as honoring your weekends to keep to yourself can make a world of difference.
Check out the full article at the 99u here
_m
