Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

I am my father's son.  Mind you, this isn't a complaint. 

We Demangone's are men of ritual.  We'll eat the same breakfast over and over again.  I have a particular way of loading the dishwasher.  Upon arriving at work, I work my way through the same ten "rituals" to begin the day, the first of which is to secure my coffee for the morning.  I find myself parking in the same spot at the grocery store. Each and every time. 

Much of this is a subconscious way of reducing decisions. Making decisions is a grind, so any ritual that can free your mind to work on more important matters is a good thing. 

Along those lines, my colleague Dan O'Brien sent me an article recently that studied the rituals of creative people.  So, what did that article find?

1. Get up early.
2. Keep a routine.  Remember, this article was for creative minds, such as poets, composers and writers.  One would think that a free schedule would work best, but the article argues the opposite.
3. Take lots of walks.  You might scoff, but quite a few successful people walked quite a bit. 
4. Learn to work anywhere. 

The article, which is a review of a recently-published book, does note that there are numerous exceptions to every rule.  The one quote from the book which really caught my eye, was buried near the bottom.  It didn't make the list as a rule, but I had to share it.

In Everybody's Autobiography, (Gertrude) Stein confirmed that she had never been able to write for much more than half an hour a day, but added, "If you write a half-hour a day, it makes a lot of writing year by year."

Just imagine if you had chipped away for a year, no more than 15 or 20 minutes a day, on some major problem.  Where would you be today?

That's enough for today, I think.  So, faithful readers...here are some questions for you.

1. What one habit of yours had led to the most productivity?
2. Let's attack that from another angle, shall we?  Look back on your most productive periods of work. What made that time so productive?  Can you replicate that atmosphere?

Have a great week, guys.

 

My mother's morning ritual...

 

You might be interested in the following:

• Decision fatigue.
• Presidential burdens.
• Habits and success.
• Benjamin Franklin, Habits and Email.