Yum. Starbucks.
I saw this advertisement at a Starbucks in the San Diego airport this morning and it really got me thinking.
We all have “rituals,” things that we do consistently. We do these for a lot of different reasons but one of the reasons we have so-called rituals is that they enable us to stay productive!
I realized that I have more than a few rituals that keep me focused. Here are some thoughts via video:
[tentblogger-vimeo 15502972]
How about you? Love to hear yours!
[This is part of the Developing Great Blog Content Series.]
I saw this ad campaign at a Starbucks last week. I think it is a great campaign. How better to justify $5 coffee than classify it as a tradition.
To your point, I think you are right when we create good traditions, we can naturally do what we need to, even when we don’t always feel like it.
seriously. it’s very clever.
i doubt your book reviews are traditions… are they?
you just read a lot.
No the reviews are not traditions. But I do occationally have to force myself to read or write when I don’t want to. I don’t like reading and writing when I don’t want to, so I am taking less and less work on deadline. Work that I don’t want to do usually ends up being done badly.
But I do have a hard time breaking out of my tradition of rolling out of bed and checking email, RSS and twitter. Even when I know that is not the best use of my quiet morning time before the girls come.
But it is a tradition. I have been doing it for 15 or so years now. My wife and I rarely talk until we have been awake for 30 minutes or so and I am at least through the two of the three basic tasks. By that time I am awake enough to make a decent cup of coffee for myself and her before she heads to work.
I am trying to replace some of my morning tradition with a more effective one. But I just can’t seem to break it.
what time do you get up usually? didn’t know you were a morning person.
A little after 5. Sometimes as late as 5:30. Ella gets dropped off sometime between 6:30 and 7. Honestly, I would prefer getting up around 4, but that means I have to go to bed much earlier than what I do.
haha. sleep. underrated.
Dude that is hilarious. I have the EXACT same morning ritual. Boot up, let email download begin, start coffee, read and respond to email, get first cup of coffee… proceed.
After that, I then spent no more than an hour reading RSS feeds, commenting on blogs, etc. I consider that my morning news and online community connection update (I do it again later in the day as well or in the late evening – as I am doing now).
Then I spend some time with God. If nothing more than a few minutes of quiet time, devotional and prayer. I wait on this one until after the RSS – blog cycle because I like to give myself time to wake up and be alert (no sense in closing my eyes to pray and falling back asleep).
Other productivity rituals:
Most days I turn my office phone and cell off for a few hours each morning so I can focus on the most important tasks for the day and getting them done first without interruption or being in “response” mode to other things.
I try to eat lunch outside whenever possible. Just breaks the scenery and kind of refreshes the spirit which helps the productivity.
At the end of each work day I spend a few minutes cleaning up my desk and organizing my workspace (because I’m setting myself up for a productive day the next day… clutter usually makes me less productive).
Those are just a few…
Great tips Daniel!
hah! you’re a productivity junkie like me then!
i love the eating lunch outside. i’m going to steal that one. i need to get out of my chair more.
… and just a few? it would be a good idea for me to jot them down. i’m going to take a look at that.
thanks daniel!
To be honest, my morning ritual consists of checking and (this is scary) answering email while still somewhat unconscious … yeah …
Quick shower and I’m off to Barnes and Noble, where I pick up some coffee or a redbull … or a redbull latte … and set up shop on the floor upstairs. I’ve quickly learned that I can get to work much faster if I skip the whole battle to plug into one of the outlets in the cafe.
How many of you guys were over at #blogchat on twitter tonight? It was pretty awesome as CopyBlogger was the co-host and there were a ton of bloggers taking part.
so you set up somewhere other than your home?
missed the #blogchat would have loved to join!
and yes, probably better to answer emails when fully ‘there’.
What I usually do is find a time early in the day to clean out my inbox, and then also clean it out before I go to bed as well.
can you goto bed without it being cleaned out? or is that a struggle..?
It’s not always a struggle, but I have the mindset that my day is not complete unless it’s cleaned out.
ah. i can understand that.
Dude. I’m an “artist” …. we find rituals to be limiting and predictable.
I actually don’t have much of a routine or ritual right now, but I’d like one…
My ideal morning ritual would somehow involve writing “Morning Pages” which are a sort of creative artistic writing warm up for the day. Gets your right brain in gear and lets you do some dreaming and writing first thing while your brain is like a blank canvas.
But, unfortunately, I don’t do that. boooo
show me a video of this ritual! what is a morning page?
Morning ritual: Drop daughter off at school, drink coffee, eat oatmeal, play “trucks’ or “trains” with my son (he’s 22 months), read, scan, tweet, play “trucks”, more coffee, go to park with son, more coffee then lunch for both of us….
Rituals are what define us, as we all are creatures of habit. I enjoy my morning ritual of drinking coffee and making oatmeal. It ensures me I am on the right “path” for the day.
Love your blog!
- Bob
Bob,
Thanks for stopping by! We’re just getting started here but I’m having a great time with it!
Thanks for sharing your rituals John. I actually have my coffee set to brew on a timer, so that it is ready when I wake up, but I do have some other rituals after that. My wife and I began reading through the Bible chronologically a couple of months ago using one of YouVersion’s reading plans (http://www.youversion.com/reading-plans/chronological/). So after I fix my previously brewed coffee, I head to “my spot” and read the readings for the day. Then I open up Google reader, and read over all the updates to blogs that I subscribe to. After that, I write down some ideas of blog posts for the next coming days.
What’s funny is just today, I am trying to institute an hour of randomness. Doing something completely out of my rituals. Don’t know what that might look like every day, but I’m open for any suggestions if anyone has any.
that, is, awesome!
love the randomness idea… i might steal that… may i?
I turn to rituals whenever I’m feeling too rushed or too crazed (and I wrote about it here: http://bwortman.us/QRABT1). They’re my little bits of zen, if you will, though I’m not a Buddhist by any stretch. I hadn’t thought of them as productivity aids before, though I can definitely see the connection.
I wonder if I can consider my 60 minute, twice-a-day, audiobook-enabled commute a ritual? Hmmmm.