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.

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