How to be more productive with your daily routine and daily rituals

Create a daily routine that suits you personally

Surely you have your own morning routine. This is what you do right after you wake up: go to the shower, prepare breakfast, plan the day, drive to work. There may be evening equivalents - these are actions that help you relax and disconnect from the hustle and bustle of workdays.

In fact, each of us has already formed our own daily routine. According to research, about 40% of our regular activities are based on habits. However, not everyone instills them in themselves consciously, based on personal goals and capabilities.

This is why so many people are curious about the schedule of successful entrepreneurs and artists. It seems that we make a similar plan for the day - and it will lead us to the same money and fame.

But blindly copying someone else's path will not make you as productive. In addition, we often see causation where it may not exist. Just because Apple's CEO wakes up every day at 3:45 am does not mean that this is what led him to success. And it certainly doesn't guarantee you the same.

On the contrary, the most effective daily routine is the one that works for you personally. You must consider the natural ebb and flow of energy. And plan important tasks for the time when you can definitely complete them. Fight for your personal time and attention, and eliminate distractions, interruptions and unnecessary meetings.

The important thing is not what kind of schedule you have, but that it really suits you and you adhere to it conscientiously.

Control your attention with rituals

The daily routine coordinates your work. But he is not responsible for comfort. So every day you devote an hour of time to quietly filling out the "morning pages": write down your thoughts, plans, desires. And then you immediately dive into a frantic stream of meetings. Your brain may simply not be ready for such an abrupt change in activity.

And the so-called remainder of attention is to blame. Cal Newport writes about him in the book "Working with the head":

When a person moves from a certain task A to the next task B, his attention does not switch instantly - some remainder of his attention remains occupied with the previous task.

And in order to deceive this remnant, you need to somehow convey to him: "I have already finished work on this problem, it's time to move on to the next."

That's what rituals are for - the repetitive actions you're used to. This could be a regular nap after lunch or a little warm-up before an important meeting, for example.

Rituals are like a daily routine and may even be part of it. However, they have a deeper meaning: they help to calm down, relax or prepare for new actions.

Make rituals special

At work, there are times when ritual can help you cope with a situation and get your attention under control. For example, it's time for you to switch from writing a document to meeting in person. The mental effort required for these two actions is completely different. And you need to somehow coordinate your thoughts: break away from the written words and communicate with the person in front of you.

What matters is not the action itself, but what it means - you are done with one part of the day and are ready to move on to the next.

Rituals are purely personal activities. You can do whatever you want to switch: go for a short walk, get distracted by a cup of coffee, or just put your laptop down.

Unlike the daily schedule, which always follows logic, rituals can even seem strange.

Remember how athletes feel about superstition: some of them really think that it can be won by not shaving during the playoffs or changing socks during the entire tournament. It's hard to believe this works. But they do it anyway.

Therefore, you should not restrain yourself in this matter. Here are some interesting and some strange rituals of famous people:

French writer Simone de Beauvoir always corrected the previous day's work before starting something new. “If the work is going well, I spend a quarter or half an hour reading what I wrote yesterday and make a few corrections. Then I continue. I do this in order not to lose the thread."
Winston Churchill drank a glass of whiskey and soda every day at 5:00 pm and went to bed. After an hour and a half, he got up, took a bath and had dinner. This helped him distinguish between morning work and evening work and divide one working day into two.
Stephen King begins to work from 8 am to half past nine. Before starting to write, he usually drinks a glass of water or a cup of tea. Sits in the same chair as always, puts the papers in their places. The purpose of these identical daily activities is to signal to your brain that it's time to dive into fantasy.
Picasso refused to throw away the clippings of his nails for "fear of squandering his essence."
Charles Dickens always slept facing north, thinking that this would increase his creativity.

Some are skeptical about rituals. But research has shown that doing this can help you maintain self-control and deal with adversity. They also reduce feelings of anxiety in stressful situations and, in general, have a positive effect on the work process.

This is partly due to the fact that we draw conclusions about ourselves by analyzing our own behavior. When we repeat the same ritual, it means that we are disciplined, motivated and focused.