Daily Rituals

I'm a practice nerd.

I saw Michael Phelps give a talk at a business conference, and remember him saying he didn't take a single day off for something like five years. Not a holiday, not a weekend, nothing. Practice every day.

I watched an excellent documentary about Dirk Nowitzki, and one of the things that struck me was several professional players' comments about Kobe Bryant. The Lakers would arrive in a new town, and the team would hit up the night life. All but Kobe. They all knew: Kobe was in the gym, practicing.

And it's easy to think, "Why??? He's Kobe The Black Mamba Bryant!!" But what anybody who plays knows is, that's why he's Kobe The Black Mamba Bryant.

We get this -- at least in theory -- when it comes to physical activities, like athletics. But what about our habits of mind, cognitive activities? Do we appreciate how they're reinforced through practice? Often, we go to a training program, or take an online class, and put a check box in the "done" column. As long as I've got a LinkedIn badge, I'm good...

I prefer to think in terms of doing, not done. What are the things you do so regularly that it would be accurate to say you're "doing" them.

I love how Seinfeld starts each day with a yellow legal pad. Getting in his work.

I love how David Byrne takes a dictaphone everywhere he goes, to capture stray sounds, lyrics, and melodies.

I love how Walter Isaacson reads aloud the previous night's manuscript in the morning.

I love that Beethoven took a walk every day after lunch, bringing along a couple of blank music sheets and a pencil to capture inspiration as it struck.

I love how Brian Grazer tried to meet one new person in the industry every day.

I love that Bill Baker chose a new, random lunch-mate each day at the Bell Labs cafeteria.

I love how Steve Jobs almost always opted for a walking meeting.

I love how John Pierce took a nap every day at noon.

I love how Benjamin Franklin met with his Junto every week… for thirty years!

I love that Alan Kay played the pipe organ each morning.

And how Mervin Kelly tediously groomed his garden filled with thousands of tulips.

They may seem disconnected, especially the farther you get down that list of seemingly random examples, but I'm a firm believer that inputs to our thinking -- our habits of mind and action and interaction -- drive the thoughts / ideas / concept outputs we generate. It's erroneous to overly-compartmentalize.

As I said, I'm a practice nerd. I have a little bit of a system, but it's constantly evolving based on what works. I'm inspired by others, so please share your hacks with me. And speaking of learning from others' rituals, I'm excited to read this book: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. Seems relevant, huh? ;-)

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