7 Daily Habits to Maximize Your Creative Output
For the last few months, I’ve been more prolific than I have been in quite some time. In an effort to maintain my momentum, get ready for my book launch, and prepare writing my second book, I’m attempting to do what Cal Newport would refer to as “upping your deep work game.” While it might seem robotic, it allows a great deal of space for creative thinking and output. These things allow me to maximize my creative output, spend more time immersed in deep work, and get into flow on a daily basis.
1) Wake up 1 hour or 30 minutes earlier
Over the course of a day or a week waking up 30 minutes earlier doesn’t seem like much. Over the course of several weeks, months, and an entire year it adds up to a lot of time. There are a number of things that you can do with an extra 30 minutes
- Meditate
- Read a Book
- Write a book
- Just listen to music
The main thing I’m doing with the extra 30 minutes is read before I write. This also allows me to get to the gym earlier than I normally do.
2) Block distractions for big time chunks (4–5 hours at a time)
As you might know, if you have read anything else I’ve written, I’m a big proponent of using tools to block distractions. Your willpower is limited, and you don’t want to waste it on something as low-value as resisting distractions. Normally I do blocks of about 60–90 minutes at a time.
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with 4–5 hour blocks. The result is more reading books, more writing ,and an added bonus, less stress, and anxiety. Just because you block distractions for big chunks of time it doesn’t mean you don’t take breaks. But by doing 4–5 hour blocks you build your ability to resist distractions. Given that excessive social media use is the cognitive equivalent of being an athlete who smokes, this is a good thing.
3) Put a time limit on Facebook, Twitter, Email
Putting a time limit on things like Facebook, Twitter and email forces you to be more efficient and deliberate. You’re likely to be more mindful of all your media consumption and save a ton of time. Browser extensions like Stayfocusd allow you to allocate a limited amount of time each day for certain web sites.
4) Read books whenever you’re tempted to read articles online
Many of us say we want to read more books. Before you know it, we find ourselves reading something online. If you’ve blocked distracting web sites this will be easier. Anytime you’re tempted to read something online, reach for a book instead. If you spent the same amount of time that you do reading articles on a book each day, you could probably finish a book every week. (The irony of you reading this is not lost on me)
4) Compose emails before opening your inbox
It’s been said before that your inbox is other people’s priority list and nobody has ever changed the world by checking their email. One of the best email hacks that I’ve come up with over the last few months is to write any email I send before I open my inbox. Ask yourself these two questions:
1) Is there anyone I need to email?
2) Is there anybody I need to respond to?
Then write your emails before you open gmail. Cut, paste,and send. By doing this your use of email goes from reactive to proactive.
5) Have a shutdown ritual
I’ve written before about why having an evening ritual as important as having a morning one. Normally I completely shut down by 8pm. No Facebook, no email, no computer. I’ve been trying to shut down by 7pm and hopefully soon it will be 6pm.
6) Go to sleep to ensure 8 hours of sleep
Sleep is so important that Arianna Huffington even wrote a new book about it. If you’re not convinced of it’s value, listen to this interview my friend Jonathan Fields did with her on The Good Life Project. Not only that, without sufficient sleep it’s hard to wake up 30 minutes earlier.
7) Exercise every day
Your best creative ideas are rarely the byproduct of sitting in front of the computer. My best ideas always come from my time in the water. But on the days that I can’t surf, I hit the gym for 40 minutes of cardio. On the days that I exercise I have more energy and I’m able to focus for longer periods of time.
And if you hate cardio, here’s a little hack that I learned from Shawn Achor’s book The Happiness Advantage. It turns out if you watch the timer on the exercise machine, it makes the whole thing seem like it’s going be slower because that’s all your attention is focused on. By simply covering the timer with a towel, the time seems like it goes by faster. And if you’re bored listen to a podcast or audiobook
I don’t succeed every day at doing these things. But by doing at least once, you prove to yourself it’s possible and that makes it easy to eventually transform into a habit.
I’m the host and founder of The Unmistakable Creative Podcast. Every Sunday we share the most unmistakable parts of the internet that we have discovered in The Sunday Quiver. Receive our next issue by signing up here
