Why Rituals Make You more Prolific, Productive and Creative

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Unmistakable Creative

3 min readFeb 16, 2016

If you look at the habits of prolific writers and things that all prolific creators have in common, they all abide by rituals.

A practice implies engagement in a ritual. A practice may be defined as the dedicated daily exercise of commitment, will and focused intention aimed, on one level of achievement at mastery in a field, but on a loftier level, intended to produce a communion with power greater than ourselves- call it whatever you like God, mind, soul, Self, the Muse, the superconscious- Steven Pressfield

1. Rituals Reduce Decision Fatigue and Conserve Willpower

When we wake up in the morning we have a certain amount of willpower we are allotted. And every single decision we make depletes are willpower, leading to what is known as decision fatigue.

All of these surprisingly simple decisions deplete willpower

Deciding what to wear
Deciding what to eat for breakfast
Planning the activities of the day
Responding to emails first thing in the morning

Cognitive bandwidth that could have been conserved for meaningful, high-value creative work, is instead wasted on low-value activities.

By developing rituals, we’re able to conserve willpower, reduce decision fatigue, and focus on high-value creative output. The key to an effective ritual is that it’s so simple that you could give it someone else and they could replicate it.

So just in case you need one to steal, here’s mine.

1) Wake up
2) Brush teeth
3) Brew Coffee
4) 10 mins of meditation while the coffee brews
5) Write in the Five Minute Journal
6) Write down my top 10 goals in a spiral notebook
7) Read a book off my shelf
8) Write 1000 words

2. Rituals Help us to Create and Sustain Momentum

A body in motion remains in motion and nowhere is this law more true than in creative endeavors- Julia Cameron.

If there’s one lesson that has been drilled into my head from all the things I’ve learned about running a business, it’s momentum. If you lose it, it’s like starting all over again right from the beginning. This is why despite having just finished an almost 50,000-word book, I’m continually writing 1000 words a day and even thinking about ideas to start my next book. Rituals lead to small wins, incremental progress and escape velocity.

3. Rituals Transform into Habits

If you have ever woken up at a friend’s place without a toothbrush, you know how weird it makes the day feel. Things just feel kind of “off.” And right after you get your hands on a toothbrush, you’re able to get the day started. After more than 4 years of writing 1000 words each morning, I don’t have to think about it anymore. In fact, the day feels really off if I don’t do it. My ritual has transformed into a habit.

4. Rituals Create Anchors

When we convene day upon day in the same space, at the same time, a powerful energy builds up around us. — Steven Pressfield

I have a room in which I do almost all of my writing. Because I’ve sat down to write at the same desk, at the same time every single day for so many days in a row, my brain has linked up that the moment I sit in my chair “it’s time to write.” When we engage in a ritual over and over, we create an anchor, an unconscious response that naturally leads to the behavior we’re trying to develop.

And if you need a few more resources, to develop your rituals I’ve included links to a few episodes of the Unmistakable Creative podcast.

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