I think I need a ritual
Today is the second day of my writing challenge.
It's 20:30 and I am now sitting in front of my computer wondering about what I will blog about.
In practice, I am three and a half hour close to failing after just one day.
That's nice because it brings up a great topic about which to write: rituals.
I think that rituals are such vital components of a fruitful life. Please note that I am not speaking of anything spiritual here. Let's take an example. I know that if my girlfriend and I do not go through the nighttime ritual with our kids, they won't fall asleep quickly. That's something we mustn't rush at any cost.
Many famous and successful people also have their daily rituals. The book 'Daily Rituals: How artists work' is full of such examples.
That's all well and good, but, mmm, how do I get started with a daily ritual?
Perhaps I shall begin to write early in the morning after my meditation. Or maybe at about the same time as today. Will I use a Pomodoro timer? Will I put my headphones on and listen to any music genre or a particular one? Or even maybe the always the same one. Who knows what's going to work? :-)
What matters in a ritual is the building of a new habit that follows a given routine. As with anything, I will have to experiment with different scenarios over the next days. Only then will I know what will work in practice. As I am not a hermit, I will have to figure out a routine that works with family life.
If there is one key takeaway for today, it will be that if I want to succeed in this challenge, I will need planning and discipline, hence the need for a ritual.
Because I aim at writing one post a day, I must manage to do so within 24 hours. I haven't got much room for failure in this timeframe. On the other hand, I can still fail in delivering compelling and worth-reading contents, which is precisely the reason I took up the challenge. It's all about the learning.
I'd also be delighted to hear from readers what their views are. For example, whether they have such rituals in place. Or what worked for them and what did not.