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If you haven't read or listened to this book yet, I highly recommend it: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work[1] It's a collection of daily routines of many famous

If you haven't read or listened to this book yet, I highly recommend it: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work[1] It's a collection of daily routines of many famous and prolific artists. The surprising thing about so many of the artists is that they only work 2 or 3 hours per day, then spend the rest of the day walking around, socializing, etc. But they consistently show up and put in the work and it adds up to some amazing things over time. This reminds me of another great book about beating procrastination: The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play[2] In that book, the author talks about his extensive work helping graduate students complete their dissertations. I can't cover all the great points here, but when working with these students he has them create an "unschedule" where they have to schedule guilt-free play activities as the top priority. Then he actually limits the amount of work they are allowed to do on their dissertation to only a couple of hours per day. The effect is quite amazing at turning students around from dreading and avoiding their dissertation to really trying to maximize the limited time they have to work on it. And having guilt-free play lets them really disconnect from the work and have true recovery so that they have the motivation and energy to hit the project again and again every day. Seems counter-intuitive at first, but as I've applied this to different projects, it's amazing how much more I'm able to accomplish. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15799151-daily-rituals https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15799151-daily-rituals [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95708.The_Now_Habit https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95708.The_Now_Habit

nemo44x 5y ago
You have to do it every day - creativity comes in bursts and you don't know when it's going to show up so you need to be the one showing up every day to work on it. Hemingway would write (sober) every morning and then be drunk by lunch and for the rest of the day and early evening. But he worked every day for a few hours. People like to focus on his appetite for drinking but he got his work done first.
- andai 5y ago
  “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.” — W. Somerset Maugham
  - slavik81 5y ago
    Frank Herbert was quoted in "Shoptalk: Learning to Write with Writers" saying something similar: "A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating. You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, 'Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write.' There's no difference on paper between the two."
- jxm262 5y ago
  > creativity comes in bursts and you don't know when it's going to show up so you need to be the one showing up every day to work on it. This comment right here adds alot of clarity for me. When worded this way, it makes total sense why this is so effective.
mtberatwork 5y ago
> The surprising thing about so many of the artists is that they only work 2 or 3 hours per day, then spend the rest of the day walking around, socializing, etc. But they consistently show up and put in the work and it adds up to some amazing things over time. Artists don't have stand ups, team meetings, planning sessions, one-on-ones, commutes and whatever other office distractions to deal with though. I suppose figuring out how to survive as an artist is distraction enough.
- jmilloy 5y ago
  Do you know this to be true? Most artists that I know, which is most people I know, struggle with as many work-related distractions as I do. My sanctioned office distractions at least "count" to my employer (I get paid for that time).
  - mritchie712 5y ago
    yeah, there someone still needs to sell the art. I'd imagine it's the artist until you're a massive success.
    - whiddershins 5y ago
      No amount of success insulates you from tons of annoying and tasks and interactions. The only way to insulate yourself from that would be to be completely unsuccessful. But then you would have to be either extremely poor, which is exhausting, or make/have money another way, which is likely to be a huge distraction. There is really no solving for this.
      - focus2020 5y ago
        DonKnuth comes to mind.
    - xapata 5y ago
      No, generally that's the gallerist's job. They take 50% of the revenue.
rchaud 5y ago
The Now Habit was a book I liked. Good descriptions of experiments and their insights. However, the Daily Rituals book I didn't find as compelling. The information sources are not first-hand, because most of these artists are long dead. Their routines as laid out in the book is at best only partially accurate. It's far more likely that these profiles are mostly apocryphal.
chegra 5y ago
I did a summary of that book: https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-daily-rituals-by-mason-currey https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-daily-rituals-b...
ghostbrainalpha 5y ago
Thank you so much for these recommendations. I'm better now, but these procrastination problems have plagued me my whole life. To the point that I was suicidal while writing my Thesis, I'd spend 10-12 hours in the library every day and accomplish almost nothing except self torture. I can't imagine how helpful this "un-scheduling" would have been to me at that time.
wly_cdgr 5y ago
What's more surprising (I would say, crazy) is that anyone expects more. Nobody works at their top level for more than 2-3 hours a day. Maaaaaybe 3-4 tops. Doesn't mean you can't be productive for many more hours, but you are not gonna be able to work effectively on tasks that are anywhere near the limit of your ability. You just can't and nobody does it....not athletes, not artists, not writers, not philosophers, not mathematicians, ..- not anyone doing hard creative work Also, for anyone doing that kind of work, things like walking around and socializing is both vitally recuperative and indirectly productive in its own right
- grasshopperpurp 5y ago
  I agree. I think you cheat this some - depending on the medium - by separating time spent creating with time spent editing. In myself, I've noticed that editing can reinvigorate the creative process, but if I'd been creative earlier, the burst of creativity spurred by editing is short-lived, and I'm often ready for a nap when I'm done.
- feteru 5y ago
  It also depends on prioritizing high quality work. Plenty of places would be happy to have you at below optimal efficiency for twice the time to make up for communication inefficiency.
fbelzile 5y ago
Someone mentioned a book called War of Art [1] here on Hacker News which I went out to buy and read. The author, Steven Pressfield, describes it as some metaphorical "Muse" (God of Art) that helps inspire your imagination when you set aside some time to do work. I loved that line of thinking since work can't happen if you don't show up. It motivated me, as indie dev that works from home, to make a concerted effort to show up ready code. Doing it consistently (whether or not it's a long time) will eventually lead to new and improved versions of software. "This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete." [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1319.The_War_of_Art https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1319.The_War_of_Art
- p5a0u9l 5y ago
  Steven Pressfield is an amazing writer. I think he's the one who wrote about the Spartans and how ridiculously tough they were. I encountered the book as a paperback left in a bin for soldiers to take and read during some dumb deployment. Not that one, but a small one to Poland. This was 2002.
  - abhijat 5y ago
    Yes I think it was called "Gates Of Fire". There is another book of his called "The Afghan Campaign" that I liked. It is about a greek soldier passing through Afghanistan for Alexander's campaign to reach India.
  - b0rsuk 5y ago
    Bret Deveraux is a PHD historian and a critic of Pressfield. He picks apart his argument for "universal warrior" and concludes it has an ideology behind it. The ideology is fascism. https://acoup.blog/2021/02/19/collections-the-universal-warrior-part-iii-the-cult-of-the-badass/comment-page-1/ https://acoup.blog/2021/02/19/collections-the-universal-warr... edit: the earlier version of my post used the word "agenda" instead of "ideology", but that was a bit unfair given Bret himself gives Pressfield benefit of doubt. This article specifically mentions Gates of Fire.
angrygoat 5y ago
I'm in formation for ordained ministry in a Christian tradition, and something that's really emphasised is the need to say the 'Daily office' – two short services at the beginning and end of the day. Ideally with other people, but in the end you often being alone. It felt like busy work at the start, but it's a surprisingly powerful way of focussing the day upon a particular intention – in my case, putting everything I do in the day into the context of my religious tradition. Personally I've always struggled with habits and routine, but I've now got quite a powerful experience of what persistence can do, with a fairly small commitment in time.
shafyy 5y ago
Like the Jogging Baboon from Bojack Horseman says: "Every day it gets a little easier… But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part. But it does get easier." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2_Mn-qRKjA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2_Mn-qRKjA
animal531 5y ago
I recently watched a video made by an indy game dev (a field I'm currently also trying out). He spoke about his day, but then dropped a comment that some days he only worked 2-3 hours. But currently here in South Africa things are a little dicey, it's the middle of winter and I'm probably sleeping more than I should. Even so I'm trying to work as many hours as possible on my own project, but some days that turns out to be only 2-3. At the very least I'm tracking my hours and expected release dates, so I have some idea of the scope involved.
Broken_Hippo 5y ago
You are under the impression that art sells itself? Most artists I know - the ones that sell, anyway - need to socialize. They spend more time trying to sell art than they do making it because the work bits are the selling. So much of this is "soft sells": Engaging a community, curating one's image, and so on. But most folks have a day job, which is generally true of dead artists as well (so many weren't rich in life). Socializing is part of the work.
- heywherelogingo 5y ago
  Yes, if you go to little known artists' exhibitions you'll soon notice the partner playing the role of sales assistant, watching, identifying, approaching...

nemo44x 5y ago

You have to do it every day - creativity comes in bursts and you don't know when it's going to show up so you need to be the one showing up every day to work on it. Hemingway would write (sober) every morning and then be drunk by lunch and for the rest of the day and early evening. But he worked every day for a few hours. People like to focus on his appetite for drinking but he got his work done first.

andai 5y ago
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.” — W. Somerset Maugham
- slavik81 5y ago
  Frank Herbert was quoted in "Shoptalk: Learning to Write with Writers" saying something similar: "A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating. You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, 'Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write.' There's no difference on paper between the two."
jxm262 5y ago
> creativity comes in bursts and you don't know when it's going to show up so you need to be the one showing up every day to work on it. This comment right here adds alot of clarity for me. When worded this way, it makes total sense why this is so effective.

mtberatwork 5y ago

> The surprising thing about so many of the artists is that they only work 2 or 3 hours per day, then spend the rest of the day walking around, socializing, etc. But they consistently show up and put in the work and it adds up to some amazing things over time. Artists don't have stand ups, team meetings, planning sessions, one-on-ones, commutes and whatever other office distractions to deal with though. I suppose figuring out how to survive as an artist is distraction enough.

jmilloy 5y ago
Do you know this to be true? Most artists that I know, which is most people I know, struggle with as many work-related distractions as I do. My sanctioned office distractions at least "count" to my employer (I get paid for that time).
- mritchie712 5y ago
  yeah, there someone still needs to sell the art. I'd imagine it's the artist until you're a massive success.
  - whiddershins 5y ago
    No amount of success insulates you from tons of annoying and tasks and interactions. The only way to insulate yourself from that would be to be completely unsuccessful. But then you would have to be either extremely poor, which is exhausting, or make/have money another way, which is likely to be a huge distraction. There is really no solving for this.
    - focus2020 5y ago
      DonKnuth comes to mind.
  - xapata 5y ago
    No, generally that's the gallerist's job. They take 50% of the revenue.

rchaud 5y ago

The Now Habit was a book I liked. Good descriptions of experiments and their insights. However, the Daily Rituals book I didn't find as compelling. The information sources are not first-hand, because most of these artists are long dead. Their routines as laid out in the book is at best only partially accurate. It's far more likely that these profiles are mostly apocryphal.

chegra 5y ago

I did a summary of that book: https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-daily-rituals-by-mason-currey https://www.chestergrant.com/highlights-from-daily-rituals-b...

ghostbrainalpha 5y ago

Thank you so much for these recommendations. I'm better now, but these procrastination problems have plagued me my whole life. To the point that I was suicidal while writing my Thesis, I'd spend 10-12 hours in the library every day and accomplish almost nothing except self torture. I can't imagine how helpful this "un-scheduling" would have been to me at that time.

wly_cdgr 5y ago

What's more surprising (I would say, crazy) is that anyone expects more. Nobody works at their top level for more than 2-3 hours a day. Maaaaaybe 3-4 tops. Doesn't mean you can't be productive for many more hours, but you are not gonna be able to work effectively on tasks that are anywhere near the limit of your ability. You just can't and nobody does it....not athletes, not artists, not writers, not philosophers, not mathematicians, ..- not anyone doing hard creative work Also, for anyone doing that kind of work, things like walking around and socializing is both vitally recuperative and indirectly productive in its own right

grasshopperpurp 5y ago
I agree. I think you cheat this some - depending on the medium - by separating time spent creating with time spent editing. In myself, I've noticed that editing can reinvigorate the creative process, but if I'd been creative earlier, the burst of creativity spurred by editing is short-lived, and I'm often ready for a nap when I'm done.
feteru 5y ago
It also depends on prioritizing high quality work. Plenty of places would be happy to have you at below optimal efficiency for twice the time to make up for communication inefficiency.

fbelzile 5y ago

Someone mentioned a book called War of Art [1] here on Hacker News which I went out to buy and read. The author, Steven Pressfield, describes it as some metaphorical "Muse" (God of Art) that helps inspire your imagination when you set aside some time to do work. I loved that line of thinking since work can't happen if you don't show up. It motivated me, as indie dev that works from home, to make a concerted effort to show up ready code. Doing it consistently (whether or not it's a long time) will eventually lead to new and improved versions of software. "This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete." [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1319.The_War_of_Art https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1319.The_War_of_Art

p5a0u9l 5y ago
Steven Pressfield is an amazing writer. I think he's the one who wrote about the Spartans and how ridiculously tough they were. I encountered the book as a paperback left in a bin for soldiers to take and read during some dumb deployment. Not that one, but a small one to Poland. This was 2002.
- abhijat 5y ago
  Yes I think it was called "Gates Of Fire". There is another book of his called "The Afghan Campaign" that I liked. It is about a greek soldier passing through Afghanistan for Alexander's campaign to reach India.
- b0rsuk 5y ago
  Bret Deveraux is a PHD historian and a critic of Pressfield. He picks apart his argument for "universal warrior" and concludes it has an ideology behind it. The ideology is fascism. https://acoup.blog/2021/02/19/collections-the-universal-warrior-part-iii-the-cult-of-the-badass/comment-page-1/ https://acoup.blog/2021/02/19/collections-the-universal-warr... edit: the earlier version of my post used the word "agenda" instead of "ideology", but that was a bit unfair given Bret himself gives Pressfield benefit of doubt. This article specifically mentions Gates of Fire.

angrygoat 5y ago

I'm in formation for ordained ministry in a Christian tradition, and something that's really emphasised is the need to say the 'Daily office' – two short services at the beginning and end of the day. Ideally with other people, but in the end you often being alone. It felt like busy work at the start, but it's a surprisingly powerful way of focussing the day upon a particular intention – in my case, putting everything I do in the day into the context of my religious tradition. Personally I've always struggled with habits and routine, but I've now got quite a powerful experience of what persistence can do, with a fairly small commitment in time.

shafyy 5y ago

Like the Jogging Baboon from Bojack Horseman says: "Every day it gets a little easier… But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part. But it does get easier." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2_Mn-qRKjA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2_Mn-qRKjA

animal531 5y ago

I recently watched a video made by an indy game dev (a field I'm currently also trying out). He spoke about his day, but then dropped a comment that some days he only worked 2-3 hours. But currently here in South Africa things are a little dicey, it's the middle of winter and I'm probably sleeping more than I should. Even so I'm trying to work as many hours as possible on my own project, but some days that turns out to be only 2-3. At the very least I'm tracking my hours and expected release dates, so I have some idea of the scope involved.

Broken_Hippo 5y ago

You are under the impression that art sells itself? Most artists I know - the ones that sell, anyway - need to socialize. They spend more time trying to sell art than they do making it because the work bits are the selling. So much of this is "soft sells": Engaging a community, curating one's image, and so on. But most folks have a day job, which is generally true of dead artists as well (so many weren't rich in life). Socializing is part of the work.

heywherelogingo 5y ago
Yes, if you go to little known artists' exhibitions you'll soon notice the partner playing the role of sales assistant, watching, identifying, approaching...