Saturday, January 25, 2014

Daily Rituals: What Are Yours?



Daily Rituals Keep the Mundane from Making You Insane


Since the house fire, I've had to re-evaluate a lot of things: possessions, family's mental and physical status, living location, turning on and off utilities, establishing a neutral location to send and receive mail, building portable workshops and craft rooms that can be moved if needed, etc.

High on the list of evaluations is mental stability. Obviously, it is something to grapple with every day, as the head of a large household, so if I'm not feeling 100% it can be a major roadblock to our family's progress. One of the first things I recognized after the chaos of moving to Northern Arizona is that I had yet to establish a daily routine. Daily routines allow us to maximize our time, therefore, completing many tasks. Without a routine, I was wasting time looking for things I needed on a regular basis: car keys, tools, cookbooks, etc. Needless to say, it is VERY frustrating to be out of a routine. Added to that frustration was the fact that we live in a new town and don't know how to find anything. Luckily, smartphone GPS has come a long way or I would be driving around endlessly.

Now that we've begun to settle into our fourth home in five months (burned house, neighbor's house for two weeks, another neighbor's house for one week and now our newest rental), I've started to BEGIN to establish a routine. My desire for a routine was verified after a chat with my boss. I had expressed irritation at not having a "place" to put my things when I get ready for bed. He continued to tell me the routine he follows which brings him comfort on a nightly basis; where he sets his attache bag, keys, shoes kicked under the bar, and so on. He even emitted a warm smile as he described it. That is when I leapfrogged my goal of setting a routine to the top of my to-do list.

Routines are interestingly quirky. Which made me begin to wonder about the routines of other people. As I lumbered around the internet, I came across a joyful read which segued perfectly to my current quest. It is a book titled Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. It is recommended by Tim Ferriss whom I find endlessly fascinating but we'll save that for another day.  Here is a description from the Amazon page for the book:

"Currey (the author) set out to amass as much information as he could find about the routines (of ) “brilliant and successful” creators adopted and followed, and the result is a zestful survey of the working habits of “some of the greatest minds of the last four hundred years.” Currey outs the habits of nearly 200 choreographers, comedians, composers, caricaturists, filmmakers, philosophers, playwrights, painters, poets, scientists, sculptors, and writers in a dizzying array that includes Benjamin Franklin, Henri Matisse, Nikola Tesla, Stephen King, Twyla Tharp, Federico Fellini, Ann Beattie, Gustav Mahler, and Toni Morrison. Here are early birds and night owls, the phenomenally rigorous and the nearly dysfunctional."

It is a terrific read and I highly recommend it. Your purchase via my Amazon link below garners me a few pennies as well. So if you might buy it, would you mind using my link?


It has certainly given me great ideas on constructing my own daily routine. It inspired me to the point of sitting down during my busy Saturday schedule to write this post even! I hope you give it a try. I should note that I bought the audible version to listen as I drive to work and do chores around the house. But I honestly had more that one occasion where I wished I had the physical book so that I could make notes and "dog-ear" a page or two.

~OJD

11 comments:

  1. Daily routines are very important, for ease of finding things to mental stability. Good luck.

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  2. I ordered from your link. Thank you! K in OK<><

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  3. Rob: So true

    K: Thanks! Hope you like it.

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  4. I just ordered using your link, I'm glad you mentioned the book as I've been looking for something like this ever since I read Stephen King's book 'On Writing'. It's also kinda neat to see that Tim Ferriss recommends it, I have been hearing so much about him lately(Tim that is) - it seems his book has had a real resurgence.
    ~JackieVB

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  5. The daily rituals give you a daily foundation for starting the day. A good set of rituals makes you ready, but a bad set can set you up for a bad day.

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  6. I receive 'Daily Rituals' from Amazon Prime and it looks very interesting!
    I think your blog is great and I follow you almost every day. The previous poster from Jan 24, 2014 at 11:31PM has never experienced the depths of despair or faced losing it all, yet in the midst, survived and gained everything (the lives of each you!). Until he has touched death and regained a real life, he'll never experience the gift of a really sweet life. K in OK

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  7. Just an update - I've been reading 'Daily Rituals' for the last couple of days (been snowed in here in Virginia) and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. It has been inspiring me as well to change some habits - or at least create some habits to begin with. Thanks again for this recommendation.
    ~JackieVB

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  8. The previous post by Brian Buckman is WAY out of line !!
    As someone who HAS donated money to Orange Jeep Dad before and after the fire, I'm just glad to have helped the guy out.

    Unless you have lost almost everything you own, you have no idea what OJD and his family have gone through. I do (caused my something worse than a fire---an evil ex-wife) -)
    Even the best insurance doesn't cover 1/2 of what it will cost to replace their losses and it will take several years for them to get back on their feet. Many of us choose of our own volition to help him out. You can choose not to but don't criticize the man for asking for help when he desperately needs it.

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    1. Thanks JimmyPx. I just read his comment again and it's been five years since he posted it. It bothered me enough to write a big long nanner nanner comment. Then I realized I have nothing to prove. But I deleted his comment so that five years from now, I don't stumble upon it again and get frustrated.

      Haters gotta hate I guess.

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  9. First time reader here...Brian....Jeep Dad has not ask YOU to send one dime....as for the ones who have sent them something.....they did so of there own free will.....you can always decide not to read the blog.

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    1. You guys have always rocked. Hope things are still going well.

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