Ritual of a Productive Blogger
Productivity is a function of how we spend our time. 24 hours a day is the sum total that any of us get to work with and it’s the actions we take in that time which determine our success – or lack of it.
My recent Blogging Success Habits post explored the rhythmic nature of life, how implementing the right habits is a key to our success, and what some of those habits are.
But there’s a way to bring a whole new level of power and effectiveness to our productivity as bloggers, and in the broader backdrop of our lives.
The Blog Productivity Ritual
What Makes a Ritual Different From a Routine or Habit?
A Habit is an activity which has become imprinted at the subconscious level. Where the actions involved are at least initiated without having to make a conscious decision to perform them. Resistance to those activities has been broken down, leaving you able to engage with them totally.
The word Routine implies a structure in time, a schedule or system which repeats itself, thereby freeing you from the need to expend energy in choosing, day after day, how to spend every hour of the day.
The concept of a Ritual brings in a more profound layer of significance and even spiritual meaning to a prescribed sequence of steps. And that’s where it’s power lies.
The right habits and activities consistently addressed over time is paramount to becoming more productive and reaping the rewards of that productivity.
A well designed but flexible routine enables you to organise your time effectively. It increases effectiveness, enables greater focus, and ensures that important tasks are completed.
The presence of some kind of ritual in your blogging and work life opens up a new dimension of energy and focus to move forward and achieve the results you desire.
What’s in a Ritual?
The most powerful time to engage your own personal productivity ritual is in beginnings.
The beginning of your project, work session, day, week, whatever cycle you’re in. For me, it’s daily.
Setting intention, taking care of the foundations upon which your results are built, and making a commitment to respect and focus on the activities ahead is what brings in a new level of engagement.
A very successful business mentor of mine sounds his Tibetan bells before starting a project, another I’ve been studying with won’t start their working day until he’s bathed, meditated, sat down and read a chapter of whatever book he’s reading at the time.
But your ritual doesn’t need to incorporate anything mystical or unfamiliar if you don’t feel that way inclined. What’s important is the intention and the consistency.
The Ritual of a Productive Blogger
My own personal ritual is all about how I start my day. I shared some of my recent realizations about productivity and health in Confessions of a Blog-Bound Caffeine Freak.
What I’ve done is to take that realization, and built it into a morning ritual which gives me a radical injection of energy throughout my working day.
- I start by drinking a pint of warm water with a squeeze of lemon.
- Forty five minutes of Yoga (usually with help from my two year old daughter), and finishing up with a few minutes visualization of whatever specific things I’m creating in my life at the time.
- Then I make and drink a fresh fruit and veggie juice, and have a simple, healthy breakfast, and I’m truly ready to rock’n'roll…
- Starting work I engage directly with key tasks which I’ve scheduled the day before. I deliberately avoid checking emails and social media first thing to avoid starting of in ‘re-active mode’…
All through the ritual, I maintain a focus on energizing and setting myself up for the day ahead, with the intention to empower myself to achieve as much as possible as efficiently as I can.
This may or may not be your ‘way’ – it’s a personal thing. But, for me, it sure as hell beats stumbling out of bed, throwing two cups of coffee down my throat and then checking my emails and Facebook messages.
Develop your own Productivity and Success Ritual. Include whatever helps you to get into the right state to achieve the maximum possible in the time you have.
A few more ideas for your Ritual:
1 – Affirmation or declarations
2 – Any excersise, movement or physical training
3 – Reading
4 – Listening to music
5 – Speaking to or connecting with a mentor, or supportive colleague
The list goes on…
How you do Anything is how you do Everything
The way you begin any project or journey is the seed for the results to come.
Beginning your day or working time with some kind of ritual that gets you into the right state, and focuses your energy, mind and intention on the task at hand, sets you up to succeed.
Plant the most powerful, conscious seeds you can to reap the most potent and desireable results.
Do you have any blogging rituals? What’s stopping you reaching maximum productivity in your blog, business and life?
Share this post with your follower and networks (I appreciate it!) and leave a comment below.
Image: Stonehenge by Andy Powell – Flickr Creative Commons 2.0
Blog Productivity: The Ritual of a Productive Blogger © 2011 Blogger’s Alchemy
Here at Blogger's Alchemy, Jym shares simple tips, tricks, strategies and techniques to make blogs remarkable, successful and exceptional. For a long time, he felt like his blogging career was going nowhere fast. That is, until he learned and implemented the things that you'll learn if you stick around... Get the best from this blog by Subscribing Now
facebook comments:
hmm….because of lazyness i’ve unwittingly forgotten all about rituals and the subconscious benefits of a well laid out preparation before starting anything.
i’ve just started learning a lot about preparation when school tests starting messing me up.
i connect to what ur saying
This blog post is about lifting soul and giving morale to the wearied.
Your blog inculcates deep meaning into how we manage and use our time for maximum efficiency.
Hard work eventually pays off.Bless
Nicely put Francis.
Thanks for your comment.
It would be great to see your face next time as well…
Jym invites you to read…How to Write Great Blog Posts in Half the Time
This is a really powerful post! I liked to ‘fully wake up’ before I start anything. This means feed the dogs, coffee, a teaspoon of peanut butter, drinking my ‘green stuff’ mixture and taking my vitamins. Then, I brush my teeth and head to my yoga mat for some stretching and meditation.
This gives me my clarity of mind, body and spirit. I am always fine tuning this, and am really inclined to stay more balanced and focused throughout the day if I stick to this routine. Sally
Sally Brown invites you to read…Creativity Arises From Our Inner Spirit
Sounds like you have a great morning ritual in place already Sally – good for you!
By contrast, if you took out the core steps in that process and went straight into your day, I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to achieve the things you do!
It’s a gerat point that there’s always room to fine-tune and adjust your ritual to reflect your needs. But at the same time, consistency is the key.
Thanks for your visit and comment
Jym invites you to read…Blog Productivity – Fractals, Focus, and the Myth of MultiTasking
Jym, aloha. Great post topic. Thanks so much for sharing your ritual with us.
By having a ritual or a routine, a person “seduces” her/his lizard brain into being comfortable. Because it knows what comes next, it is not as apt to resist forward progress.
Also, knowing what you are going to do saves an enormous amount of time because you keep going to the next action rather than thinking “now what should I do?”
Jym, that quote is one of my favorites. Such simple words; such a powerful message.
Wishing you a fantastic week ahead, Jym. Until next time, aloha. Janet
Janet invites you to read…8 Quotes on Focus
Aloha Janet, and you’re very welcome.
This process absolutely has to do with connecting and re-programming the lower ‘lizard’ brain and ‘moulding’ it’s functioning with our conscious mind.
Not having to wonder what we’re doing takes an extra step out of every process and adds a certain degree of freedom in that we are free to focus on the task at hand.
Thanks so much for coming by Janet, great to see you here.
Jym invites you to read…Marketing Your Blog: Know Your Perfect Reader
Hey Jym,
Really great stuff. I have been struggling with not having a plan thing for a long time. It just makes getting done so much harder.
However, a few weeks ago I started doing something that has increased my productivity level a lot. I started writing my daily tasks on a piece of paper starting with the most important task and going all the way down to lesser important ones.
Believe me, it has changed the way I get things done dramatically! It really helps you stay focus and get things done.
I truly recommend anyone struggling with procrastination, unorganized work day or lack of productivity in general to try this method. It works.
Satrap invites you to read…How Does Facebook Make Money?
Having some kind of prioritized list is essential Satrap, I can understand why introducing that increased your productivity.
It’s definitely a good idea and I have a post coming up on how to write a ‘master to-do list’ very soon.
Thanks for coming by mate
Jym invites you to read…CommentLuv Premium Is Revolutionizing the Power of Blog Commenting. Here’s What You Need to Know
What a great post, Jym. Thank you for sharing some of your effective habits. I definitely could use some assistance in this area and honestly plan to use your insight when making some adjustments.
You’re welcome Melanie.
Check out the post on this CommentLuv link for some more successful blogging habits…
Jym invites you to read…Simple Steps to Blogging Success – 10 Essential Blog Habits
I’ve been really stepping back from writing for my blog as of late because I realized that by blogging every day; I was missing out on bigger opportunities such as freelancing which generally leads to even more opportunities for work through referrals.
Now, I try to write at least one post a week because I’m comfortable with the traffic I get to my blog; during that time between posts, I can also work on link building to money pages which is really profitable when you consider that if you blog every day – you’re missing out on a lot of this.
Murray Lunn invites you to read…DPD: The Best WordPress Shopping Cart for Bloggers
Daily blogging is no small feat Murray!
It’s true of any business that we need to focus on the high leverage and income generating tasks, and fit the other activities in around them.
Getting a good routine with link building and other activities to support your blog is vital – I’d certainly be cautious of going below one post a week if you want to maintain traffic numbers.
The point about ritual though is too add a dimension beyond the routines, with a deeper root and impact on your whole day. It’s less driven to tick a ‘task off the list’ and more to set you up for maximum productivity throughout the day…
Thanks for coming by, I appreciate your visit
Jym invites you to read…Blog Productivity – Fractals, Focus, and the Myth of MultiTasking
Hi Jym,
wonderful article. At the end of the day, we are the sum of our habits and these either make us or break us. As we are having habits anyway, we might as well choose successful ones. I agree that rituals have a deeper, even ritual meaning. The cool part is that we are completely free to choose whatever is a fit for us…
How you do anything is how you do everything – T. Harv Eker’s quote definitely holds true.
Thanks for sharing your personal insights.
Be blessed
Oliver
Oliver Tausend invites you to read…Can A Weekend Change Your Life ? About Faith…MLM Success With Think And Grow Rich And Oliver Tausend Pt. 18
Absolutely Oliver.
Love the point you’ve added here – we have habits, they’re either conscious or unconscious – so it’s really worth installing good ones.
Choosing rituals is a very personal thing – what works for one may well not work for another, though some kind of awareness of what we’re putting into our body and mind is critical.
Harv does make a this point (quite forcefully!) but I have heard it elsewhere as well, which is why I didn’t credit him here…
Thankyou for coming by and contributing mate
Jym invites you to read…Marketing Your Blog: How to Make Your Readers Need You
I know rituals are important for me if I expect to get anything done. As much as I hate to admit it, I am on a schedule now thanks to my three kids. I can kiss my daily productivity goodbye if I stray from my rituals at all, as everything pretty much falls apart.
Reading over your post made me think of a question though: I see you drink lemon juice with water. When I used to do that, after a few weeks my teeth hurt really bad like I had been drinking a ton of pop – do you have that problem too, or am I just kind of weird?
Janice
Janice Stevenson invites you to read…Four Steps to Becoming a Successful Ultrasound Technician
That’s very true Janet – I can say from having just one child that the kind of limits parental responsibility puts on your ‘free’ time make it even more important to have good habits, routines and rituals in place.
As you say – without them, things can tend to fall apart!
I haven’t had the problem you described – perhaps it’s because I brush my teeth straight after drinking the lemon water? You’d have to get some more informed advice on this – I know it’s good for digestion, effect on teeth, not sure.
Thanks for your visit and comment
Jym invites you to read…Blog Productivity – Mobilizing Your Inner Blogging Army
Love the idea of setting up a ritual to help kickoff a project, or to just start a fully productive day!
I guess my own rituals aren’t too good — more like lifestyle habits that I’d rather change. Fresh fruit and yoga? More like instant coffee and under-the-breath cursing as I read the morning news. LOL!
I’m not a terribly spiritual person, but I really like the idea of developing a ritual that could improve my mental state each morning before I begin to work. Really, it would just take adding a few entries into my To Do list, and then making it habitual.
Bruce invites you to read…Biofeedback For Stress Management
Sounds like your ritual is about where mine was not long ago Bruce!
It’s easy to see the word ritual and connect it with something spiritual – it can be of course, but it doesn’t have to be. Elements that are healthy and support clear thinking, focus and sustained energy for the tasks ahead are what we’re looking for, and that can of course be different for each of us.
The thing I realized was that my ‘coffee breakfast’ was actually leaving me vague and ‘fuzzy’. Now, simply by eating and drinking better (especially first thing in the morning), focusing my mind and doing a little exercise, I’m far clearer and better equipped to be highly productive throughout the day.
Check out the post on the CommentLuv link below for some further insight into this change.
Thanks for commenting mate, I appreciate it.
Jym invites you to read…Confessions of a Blog-Bound Caffeine Freak
Hey Jym,
Awesome post here my friend. We resonated a little bit with similar topics
Agree, rituals have a more profound meaning and impact over your evolution.. I believe that habits and routines will eventually lead you to rituals.
Have you read The power of full engagement by Tony Schwartz? If not, I highly recommend this book. It talks about creating rituals able to cover all your four dimensions: physical, mental and spiritual.
Now they are part of my life. I begin the morning with 10-15 minutes of meditation, 10 minutes of affirmations and visualization. Next, 30 minute exercise(pushups or running), 30 minutes reading a good book, a healthy meal and then research+create a blog post. It’s interesting that exercising and reading makes more creative…the blog post ideas come faster. I usually split my time in chunks (90 minutes walk, 30 minute break).
Checking mails or surfing on the internet without aim kills your productivity. Now this habit started to disappear:)
Thanks for sharing all these great tips:)
Keep them coming!
Best,
Radu
Radu invites you to read…How to increase your productivity online
‘Habits and routines will eventually lead to rituals’ – Nicely put Radu. The ritual formalizes the routine and brings an extra layer of consciousness, intentionality and power into it.
I haven’t read Tony Schwarz but I have been recommended – I know he’s the guy who first started talking about ritual in this context and what I’ve written about here is derived in part form his concepts. Thanks for the tip on that book!
Sounds like you have a great routine in place mate – there’s no question that this kind of start to the day has a massive impact on our productivity.
Thanks for a great comment mate
Jym invites you to read…Blogging Productive: Achieve More in Less Time