1. Preparation

I set out a glass of water for myself, set my alarm, and make sure my tea kettle is full. Usually, I even put the teabag in the mug the night before. 

All of this feels like self-care, and it is. 

I am thinking ahead to what will make this process smoother, understanding myself and my own resistance and ensuring my ritual of creative exploring is protected. (I’m also doubling the good vibes by adding the drinking water habit to my routine. Bonus health points!)

Maybe I will get some words in. Maybe I’ll outline a new idea. Maybe I’ll read Rumi, sip my hot Chai tea and watch the darkness outside my window lighten while an idea percolates. The point is: this creative ritual opens the space for more.

2. Play for Creative Payouts

Writing can be serious business—if you’re a journalist covering the local crime beat or an essayist trying to communicate an urgent global crisis. But for most of us, this isn’t going to get us out of bed in the morning. 

Our creative ritual needs to be something we look forward to. 

You might save the world with your writing, but let’s first save your motivation to get in the chair. I am here to remind you that this writing thing is supposed to be fun. You’ll have to trust me that if you’re having fun, you’re more likely to keep coming back for more. There is no guilt or shame in this, only acceptance. 

Leave the drudgery and rules and expectations and disappointments for the day job.

3. Plan Your Creative Space

The space where we write needs to be thought out too. This creative ritual is like making a date with your inner artist. Where does she want to be? 

Try asking yourself, what do I need to do to take that corner of the house for myself? 

You might need to move the kid’s homework desk or insist someone else make space for you. You don’t need to be published or be making millions of dollars to do this. 

It is your inalienable human right to pursue what makes you happy. And if you can’t carve out a physical space to do that in your own home, what hope do you have of taking up enough space to get a book written? 

Take the space. Make it yours. I use plants, trinkets from trips that inspire me, candles, and even the artwork around my desk to make me happy and ready to enact my creative ritual. 

You’d be surprised how quickly those minutes and hours become so life-giving and affirming you can’t imagine what dry, boring life you were living before this practice, this creative ritual.

4. Pick A Reward

We need to celebrate the wins. Every. Small. Win. 

Did you show up for yourself and your writing today? Amazing. For fun, make a list of ways you can celebrate. A hot bath, a movie, a cupcake from that fancy place around the corner. 

You deserve it. It doesn’t have to cost money. In fact, it’s better when it doesn’t.

Let me give you fair warning; you’re going to want to skip the celebration. It’s going to feel silly and selfish and indulgent. It isn’t. It’s an integral part of keeping this creative ritual promise to yourself. 

Don’t believe me? Here is a quick Youtube clip from BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything.

5. Iterate

You’ve got a nice cozy creative ritual established, you look forward to that special time, and that’s usually when the poo hits the fan. It’s okay. Let that poo hit. That’s just a plot twist. 

Even though I write at other times of the day, the early morning is where I have found the most consistency. Do you know why? The poo usually doesn’t hit until the world wakes up. Between 5 and 6 am, the world is usually poo-less. Unless you have a baby in diapers, then all bets are off. 

As I write this, my little one has come out of his room because he’s woken early and wants his mama. Instead of finishing this article before the world woke up, I’m cuddling a toddler back to sleep. What can you do? 

Life doesn’t go according to plan, and neither will your writing life. 

The point is, you keep trying. Keep iterating, keep protecting this life-giving practice not because you think it will make you money (boring!) but because you can know yourself and the world in no better way than to have a consistent creative ritual in your life.

As usual, Elizabeth Gilbert says it best:

A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Tell us in the comments: How have you built a creative ritual around your writing?

Angela Yeh is an East Coast Canadian native that lives and works in the great state of Texas. Angela is a black belt wanna-be who loves to garden, write about magic, and eat cake. Her debut YA fantasy novel, A Phoenix Rises, is a finalist in the Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction. She lives with her husband, two lovely human children, and three cranky fur babies. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram or on her website.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Develop a Creative Ritual You’ll Want to Keep appeared first on DIY MFA.

Step One: Do I need a habit, a routine, or a list?

Let’s start by discussing the difference between routines and habits. A routine is a step-by-step process that you follow to achieve a desired result. It can be either simple or complex, but generally requires thinking through. A habit is a behavior that feels automatic. They sometimes overlap because a habit might be part of a routine, and a routine might become habit, but for the purpose of our discussion it’s important to differentiate between the two.

If you’re trying to create an automatic behavior that enforces your goal, such as getting up at a certain time every morning without having to wrestle with your alarm clock, you’re seeking to make a habit for yourself. If you’re looking to create a step-by-step process, you’re seeking a routine.

You’ll probably need both habits and routines, working in synchronicity, to be most effective at meeting your goals and achieving your purpose.  You’ll also need a to-do list, because some parts of your goal will require one-time tasks (but often crucial ones) that support the process. 

Step Two: Break Down Your Goals

After going through part one (WHY) and part two (WHAT) of this process, you should have a list of goals that fit your writing purpose. Goals are specific aims that are achievable. For example, “I want to read more writing craft books that will help me structure stronger plots” is a clear goal that connects to the larger purpose of being a better writer. 

But how will you achieve that goal on a daily, nitty-gritty basis? You’ll want to break down the implementation of it into habits, routines and items on your to-do list. 

Let’s take that example again. If you truly want to achieve your goal of reading craft books, you’ll need: 

• A list of writing craft books that serve your purpose
• Time in your schedule to read them
• Regular access to those books, whether they be on your bookshelf, e-reader or through the library system. 

The first point, making a list, has both an up-front and a cumulative component. You need to decide where to keep the list (phone, bullet journal, planner) and set up a reminder system to check in with it. Next, you should set aside some time to do research on the books that best serve your purpose. This can be done all at once, or over a period of days. Once you’ve started the list, it will likely grow as you receive other recommendations. Soon, you’ll have completed the initial step of the process.

The next step is finding time in your schedule to read them. Decide how much time you’d like to devote in a day or a week. You might consider tracking your time for a few days to find out where pockets of time exist. You’ll also want to buy or borrow the first book on your list and put it somewhere accessible (if you’ll be mostly reading on the go, put it in your bag or purse; if you’ll mostly be reading before bed, put it on your nightstand). 

Finally, you’ll need to feed your new system by ensuring a continuous supply of writing craft books. When you’re halfway done with one, queue up the next by buying or borrowing it. Make sure you’re ready with your new title as soon as you finish the last one so that your routine doesn’t slip. 

There you go! You’ve implemented your goal into a three-part system: to-do list; time habit; book-reading routine. 

Step Three: Find Your Trigger

Habits and routines need one final component: a trigger. For some people, a trigger is placing their sneakers next to their bed so they are immediately prompted to start their day with exercise. In the previous example, a trigger might be needed to remind you to read the writing craft book instead of watching Netflix. The book itself can be a trigger, or an alarm on your phone, or a helpful partner reminding you of your goal. I like to use the snooze function on my email app to remind me of things I want to do weekly or daily. 

A trigger can also be disconnected from a specific point in time. In the book-reading example, a trigger could occur each time you’ve read 75% of your book; that serves as your reminder to download or buy the next book on your list. A successful habit is created through the “cue-routine-reward” system established by Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit. You’ve already established your routine through the process above, and your reward is fulfilling your goal; the cue is the final element, your trigger. 

It will take some time to complete the HOW process for all the goals on your list, but the result will be a system that can take you all the way from purpose through goals into reality. 

Here’s to your most productive, accomplished and rewarding 2020!

Leanne Sowul is an award-winning music teacher and writer whose writing has appeared in such publications as Hippocampus, The Rappahannock Review, Mothers Always Write, Confrontation, and Hudson Valley Magazine, and in live performances such as Read 650’s “Gratitude” show at Lincoln Center. She writes the “Be Well, Write Well” column for DIY MFA, where she helps writers live full, happy lives while pursuing their creative dreams. In 2017, Leanne won both the Scott Meyer Award for personal essay and the All-American Dream Champion Award for music teaching. Her novels are represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary Agency. Connect with Leanne at leannesowul.com, via Facebook at Words From The Sowul, and on Twitter @sowulwords.

The post Use the Power of Habit to Achieve Your Goals appeared first on DIY MFA.