Daily Rituals (Book Review)

I just finished a book called Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. It is a very fun book and an interesting look into the lives of great creators. The book looks into the daily lives and creative habits of 163 or so authors, composers, artists, filmmakers, scientists, and other culturally significant people. It entertainingly goes through how these people came up with their productive works. One example is how in Benjamin Franklin's time cold plunging was considered therapeutic, but for him it was too jarring. He, instead, would take "air baths." He would sit naked in the cold for half an hour to an hour each morning, reading and writing.

People are all over the spectrum of their daily habits. There was no distinguishable success between those who worked during the early morning, afternoon, or late at night; it really came down to whenever the creator would find solitude. One thing that was huge across the board was the abuse of caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and in some instances, hard drugs. Most creatives abused some substance. While most worked on their projects full time, there were plenty who worked on their projects on the side while they worked normal jobs or were raising families (at least until they were successful enough to write and create full time).

While most people who created a lot of productive output had a consistent daily schedule, some creatives worked in spurts of outputs where they would have seasons of productivity and seasons of laziness or working on other work. What was the most interesting was that some managed to work a few hours a day and still produce magnificent work and had tremendous output, while others seemed to labor all day for many more years to produce the same (or less) output. Some just seemed to be more productive with less time than others.

You would also find that not all great creatives obsessed over their work. While it was all that some would do and think about, it seemed that most were able to have normal fulfilling lives outside of whatever their creative passions were. For some, working was a tortured act, while others found their work most enjoyable. At the end of the day, people do whatever works for them to get their creative passions completed and out into the world. This book proves that there is no right or wrong way of doing things.