Our creativity has seasons. Sometimes you’re in a creative winter, but you’re still a professional and expected to come up with ideas. Use habits and rituals to build your confidence even in uncertain times, just like athletes do. It’ll take experimentation and adaptation to find what works for you. Use other people’s habits as inspiration for things to try!

One of the best habits you can create is a quitting habit. Before you begin work, decide when you’ll take a break.

Turn to page 10 of your Spark Journal. Make a list of resting options to choose from when you need a break to wring out your sponge:

• What can you do for a 1-minute rest break?
• What can you do for a 1-hour rest break?
• What can you do for a 1-day rest break?

Make it a habit to choose a time to take a break before you begin working and pick a way to rest from your list. You’ll feel more refreshed, and you don’t need to make any hard decisions in the moment.

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One important aspect of the creativity flow is that it’s a part of a larger flow: the rhythm of your life. Sometimes you’ll be moving through the creativity flow, but you’re working through a tough time in your personal life. Or maybe you’re just tired. You’re working through a “creative winter,” and that’s normal and expected.

⚡“Creative work has seasons. Part of the work is to know which season it is, and act accordingly.”

— Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist²⁵

As a professional, our duty persists regardless of the season we’re in. The other day, a mysterious leak started dripping from upstairs right into our kitchen, so I called a plumber to find the leak. Once he came, I spent hours sprinting between floors, toggling faucets on and off, while the plumber, head buried in the ceiling gap, played detective, searching for the elusive drip. Each time I returned downstairs, he’d pop his head out with another idea ready, declaring, “Alright, well, try this…”

This reminded me of how English writer Philip Pullman responded to the idea of writer’s block. He said, “Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block!”²⁶

Being a professional with expertise means you persevere even when the solution is eluding you or you’re not feeling at your best. We all have creative winters, but you must persist. In these times, focus on what you can control. This is what sets the hobbyists apart from the professionals.

⚡When the pressure’s on but I’m feeling lost in the ambiguity, I turn to habits and rituals.

Do you know who else uses habits and rituals to perform at their best? High-performance athletes. When the difference between a good athlete and a great athlete is fractions of an inch or second, then you can see why they’d turn to techniques like performing habits and rituals. You’ve probably noticed athletes perform simple to elaborate rituals before a game or a big shot. Basketball legend LeBron James throws chalk up into the air before the game starts. During breaks, tennis star Rafael Nadal always sips from his energy drink, then his water, and then makes sure the bottles are arranged in the exact same position on the ground.

He’s so focused and precise with this ritual that it makes you wonder what’s so special about those bottles! When asked about his elaborate rituals, Nadal said, “It works for me, and they make me focus while I compete. I feel more sure of myself.”²⁷

In her New York Times article, child psychiatrist Dr. Neha Chaudhary explains that rituals serve as mental anchors for athletes, helping them prepare for unpredictable situations. We can use this tool in our lives, too.²⁸ Studies have shown that rituals help us improve performance by reducing anxiety,²⁹ regulate our emotions³⁰, and give us a sense of power over the world.³¹

This is why I asked my podcast guests about their habits and rituals. Here are some of their answers:

• Stefanie Posavec changes her location by going to a busy cafe to sketch new ideas. The bustling sounds of other people moving, talking, and working give her the motivation and confidence to start ideating.³²
• Andy Kirk leans on daily routines (coffee, emails, news) to get into his workday. When he needs to transition into deep creative work, he changes his location to anywhere that gives his hands and body a different position and his eyes a different view, like a different chair in his office or traveling on a train.³³
• Mesa Schumacher always starts her creative sessions with play. She allows herself to play with some color combinations or compositions without any expectations. When she’s stuck, Mesa heads outside for a walk and talks herself through the problem.³⁴
• Will Chase does a rapid round of gathering inspirational images and then starts creating and moving shapes in a design software to get his mind and body into the task. After ideating for a bit, he tries to go to sleep so he can see it with fresh eyes.³⁵
• Duncan Geere keeps his daily habits consistent: He starts his day by sitting down at his desk and writing a list of everything he got done the previous day—both for posterity, and as a reminder to himself that he is, in fact, doing enough. During the day he takes regular breaks either to walk the dog, or just to the kitchen to get a cookie. He also has a daily ritual to gather a single piece of inspiration, which he sends out as a newsletter every ten days. This helps him process that inspiration, and generates conversations with his newsletter readers.³⁶
• Me: To cue myself to begin creative work, I pour a cup of coffee, turn on a Hans Zimmer soundtrack, and light incense (the smell cues me that it’s focus time!)

I’ve noticed that many of these habits and rituals revolve around varying visuals, audio, or smell. To find what works for you, try some of the suggestions here and experiment. You may need to adjust your habits over time, too.

⚡One simple habit you can start with: Create a habit around taking a break.

I’m terrible at taking time to rest. I want to keep working and try to solve the problem, but the longer I work, the more inefficient I get. Rather than waiting until I’m completely exhausted, my habit is to decide when I’ll take a break before I begin working.

Annie Duke, a former professional poker player who won a World Series of Poker bracelet, says that she decides ahead of time when she’s going to stop playing during a poker match. This is because the toughest moment to quit is when you’re deeply involved, but in reality, quitting can accelerate progress.³⁷

So, before you sit down to either ideate or execute, decide on when you’ll take a break to wring out your sponge. I know it’s not realistic to take a full vacation every time you’re stuck, so I’ve created the “Recess List” prompt. Right now, before you’re in the thick of it, create some options to choose from when you need a break.

• What can you do for a 1-minute rest break? Example: Make a cup of coffee or tea, go outside to get the mail, or stand up and stretch.
• What can you do for a 1-hour rest break? Example: Take a walk, go to lunch, take a nap, read a book, call a friend, or gather black walnuts from the yard.
• What can you do for a 1-day rest break? Example: Go to the park or a museum, bake some treats and deliver them, play video games, have a movie marathon, take a long hike.

Once you have this list, start the habit of deciding when you’ll take a break before you start your work. Then choose a rest activity based on how much time you have to spare. You’ll begin to make a habit of quitting before you’re frustrated, and you’ll become addicted to the refreshing feeling of coming back to your work after wringing out your sponge!