But for anyone who thinks of their work as creative, or who pursues creative projects in their spare time, reading about the habits of the successful, can be addictive. For example: did you know that lunchtime martinis aren't conducive to productivity?Īs a writer working from home, of course, I have an unusual degree of control over my schedule – not everyone could run such an experiment.
I couldn't try every trick I discovered in a new book, Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration And Get To Work oddly, my girlfriend was unwilling to play the role of Freud's wife, who put toothpaste on his toothbrush each day to save him time.
And the midday cocktail was a favourite of VS Pritchett (among many others). Benjamin Franklin swore by "air baths", which was his term for sitting around naked in the morning, whatever the weather. This was all in an effort to adopt the rituals of some great artists and thinkers: the rising-at-dawn bit came from Ernest Hemingway, who was up at around 5.30am, even if he'd been drinking the night before the strong coffee was borrowed from Beethoven, who personally counted out the 60 beans his morning cup required. I took a long afternoon walk, and for the rest of the week experimented with never working for more than three hours at a stretch. O ne morning this summer, I got up at first light – I'd left the blinds open the night before – then drank a strong cup of coffee, sat near-naked by an open window for an hour, worked all morning, then had a martini with lunch.
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