Notes on Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey

At Tim Ferriss's (and others') recommendation, I read and greatly enjoyed Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. Like Tim (and Mason), I'm fascinated by how productive people organize their time, and what strategies they use to fight "resistance," the term Steven Pressfield uses for procrastination and creativity blocks. I loved how this book collected so many examples and just gave the straight facts, often quoting directly from the primary sources to list out the schedules and rituals used by the artists. I also liked how the artists came from a variety of fields, including literature, painting, illustration, dance, science, and music.

My biggest takeaways were the following:

• Each individual has their own preferred way of coping with resistance. Some don't want to force ideas to come out, while others believe that it's only by forcing yourself to work that the ideas will come out.
  
• Most of the artists do think that adding structure and discipline helps them get their work done, not just relying on inspiration and mood.
• Most of the artists actively add balance to their schedules and spend time doing a variety of things, such as seeing friends or going to the theater in the evening and enjoying tea with their families. I was shocked by how many enjoyed playing cards.
• I loved the little historic details about many of the older artists, such as how some of them were adamant about answering all handwritten letters the same day. It's interesting to see how similar personality traits translate into our modern methods of communication and working.

(I took these notes on my phone while listening to the audio version of the book, and I apologize for all the rampant misspellings of artist names.)

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