The creative habits that never let me down
What I like about reaching this stage of my career is that I know how I work best.
Over the years I’ve built a set of creative habits that never let me down. They’re my go‑to recipe. When I follow them, good things happen.
That’s why I'm very intentional - obsessive almost - about the ingredients I need for a successful project.
For instance, if I’m creating a session to generate ideas, I know it will need three things:
the right collaborators
a setting with space and possibility
tools that invite play
Yesterday, kicking off a new side project, I made sure all three were in place. I invited Lisa and Zoë to help. I chose the bright, box‑fresh (it only opened this week!) workspace at No Place Like Home on Leigh‑on‑Sea’s waterfront. And I brought a roll of butcher’s paper. (That’s the photo on the right.) The estuary views through the window gave us some inspiration. And that yellow floor proved a great surface for playing around with ideas.
Yes, you can capture ideas in a notebook or on a screen. But a long roll of paper does something different. It’s not constrained. It gives you permission to think bigger. You can spread ideas out, step back, walk around them. You literally change your perspective.
And I’ve been doing this for years! The photo on the left is from December 2010, when David Sloly and I rented an apartment in Paris to map out our book Zoom! The Faster Way To Make Your Business Happen. The same three ingredients: a trusted collaborator, an inspiring setting, and a roll of paper with a bunch of Sharpies. We also made the most of being in Paris, each day taking our ideas for a wander around the streets of the city.
Sixteen years on, the habit remains. Because that’s the thing about creative rituals: if they do the trick once, they’ll probably do it again the next time…