Productivity Habits - 12 lessons from a famous choreographer

In this newsletter:
- The Creative Habit
- Twyla Tharp - choreographer
- 12 lessons from The Creative Habit
- Movin' Out - Twyla and Billy Joel
- What I'm learning from writing

The Creative Habit 

“I begin each day of my life with a ritual: I wake up at 5:30 A.M., put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91^st Street and First Avenue, where I work out for two hours. The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go I have completed the ritual.”
-Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit 

I was struck by this quote when I first read it several years ago. The concept of a ritual as part of a routine intrigued me.

I paid close attention because it was written by one of the most famous choreographers of our time. The quote humbled me. That's some serious discipline. 

In her book, Twyla Tharp discusses her daily routine and the kind of discipline she demands from her dancers, who are among the most talented on the planet.

"The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightning bolt of inspiration, maybe more. And this routine is available to everyone."

She says the creative habit applies not only to professional dancers and those in the arts in general, but it applies to anyone who wishes to be more productive:
- Businesspeople looking to close a sale
- Engineers solving a problem
- Parents raising children
- Medical researchers in the laboratory

We can all learn the power of productivity habits from Tharp's work. 

Twyla Tharp 

Twyla Tharp is one of America's greatest choreographers. She began her career in 1965 as a dancer. She has won Tony and Emmy awards. Her list of other awards and accomplishments is long. You can learn more about them here: Twyla Tharp website, photo gallery, and works.

I'm often amazed how much certain individuals can achieve in one lifetime. People like Tharp are inspirations for us.

The point of her book is that creativity of any kind is within reach of all of us if we are willing to make it a habit. 

I’ve often wondered why we have a drive to create. Who pushes us?

Is it our muse, our soul?

Most guys I know, at least at some point along their journey, want to create something.

To start a business, to teach a course, to play music, to paint, to write, or express themselves in other ways. It's in our DNA. 

But creativity requires scary first steps.

“In the beginning there is not much difference between the coward and courageous person. The only difference is, the coward listens to his fears and follows them, and the courageous person puts them aside and goes ahead. The courageous person goes into the unknown in spite of all the fears.”
- Osho, Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously

I've learned a lot since I started writing a couple years ago. I'm still a novice. 

I started writing for several reasons: it's good for my own Well-Being, I like the solopreneur lifestyle, I want to be useful, and it gives me Purpose. 

Yet, nothing I have written is new information. I'm not reinventing the wheel.

But without question, the ancient wisdom I share is worth repeating. We all need reminders. 

Tharp shares a number of lessons in her book. Here are 12 of them.

12 Lessons from The Creative Habit

1. Creativity is a habit
   “It is the perennial debate, born in the Romantic era, between the beliefs that all creative acts are born of (a) some transcendent, inexplicable Dionysian act of inspiration, a kiss from God on your brow that allows you to give the world The Magic Flute, or (b) hard work.
   
   If it isn’t obvious already, I come down on the side of hard work. That’s why this book is called The Creative Habit. Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits.”

2. The beginning of a creative project can be terrifying
   “Some people find this moment – the moment before creativity begins – so painful that they simply cannot deal with it. They get up and walk away; they take a nap or go shopping or fix lunch or do chores around the house. They procrastinate. In its most extreme form, this terror totally paralyzes people.”
   
   
3. Routines are critical
   The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightning bolt of inspiration, maybe more.
   
   Writers have routines, like starting early in the morning when the world is quiet. The secret is they do it every day. They are disciplined. Their routines become second nature. Their discipline morphs into habit.

4. Rituals are vital
   These are automatic but decisive patterns of behavior at the beginning of the creative process, when you are most at peril of turning back, chickening out, giving up, or going the wrong way.
   
   
5. Supportive work environment
   Make it easy on yourself. It should make you want to be there, and once you find it, stick with it. You need a working environment that’s habit-forming, where the prospect of wrestling with your muse doesn’t scare you, doesn’t shut you down.
   
   
6. Morning workout ritual
   Tharp says her morning workout is the most basic form of self-reliance, she knows she can depend on herself, and it’s part of her preparation for her work. She says physical movement stimulates our brains in ways we don’t appreciate.
   
   
7. Pessimism and optimism
   “The mechanism by which we convert the chemistry of pessimism into optimism is still uncharted. But we do know how debilitating negativity can be and, likewise, how productive optimism is. I am no stranger to pessimism and fear. They can descend on me at night, during those 3:00 A.M. sessions when I can’t sleep, and I’m consumed by my litany of ‘issues.’”
   
   
8. Distractions
   “The other obstacle to good work, as harmful as one’s fears, is distractions. When I commit to a project, I don’t expand my contact with the world; I try to cut it off.
   
   
9. Subtracting things is also a ritual
   “I list the biggest distractions in my life and make a pact with myself to do without them for a week. Here are some perennially tempting distractions that I cut out:”
   - Movies – it’s painful because she loves films
   - Multitasking – it’s exhausting, jumping around tasks depletes energy
   - Numbers – clocks, dials, meters, bathroom scales, bills, contracts, tax forms, bank statements
   - Background music – it nibbles away at your awareness
   
   Subtracting your dependence on some of the things you take for granted increases your independence. She brought up Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickinson as those who diligently lived simple lives.
   
   

10. Solitude
    It’s not the solitude that slays a creative person. It’s all that solitude without a purpose.
    
    To build up your tolerance for solitude, you need a goal. You’re never lonely when your mind is engaged.
    
    

11. Comfort zone
    She says our ability to grow is directly proportional to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable.
    
    Sometimes people dwell in the comfort zone of research as opposed to the hard work of writing or creating. We need to get out of our comfort zone to create.
    
    

12. The long run
    There’s no reason our creativity must dry up as we age.
    
    Philip Roth, at 68-years-old, was a model of late-life rejuvenation. He produced four successful novels in his sixties. He immersed himself in a creative bubble. He lived alone in the country. He pared his life down to the minimum number of moving parts; he led an austere, monastic life.

I was delighted to see Billy Joel perform a new song at the Grammy's last week. His first Grammy's performance in 30 years. The long run. 

In her book, Tharp goes into detail about the time she approached Billy Joel about creating an idea she had featuring Billy's music.

Tharp writes:
"In the summer of 2000 I had an idea: to make a Broadway musical, all dancing, to the songs of Billy Joel. I had just started a new company of six marvelous dancers, so good, in fact, that I was dying to showcase them in something big and ambitious. A two-hour dance extravaganza to all the hits of a major American pop idol fit the bill. Only trouble was, I didn't know Billy Joel. I had never met him." 

The rest is history and the result is Movin' Out.

It's a musical that tells the story of a generation of American youth who grew up on Long Island, NY during the 1960s and their experiences with the Vietnam War.

What I'm learning from Writing

- Writing is a ton of work. And I love it. 

- Once I started writing, I realized that meant a heightened degree of engagement with others. 

- The more I write, the more I learn. The more I read, the more I want to write. 

- Writing can take away stress, worry, and pain.

“Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up. But the writing is a way of not allowing those things to destroy you.”
- John Edgar Wideman

- Building writing skills transfers to other aspects of life; it improves thinking and problem solving.

- The lifestyle fits me well. I have plenty of alone time to think, research, create, and do what's important to me.

- I can gain inspiration from a variety of avenues and people. 

- It keeps me out of trouble. I waste less time on unproductive activities. It promotes self-discipline. 

- It's challenging. That's why I do it. It holds me to a high standard. 

- It builds my courage. Every time I hit "send" on a newsletter I become more brave. It builds my confidence.

- I look at time differently now. Success to me is a calendar with ZERO appointments. And my Sunday morning newsletter puts me on a weekly cycle. A commitment. 

- My writing environment is crucial; it needs to be well-organized and clean, so my mind is too. 

- Social media is not my thing, at least for now, with the exception of LinkedIn where I post the contents of my newsletters. 

- Routine is critical. I'm still learning this and I'm getting better at it. Knowing when to walk away from my desk is a learned skill. 

- Rest is vital. I can't write if I'm not rested. 

- Green tea works wonders on my creative mind. It's different from coffee. 

- Distractions are killers: phones, multitasking, cafes, emails, notifications, the beach. They are all perfect places to hide from my work.

Here is a picture of Twyla Tharp in 1981. 

As one who's learning to write or create, I am both inspired and massively humbled when I read about people like Twyla Tharp.

My weekly newsletter cycle is a trip. Actually, it's a rollercoaster of emotion driven by the level of confidence what I write is useful.

When I wake up at 2:00 AM thinking about the draft of my next newsletter, and I turn on the lamp to take notes on what I wrote, or what I should add or delete, my confidence is building.

And during the day, when I read my draft newsletter and my heart rate rises, or I laugh, or cry, or sweat, that's when I know I'm on to something that might be useful. 

Thank you for reading! 

Be well,

Peter Pavlina