In a recent article of Harvard Business Review No Is the New Yes: Four Practices to Reprioritize Your Life (http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/01/no-is-the-new-yes-four-practic.html) Tony Schwartz says:

The key to success is building rituals — highly specific practices that you commit to doing at precise times, so that over time they become automatic, and no longer require much conscious intention or energy. One example is scheduling regular time in your calendar for brainstorming, or for more strategic and longer term thinking.

The most recent ritual I added to my life is getting entirely offline after dinner each evening, and on the weekends. I’m only two weeks into the practice, but I know it’s already created space in my mind to think and imagine.

And if this article sparkled up your interest in building a new daily practice (ritual) into your life please check http://hbr.org/2007/10/manage-your-energy-not-your-time/ar/1

What kind of rituals do you have in your life that you think are hindering you? Smoking, eating unhealthy food, drinking, lack of sleep…?

What are the activities that recharge you? Reading, walking, laughing?

Have you tried some meditative practices?

Recently I have been using two tools to help with creative approach to life. One is Benrik Diary. In 2007 edition, for example, the week of June 11-17 it says:

This week, follow your body clock…

This week, let your body clock take over. Ditch all time-measuring devices, switch off your alarms and see how well your innate sense of time-keeping guides you. Lunch when you feel it’s lunchtime. Sleep when you feel it’s bedtime. Wake naturally. Dont’ ask what time is, and you’ll free yourself from its relentless march.

I cherish the days when I can do this, it is a fun way of getting connected with the present moment.

Another tool is a set of cards titled 500 THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO ONCE IN A LIFETIME

The card I picked to share with you states:

Conquer a fear

Keep a journal

Go see an illusionist

Go on holiday alone

Go on an organized pub crawl

Jump on a trampoline

See a Shakespeare play on stage

Watch a horror movie on Halloween

Declutter your home

Go skinny dipping

Today I am decluttering!

Navigate by joy and dance with Dragons

Happy Spring Festival (23rd January)

I found a very simple and handy tool on the web: www.habitforge.com. This is how it works:

* Sign up for a free account

* Write an action you want to become your habit, for e.g. Exercise for at least 20 minutes every day

* Choose a category where your habit is (multiple choices) and

* Input personal motivational factors

After that only thing you need to do is to DO your habit every day. Every day an email is sent to you with a question: Were you successful at …[exercising for at least 20 minutes every day?] . If the answer is YES your clock starts ticking and you are moving to the 20 (19, 18, 17, …) more days left to create the habit (days crumble as the feeling of success kicks in). If the answer is NO your clock starts ticking back from the day 0 and you are reminded of your motivational factors. Frankly speaking it is interesting to observe personal response as own words pop up on the screen: guilt, looking for excuses, trying to ignore all together what is there written… Eventually I felt empowered to start from the day 0 realizing that it was much better to do that than to stop working on the creation of the habit completely. It just meant that it will take a bit more time to create the habit.

What is a slightly challenging but achievable action that will increase the quality of your life if it becomes your habit? Do it for 21 day and then re-evaluate.