This is how your favorite writers worked

Introduction. In the Daily Ritual, Mason Currey explores how history's most creative people "organized their schedules in order to be creative and productive." Here's how 8 popular writers worked to create their masterpieces👇

Arthur Miller on his process: “I get up in the morning and I go out to my studio and I write. And then I tear it up! That’s the routine, really. The only image I can think of is a man walking around with an iron rod in his hand during a lightning storm.”

Benjamin Franklin, polymath, American founding father. Benjamin Franklin liked to take "air baths" - sit in early morning cold air "without any clothes whatever." This freshened his mind. Benjamin Franklin also asked himself every night: "What good have I done today?"

Kierkegaard, known for Fear and Trembling. Currey writes: "The Danish philosopher’s day was dominated by two pursuits: writing and walking." Kierkegaard took long walks, and liked to pour sugar to the brim of his coffee cup before adding any coffee.

Thomas Wolfe, known for Look Homeward, Angel. One night, unable to work, he decided to undress and sleep. Standing near his hotel window, he unconsciously played with his genitals and this "stoked his creative energies." From then on, Wolfe “regularly used this method."

Patricia Highsmith, known for The Talented Mr. Ripley. Highsmith's energies "veered towards the manic," and so she had a strong drink to calm her nerves before working. She marked her daily Vodka bottle to "set her limit for the day," and bred snails at home.

Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psychoanalysis. Freud's wife put the toothpaste on his toothbrush, a barber came to Freud's house every day to trim his beard, and the Freud family took 3 month long vacations every year. Work-life-balance before the term was invented?

Carl Jung, known for Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Jung built a primitive stone house on the shore of Lake Zurich. There was no electricity and no running water. This is where Jung vacationed and wrote most of his books.

Hemingway, known for Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway started writing with the first light of day. Here's how he chose how to stop: "You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice...When you stop you are as empty as when you have made love to someone you love."

Bottom line. Mason Currey wonders if a "basic level of daily comfort" is a prerequisite "for sustained creative work." The right routine can be a "finely calibrated mechanism" that allows one to best utilize the limited resources of willpower, discipline, and above all, time.