Episode 56: Creative Rituals
Creative Work Hour
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Creative Work Hour Podcast
Episode 56: Creative Rituals
Release Date: June 22, 2025
Today’s Crew:
Alessandra, Greg, Devin, Gretchen, Michael J, Shadows Pub, Bobby B
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this lively episode, the Creative Work Hour team dives into the world of creative rituals—those small (or sometimes eccentric) habits and routines that help us get started, get unstuck, and sustain our creative work. From bubble baths with rubber duckies to counting out coffee beans, the crew shares stories, laughs, and insights about what gets them in the creative zone—and what sometimes holds them back.
HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS
Alessandra
- On Rituals Big and Small:
“All we have to do is step into the warm bath of what’s already happening. All we have to do is join the metronome that’s already going.” - Her Ritual: Taking a bubble bath in the dark before leading Creative Work Hour, asking herself what her creative friends might need.
- Key Insight: Rituals can be simple acts that ground us in community and help us listen more closely—to ourselves and others.
Greg
- On Finding Your Rhythm:
“If we’re going to go down the river, we don’t stop the river, we kind of jump in with the flow.” - His Ritual: Reminiscing about marching band days and using the mental beat of a bass drum or marching song to set his own pace.
- Key Insight: A routine or rhythm—like a marching beat—can help you jump into creative flow rather than waiting for perfection.
Devin
- On Preparation (and Over-preparation):
“Everything has to be just so... all my little talismans, my journals, everything has to be in its place. And then when everything is just perfect, then I start to try and create.” - Reflection: Sometimes rituals help; sometimes they become excuses not to start. He also notes the value of “cold practice”—just starting without all the warm-ups.
- Key Insight: Rituals can support creativity but can also become barriers if we let perfectionism take over.
Gretchen
- On Rituals vs. Blocks:
“Sometimes a creative ritual is really a creative block in disguise… What would really happen if we actually stepped in and tried to do it if things weren’t perfect?” - Her Ritual: Emptying her garbage can before going live.
- Key Insight: It’s important to notice when rituals serve you—and when they’re just your inner saboteur in disguise. She calls on her “creative angel” for support instead.
Michael J
- On Quirky Timing:
“There’s something about the off-kilterness of starting at 5:12pm or 12:12pm—it’s like having that radio on-air light blinking at you, saying ‘go now’.” - His Ritual: Starting live streams at unusual times as a nod to his mother and as a way to create a sense of occasion.
- Key Insight: Setting a specific (even odd) time helps create accountability and urgency—sometimes you just have to start, ready or not.
Shadows Pub
- On Unusual Rituals (from research):
“Twyla Tharp starts her day by taking a cab to the gym—because for her, hailing the cab is commitment to the day. And Beethoven counted exactly 60 coffee beans per cup.” - Reflection: Even famous creatives have rituals—some unique, some downright quirky.
- Key Insight: Commitment can look different for everyone. Sometimes even the smallest act signals it’s time to begin.
Bobby B
- On Warming Up:
“For me, I typically write and create first thing in the morning… I’ll open up some games online and play them and let that kind of get things going. Sometimes 30 seconds in, it’s like, I’m ready.” - His Ritual: A quick online game gets his creative engine running.
- Key Insight: Find a gentle way to “turn over the engine” each day—see what gets your mind humming.
FINAL NOTE
The conversation reminds us that creative rituals are as individual as we are. They can be comforting habits, playful superstitions, or even obstacles we invent. The key is to notice what serves us and what holds us back—and not to wait for conditions to be perfect before jumping into our work.
What about you? Do you have a creative ritual? Share yours at creativeworkhour.com and join us next week for more inspiration!
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!
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Episode Chapters
Creative Work Hour Podcast
Episode 56: Creative Rituals
Release Date: June 22, 2025
Today’s Crew:
Alessandra, Greg, Devin, Gretchen, Michael J, Shadows Pub, Bobby B
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this lively episode, the Creative Work Hour team dives into the world of creative rituals—those small (or sometimes eccentric) habits and routines that help us get started, get unstuck, and sustain our creative work. From bubble baths with rubber duckies to counting out coffee beans, the crew shares stories, laughs, and insights about what gets them in the creative zone—and what sometimes holds them back.
HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS
Alessandra
- On Rituals Big and Small:
“All we have to do is step into the warm bath of what’s already happening. All we have to do is join the metronome that’s already going.” - Her Ritual: Taking a bubble bath in the dark before leading Creative Work Hour, asking herself what her creative friends might need.
- Key Insight: Rituals can be simple acts that ground us in community and help us listen more closely—to ourselves and others.
Greg
- On Finding Your Rhythm:
“If we’re going to go down the river, we don’t stop the river, we kind of jump in with the flow.” - His Ritual: Reminiscing about marching band days and using the mental beat of a bass drum or marching song to set his own pace.
- Key Insight: A routine or rhythm—like a marching beat—can help you jump into creative flow rather than waiting for perfection.
Devin
- On Preparation (and Over-preparation):
“Everything has to be just so... all my little talismans, my journals, everything has to be in its place. And then when everything is just perfect, then I start to try and create.” - Reflection: Sometimes rituals help; sometimes they become excuses not to start. He also notes the value of “cold practice”—just starting without all the warm-ups.
- Key Insight: Rituals can support creativity but can also become barriers if we let perfectionism take over.
Gretchen
- On Rituals vs. Blocks:
“Sometimes a creative ritual is really a creative block in disguise… What would really happen if we actually stepped in and tried to do it if things weren’t perfect?” - Her Ritual: Emptying her garbage can before going live.
- Key Insight: It’s important to notice when rituals serve you—and when they’re just your inner saboteur in disguise. She calls on her “creative angel” for support instead.
Michael J
- On Quirky Timing:
“There’s something about the off-kilterness of starting at 5:12pm or 12:12pm—it’s like having that radio on-air light blinking at you, saying ‘go now’.” - His Ritual: Starting live streams at unusual times as a nod to his mother and as a way to create a sense of occasion.
- Key Insight: Setting a specific (even odd) time helps create accountability and urgency—sometimes you just have to start, ready or not.
Shadows Pub
- On Unusual Rituals (from research):
“Twyla Tharp starts her day by taking a cab to the gym—because for her, hailing the cab is commitment to the day. And Beethoven counted exactly 60 coffee beans per cup.” - Reflection: Even famous creatives have rituals—some unique, some downright quirky.
- Key Insight: Commitment can look different for everyone. Sometimes even the smallest act signals it’s time to begin.
Bobby B
- On Warming Up:
“For me, I typically write and create first thing in the morning… I’ll open up some games online and play them and let that kind of get things going. Sometimes 30 seconds in, it’s like, I’m ready.” - His Ritual: A quick online game gets his creative engine running.
- Key Insight: Find a gentle way to “turn over the engine” each day—see what gets your mind humming.
FINAL NOTE
The conversation reminds us that creative rituals are as individual as we are. They can be comforting habits, playful superstitions, or even obstacles we invent. The key is to notice what serves us and what holds us back—and not to wait for conditions to be perfect before jumping into our work.
What about you? Do you have a creative ritual? Share yours at creativeworkhour.com and join us next week for more inspiration!
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!
Episode 56: Creative Rituals – The Creative Work Hour crew swaps stories about the quirky habits and comforting routines that spark their creativity—from bubble baths and counting coffee beans to playing online games and starting at odd times. Discover how rituals can help (or sometimes hinder) creative flow, and get inspired to find what works for you.
Episode 56 - Creative Rituals.mp3
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Greg
00:00 - 00:20
Hello and welcome back to the creative work hour podcast. It is episode 56 and we're talking about creative rituals. Today is June the 22nd 2025. And in the room today you have myself Greg, we have Alessandra, Devin, Gretchen, Michael, Bobby B and Shadows Pub.
Greg
00:20 - 00:30
We were talking just before we came on air, Alessandra and I, about creative rituals. Alessandra, this got us really kind of talking about creative rituals because I didn't think I had any.
Alessandra
00:30 - 00:50
Well, creative rituals are one of those things that can seem mysterious. And we may think if it's not very exciting, that it's not a thing. Like starting your day with coffee, or going outside and taking a run at 5.30 in the morning, like Michael does sometimes. Or it could be something very simple.
Alessandra
00:50 - 01:20
I remember as a young founder to Creative Work Hour, my ritual Basically, to calm myself down, knowing that I really didn't know what I was doing, is I would turn the bathroom lights off and slip into a warm bubble bath, complete with duckies, and I would just sit there. This was not a functional bathy-bathy, no. I would just sit there and think this thought, what is it that my creative friends might need?
Alessandra
01:21 - 01:35
Just on an energy level, what is it that they might need when we come together? in 30 minutes or so when I'm dry and in front of the laptop again. What might they need? And that was my creative ritual.
Alessandra
01:36 - 02:00
And it did two things. One, it ignited a sensitivity of how to really listen and look at people that I care about to see how they're doing. And it displaced my own anxiety about feeling that I didn't know what I was doing. And so it helped all of us, that very simple creative ritual, though I didn't realize that's what it was at a time.
Alessandra
02:01 - 02:32
So when we say creative rituals, we think of something that's really exciting. Like what I was thinking of as I was coming out of a creative ritual today, right before creative work hour and recording this episode 56 of our creative work hour podcast, I was thinking, oh, you know, there are exciting ones. Like there are rituals to say, Not that I am one to really make a sports analogy, but I think this is right on target. That movie Bull Durham, you remember, has Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins in it.
Alessandra
02:33 - 03:00
And the Tim Robbins character, LaRouche, was trying to break the baseball team. They're losing streak. And so he did something, a ritual, that was, well, he was in the locker room and getting ready to go out for the game. And everybody in the locker room turns and looks at LaRouche, who is putting on a pair of white women's lingerie, you know, the ones we call knickers.
Alessandra
03:00 - 03:19
And Kevin Costner turns around, looks at him dead on and says, the rose goes in the front, big guy. And I'm like, boom, that's a creative ritual. Okay, so that's exciting. But maybe you don't really think that your coffee has particular importance.
Alessandra
03:19 - 03:32
And then Greg, what were you mentioning to me? There was a word we were trying to think of in our conversation directly before we came together to make this recording. What was that word we were looking for?
Greg
03:33 - 03:33
Metronome.
Alessandra
03:33 - 03:36
Metronome. The metronome. Metronome. Yes.
Alessandra
03:37 - 03:50
And I was like, oh my God, that's so brilliant. Because as a musician, when I get stuck or I become apprehensive about practicing, I need something to... I need pixie dust. I need a rose in the front.
Alessandra
03:52 - 04:21
And when you said metronome, all of a sudden I realized, you know, as creatives, we don't have to be the God that creates the first heartbeat. We don't have to work some magic spell to remove the blink flashing cursor off the screen. All we have to do is step into the warm bath of what's already happening. All we have to do is join the metronome that's already going.
Alessandra
04:21 - 04:35
Just pick a moment. So here is my artistic example of just joining the moment. Agnes Martin, the famous artist. She walked every day as an artist.
Alessandra
04:35 - 04:57
She also walked every day as someone who lived with schizophrenia. And she lived a big life, and she worked in large scale. And this is how she started, her metronome every day, her creative ritual every day. She would go before her industrial-sized canvas with a folding chair, and she would take a seat, and she would stare at the thing.
Alessandra
04:58 - 04:58
For you, Greg, what is that metronome?
Greg
05:13 - 05:28
Well, I used to be in a marching band with the army cadets. One of the instruments that I played early on was the big bass drum. And if you're not familiar with that, the big bass drum sets the pace for everyone to march to. Left, right, left, right.
Greg
05:28 - 05:32
And we had a lot of marching songs as well. But you know, like, you know,
Michael
05:32 - 05:32
the
Greg
05:32 - 05:38
house was there when I left. The kids were there when I left. My wife was there when I left. Left, right, left.
Greg
05:38 - 05:54
And there's lots of them. And some of them are not safe for work. But I sometimes find myself doing that in my head, you know, getting that kind of flow, which I realized could be, could be a creative ritual, right? If we're going to go down the river, we don't stop the river, we kind of jump in with the flow.
Greg
05:54 - 06:07
And it ties into that whole flow. We have our routines on creative workout, right? We come on, if you do a cup of joe, we say how we're doing, how was your day? You know, how about this politician and this is good and that's bad.
Greg
06:08 - 06:18
And then we do, you know, check in, right? What are you going to work on? And then there's a meditation. And then what's been missing is the little bell, right?
Greg
06:18 - 06:37
Which I just realized you've been holding out on us, Alessandra. And so that's, you know, that's a creative ritual as well. And so for me, I realized that the big bass drum, the marching songs, it's a pace, right? Some people chant, you know, they do the monk chant, it's the same thing, or the repeat things.
Greg
06:37 - 06:53
It's like the skipping ropes, right? They're holding the two ropes and they're going round and the person is waiting for the right time to jump right in, so they don't break their neck and jump in at the right time. And so, yeah, for me, that could be a creative ritual. But how about you?
Greg
06:53 - 06:59
Do you have any creative rituals? Or have you heard of any? How about it, Gavin? Creative rituals, Gavin?
Greg
06:59 - 07:00
So many.
Devin
07:01 - 07:18
Everything has to be just so. I have to have a fresh bottle of water, a fresh cup of coffee. I have to have just read a certain amount, because my creative output is usually writing. And so I have to have done my reading first and have words in my head.
Devin
07:19 - 07:37
And then I have to have all the objects on my desk, all my little talismans, my journals, everything has to be in its place. And then when everything is just perfect, then I start to try and create. And I think sometimes all of that can hold me back because I'll say, oh, I couldn't possibly write today. Look at that.
Devin
07:38 - 07:53
My pen is at a 45 degree angle to my journal. It's all gone. There's no way I can do anything today. When the stars do align, I do find it's easier to slip into that flow and meet my muse and get something going.
Devin
07:53 - 07:55
So yeah, there's a lot of ritual.
Greg
07:55 - 08:01
Thank you, Devin. Shadow, how about you? Do you have any creative rituals or any that you know of that people do?
Shadows Pub
08:02 - 08:15
I don't have anything I consider to be a creative ritual. But since you guys asked, I went to our little buddy, ChatGPT, and asked unusual creative rituals. I got a list of 10. Two of them caught my eye.
Shadows Pub
08:16 - 08:39
The choreographer, Twyla Tharp, she starts her creative day by taking a cab to the gym because for her, hailing the cab is commitment to the day. And Beethoven, he takes coffee to another level. He insisted on 60 coffee beans per cup, counted by hand, in order for him to be able to start his creative day. So those were two that caught my hand.
Greg
08:40 - 08:46
I wonder what would happen if it had 61 instead of 60. It's a day screwed. We'll never know. We'll never know.
Greg
08:46 - 08:53
Gretchen, how about you? Creative rituals, do you have any or what have you heard?
Gretchen
08:53 - 09:22
Well, it's, yeah, I do. Before I do my live show, my garbage can has to be empty. I mean, there's like a checklist of kind of things you do to get ready to go live on YouTube or go live things. But one of the things that if I don't get it done, I mean, I'm like, sometimes I'm running out the door with my garbage can in my hand and to go dump it and come back in just before I hit go live so that it can be cleaned
Gretchen
09:22 - 09:36
up. And if I had to clean my desk, seriously, only time I had a clean desk was when I had a student who thought that that was a fun thing to do. And I would let them do it. You know, like, go ahead, organize my desk.
Gretchen
09:36 - 10:05
Yay. Keep that six-year-old busy for a while. But because I came when we had this discussion and we had this post to us, it came to me in my writing this morning that sometimes a creative ritual, that we will call it a ritual, is really a creative block in disguise. and we claim it to be a ritual and claim it to be this and I can't do this unless I have that.
Gretchen
10:05 - 10:35
And what would really happen if we actually stepped in and tried to do it if things weren't perfect? if things weren't just the way we hadn't met those. So there's that trick that our saboteur, our inner saboteur does to us. And we forget that, and what I use, and this comes from a very good friend of mine that was a very wonderful metaphysical teacher.
Gretchen
10:36 - 10:50
She said, there are angels out there for every little thing that you want. There's a parking lot angel. There's a parking space angel. There's a, you know, there's a sleep angel.
Gretchen
10:50 - 11:22
There's all this and they're just waiting for you to ask them to come help. And so I have really started to try that because I do a whole lot of different kind of creative things. I'll paint, I'll draw my photography stuff, but I will throw a lot of roadblocks up on myself to not fail at that and call it, oh, I can't do it because... So instead, I'm not letting that inner saboteur get to me.
Gretchen
11:22 - 11:44
I'm calling in the creative angel or, you know, I think I'm gonna try getting the cleanup angel and the creative angel to work together and see if that will work. And do that and call me and say, I really need your help. I need you to block everybody else out and just let this go. So the garbage can and the creative angel.
Gretchen
11:46 - 11:46
What do you say?
Greg
11:47 - 12:00
Thanks Gretchen, you know I'm still waiting for the lottery angel but she's not come around yet so we'll keep hope on that. Michael, how about yourself? Creative rituals, do you have any or what ones have you heard of?
Michael
12:00 - 12:31
Thanks, Greg. Yeah, I was reflecting as I was listening to the others and Ranjan mentioned like the live streams and I was doing live streams for a while and I would always start them at 5.12pm or going live at 12.12pm and this was sort of a bit of a shout out to my mother My dearly departed mother who would always call me often, Oh, Michael, dear, it's 1111. I just wanted to say hi, you know that there's something about the the repetition there, which was special.
Michael
12:31 - 12:47
And it's still an inside joke. With me and my wife, we often text each other at 1111. But when I was doing the live stream, I would start at 512, or I would, you know, new episodes would go live at 1212pm. And there was just something a bit off kilter about that.
Michael
12:47 - 12:58
It's not like it's too easy. If you say I'm going to start at like five o'clock, right? Oh, 502 503. And then suddenly it's 10 after and you kind of you're doing something else and you got distracted.
Michael
12:58 - 13:21
Oh, whoops. It's like, Oh, no big deal. Like, so like, there's something about the off kilterness of the 12. I mean, really, like, For me, it was like, I guess having that radio on air light that's going blinking now and it's like pointing at you like go now like the conductor is raising his baton, you know, there's something about that fixed time when something is going to
Michael
13:21 - 13:50
happen, whether you create that for yourself or whether it's externally sort of, you know, imposed through a group or you know, the creative work hour starts at 10 o'clock. you know there's you show up and with whatever you got whether your pen is not working or working or you're not wearing your favorite t-shirt whatever it is well it's too bad now here's the time to go now so you better go now live you know back to you greg
Greg
13:50 - 14:14
thank you michael you know you were talking about the the sign coming on and i don't know if you've got krispy kreme donuts i heard of krispy kreme donuts but They have a sign that they put on and it's a red sign and when the doughnuts are fresh and they're just getting made they put the sign on and then people flock like they come out the woodwork and stuff like that but uh Devin I see you with your hand raised.
Devin
14:14 - 14:44
Just what Gretchen and Michael were saying reminded me I Take classical guitar and, you know, musicians have a built-in routine of warming up and playing scales and doing all the things to get, you know, your fingers or your armature loose and getting ready to play and work on the piece you're working on. and my instructor tells me every now and then you got to do a cold practice. You just got to sit down pick up your instrument and start playing what you're working on because that's how it's going to be when you perform it.
Devin
14:44 - 14:56
The audience isn't going to wait for you to play your scales before you start playing what they're there to hear. So sometimes you got to build in a cold open and just start playing what you're playing, and then you can do
Greg
14:56 - 15:05
your skills later. Thanks, Devin. I know Michael didn't mention it, but I think croissants certainly make part of his creative routine there, but he skipped out on
Michael
15:05 - 15:05
that.
Greg
15:05 - 15:12
That's a different podcast, right? Bobby B, how about you? Creative rituals, do you have any? Have you heard of any unusual ones?
Bobby. B
15:12 - 15:13
Well, I certainly do. And I'm definitely, you know,
Bobby. B
15:15 - 15:41
Others have alluded to this, that we're not talking about diversions or reclamations of creativity, but just, you know, the way we turn the engine over on a regular basis. And for me, I typically write and create first thing in the morning. So I'll open up some games. online and I'll play them and let that kind of get things going.
Bobby. B
15:41 - 15:54
Sometimes 30 seconds in, it's like, I'm ready. Just hold it. It doesn't even matter if you finish, you know, other times I'll be here for a while. But that to me is the most regular way of turning the engine over, seeing how it sputters.
Bobby. B
15:55 - 15:58
And then as quickly as it hums, well,
Greg
15:58 - 16:05
then it's time to get going. Thanks, Bobby. Alessandra, pretty good discussion there. What do you got for us in closing?
Alessandra
16:06 - 16:54
Subscribe in US English Oh my God, that's so good. But I do, I love the thing of that conversations that we have together here, whether they are recorded for the podcast, or whether they're just, you know, during our 15 minutes of hanging out together that we call the cup of Joe before the live daily creative work hour happens, that one person can say something like, what's the word for that? And then the communal retrieving of The word we were looking for can just lead to an insight or lead to a new creative ritual.
Alessandra
16:54 - 17:27
So I think that you have solved a problem with my getting started with the actual practicing, not pulling up the music, not making the music stand stable, not getting the four score app to to respond correctly to my edits, but just get a metronome going and join in. It can just be that simple. Like Gretchen said, don't let it be robbed from you by some, is it agent provocateur? No, that's alluding to the rose goes in the front big guy.
Alessandra
17:28 - 17:30
So what time is it now though, Greg?
Greg
17:30 - 17:49
it's that time again you've wasted some perfectly good time listening to the creative work hour podcast when you could have been doing something else but how about you do you have any creative rituals or routines let us know you can visit us on creativeworkhour.com come back next week and we'll have another discussion again thank you.
