(Routine)
What I do before I open Figma
Beethoven counted 60 coffee beans per cup before he composed. My mornings have an order too, and every idea goes through a notebook before Figma.
Mateus CremonDesigner, Cremon Studio · 2 min read
Beethoven got up at dawn and didn't take long to get started. First he made his own coffee, sixty beans per cup, often counted one by one. Then he sat at his desk and composed until 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
That's from Daily Rituals, Mason Currey's book of the routines of 161 famous people. There's Hemingway, who wrote standing up, and there's the choreographer Twyla Tharp, who described her own in her 2003 book The Creative Habit.
Twyla Tharp's cab
She wakes up at 5:30 a.m., puts on her workout clothes, walks out of her Manhattan home, hails a cab, and goes to the gym, where she works out for two hours.
In the book, she writes that the ritual is the cab, and the workout comes after. The moment she tells the driver where to go, the ritual is done. Because it's the same every time, it's easy to repeat, and she's less likely to skip the workout. It's one less thing to think about first thing in the morning.
The Creative Habit (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
My order
I think everyone who works from home has a cab, even if they don't realize it. It could be opening the window, or the same playlist as always. My office is here at home, and my cab is a cup of coffee.
I wake up between 6 and 6:30, shower, and tidy up my desk. I check my phone for a bit, just a bit, and say my prayers.
Coffee comes last. That's what tells me the workday has started.
The notebook
Every new idea has an order too. Before I go to the computer, I sketch it in a lined notebook with sand-colored pages.
Then it's Figma, my music, and work until the end of the day. The cup comes first, then the notebook, and Figma is the last thing I open.
