Last week our Creative Leader Roundtable group discussed the practices that sustain us as creative pros. With so much uncertainty swirling and the pressure to make decisions faster than ever, it’s important to know how to set your own pace rather than simply being carried along by the accelerating expectations of the world around you.
Over 20+ years of working closely with talented creative pros, here’s a truth that’s become very apparent to me: the thing that gets you noticed and the thing that keeps you in the room are not the same thing.
Two different things
What gets you noticed isn’t what keeps you in the room.
Talent gets you in the game.
Your raw ability, your instincts, the early work that turned heads.
Your practices keep you at the table.
The small, repeatable things you do consistently that quietly compound into a body of work you’re proud of.
Illustration. Practices don’t spike. They compound.
What keeps you at the table, year after year and project after project, are your practices. The pros who consistently deliver great work with clarity and purpose over a long period have discovered that they need infrastructure to support that ambition. They’ve figured out a few practices that actually move the needle for them, and they honestly couldn’t care less what other people think about it. They don’t engage in these practices because some expert or guru told them to, but because they’ve seen how these practices actually make a substantial difference in their life and work, here and now.
Talent gets you in the game. Your practices keep you at the table.
Here are a few things to consider about your practices.
A helpful practice isn’t performative.
It’s not something you do to check a box. It’s something you do because it changes the game, changes you, or transforms the way you approach your life and work. If a practice isn’t tied to a real outcome, a real output, or a real transformation, it’s just theater.
Would I still do this if nobody ever knew?A helpful practice is reasonable.
The practices that sustain are reasonable enough that you’ll actually do them on a bad day.
Could I do this on my worst day?Helpful practices work together.
If two of your practices pull toward conflicting goals, you’ll feel the friction every time you sit down, and your motivation will quietly drain away.
Do my practices pull in the same direction?The reasonable test
The highlight reel collapses by Thursday.
We’ve all seen the morning routine fantasy. Up at four, cold plunge, ten mile run, journal, meditate, and somehow at your desk firing on all cylinders by seven thirty. That’s not a practice. It’s a highlight reel built to be admired.
The fantasy routine4:00 wake-up, cold plunge, 10 miles, journal, meditate
A reasonable practiceFifteen minutes of writing before the inbox
And watch how your practices fit together. Practices that reinforce one another build momentum. Practices in tension build resentment.
Let me give you a few that have made a real difference, for me and for the leaders I work with. Some of these I first wrote about years ago in The Accidental Creative, where I made the case that your best work doesn’t come from waiting for inspiration to strike, but from a rhythm of practices you build on purpose.
Three practices that move the needle
Start with these three.
15–20 min a day
Daily writing
Fifteen or twenty minutes a day spent writing about whatever is rattling around in your head will do more to clarify your thinking than almost anything else on your calendar.
Do thisChoose a topic, open a blank page, and empty your head onto it.
Before the inbox
Start the day alone with your thoughts
Before the inbox owns you, take time to understand what you’re actually thinking. Sit with a blank piece of paper, pay attention to what crosses your mind, write it down, then follow it.
Do thisPatterns and breakthroughs are lurking just beneath the surface. Notice them.
A little time each week
Be deliberate about the inspiration you take in
Your ideas are only as good as what you feed your mind. Build a simple study plan and protect a little time each week for stimuli that is challenging, relevant, and a step outside your usual lane.
Do thisFill the well long before you need a drink.
“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.”David McCullough
So many leaders feel tense, stressed, and stuck because they simply aren’t aware of what’s actually on their mind. There are patterns and breakthroughs lurking just beneath the surface of our conscious thought, but we’re so busy that we miss them. And your ideas are only as good as what you feed your mind.
If you want a brilliant idea the moment you need one, you have to start filling the well long before you need a drink.
Are you seeking intentional inspiration in your life and work? Do you have time set aside to absorb inspiring ideas and thoughts, and to stretch your thinking?
Build your practice stack
Choose two or three. Make them real.
Pick the practices you’ll commit to this month. Fewer is better.
Choose two or three.
Want to go deeper? The Accidental Creative lays out a full rhythm of practices to help you stay prolific, brilliant, and healthy. Explore the book ›
Talent opens the door, but your practices are what keep you in the room.
Choose two or three practices for yourself, make them real, and let them do their quiet work.
Todd Henry
Todd teaches leaders and teams how to be brave, focused, and brilliant. He’s the author of seven books, including Herding Tigers and The Brave Habit, and host of the Daily Creative podcast.
