29: Habits of a Genius. Daily Rituals by Mason Currey Made You Think

A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods.
In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss​ Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. In this book, Currey edits together first-hand accounts from different artists and creative thinkers of how they went about their everyday lives.
“I write when the spirit moves me,”  said, “and the spirit moves me every day.” – Faulkner.

We cover a wide range of topics, including:
The problem with lifestyle gurus. Whether drugs enhance genius. Coffee’s role in causing the Renaissance. How people in far-off countries let each other know they were alive before the internet. Beethoven’s perfect cup of Joe. Why you should pin notes to your clothes' Night Owls vs. Early Birds - who gets more worms. Hacks to become an morning person. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey!
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson for more tips on how to order your day, as well as our episode on Elon Musk to discover what rituals a modern-day success keeps.
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Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Sleep debt [8:00] Dymaxion sleep [8:46] Polyphasic sleep [9:05] Alt-right [11:55] Benzedrine [12:58] Ritalin [18:34] The Renaissance [22:26] Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – OCD [29:10] Franklin’s 13 Virtues [32:21] How to Plan your Ideal Day by Taylor Pearson [39:48] Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule by Paul Graham [40:05] Growth Machine [40:10] On-demand economy [44:58] 1099 economy [44:58] Peterson’s guide to essay writing [51:44] Mnemonics [57:10] Keto-adaptation [59:50] Hormetic stress [1:07:55] Night Owl Mutation [1:12:36] Gilgamesh Platform [1:20:50] Books mentioned: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [12:28] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Come Again? by Nat Eliason [19:26] Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson [32:21] The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss [34:36] Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [34:47] Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller [48:42] The War of Art - Steven Pressfield [50:44] The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath [1:02:18] Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway [1:07:55] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand [1:10:50] Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand [1:11:10] People mentioned: Francis Bacon [2:30] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [3:54] (Antifragile episode) Tim Ferriss [5:00] Jocko [5:08] Buckminster Fuller [8:46] Steve Pavlina [10:00] V. S. Pritchett [11:30] W. H. Auden [12:58] Immanuel Kant [13:58] Michel Foucault [13:58] Ryan Holiday [14:44] Beethoven [29:16] Nikola Tesla [29:34] Tom Cruise [30:37] Benjamin Franklin [32:32] Charles Darwin [36:30] (on this podcast) Henry Miller [48:42] William Faulkner [50:27] Ann Beattie [50:58] Haruki Murakami [52:37] Scott Britain [53:11] Ramit Sethi [53:11] Jonathan Edwards [57:10] Sylvia Plath [1:02:12] Woody Allen [1:02:37] Jean Paul Sartre [1:03:00] David Lynch [1:06:20] Paul Erdős [1:10:25] Ayn Rand [1:10:50] Show Topics 00:50 – Book covers daily rituals of a bunch of people, not just artists. Broad interpretation of artists, anyone who does creative or critical thinking work.
01:24 – There’s a surprising amount of drug-use in this book, lots of alcohol, and not sleeping. On the one hand this seemed undisciplined, but on the other these people did have very regular schedules. There was discipline to keep these activities in a well-worn groove.
01:53 – A hangover can make it easier to write – your brain can be more focused. In some ways it’s like the opposite of being caffeinated.
03:10 – The book has an interesting layout, there’s no attempt at narrative, each chapter is about a new person’s routine.
03:54 – Taleb keeps no routine, he d