Ritual

Sometimes the steps required to do something become part of the experience; making tea or playing a record on your turntable instead of on your iPhone. The steps add to the satisfaction, make the event more of a personal experience than just doing. This can make a simple task personally therapeutic or cathartic — often allowing a simple task to remedy the stresses of the day.
via Doing things the hard way — The Northwind

My family often chides me -- calling me a snob -- for the way I obsess over how I make my coffee. I've never had a good way to explain the feeling I get from the four or five minutes I spend making coffee. Grinding the beans. Measuring and boiling the water in my kettle. Waiting for just the right temperature to pour the water and brew the coffee.

Yes, it takes more time than popping a pod into a machine. But I get to enjoy a few minutes of "in the moment" nothingness. It's worth it.

Limits

Instead of unlimited time online and on the phone, what if you limited yourself to two hours a day, not including time spent on work tasks? You’d now have space in your life for other things: exercise, reading, meditation, cooking healthy food, cuddling with loved ones.From “In Praise of Limits”

Something to think about. How am I using my time?

The Under-appreciated Benefits of Consistency

With constant work comes constant inspiration. Ideas are not a predefined bucket that you should live in fear of drying up. Work creates a state that connects new ideas. Often called the creative ear, when you’re regularly working on things you enjoy, the walls come down and seemingly insignificant moments spark inspiration. Just be sure to give yourself some space. Fires only burn when they have room to breathe.Gregory Ciotti

Consistency is something I will apply to all my endeavors in 2015. The worst that can happen is that I am inconsistent, inconsistent, inconsistent.