We hear a lot about how eccentric some of the most famous writers and artists were in their productivity routines. But many, if not most, of their productivity secrets were pretty down to earth and common sense. We sometimes forget that even those we regard as most talented and most productive, those that we almost idolize for their creativity, are human beings just like you and me. What makes them stand out, and what we often refuse to see because it’s less glamorous to acknowledge, is that they work hard and have an unwavering work ethic. So let’s take a look at some of the world’s greatest minds, and what productivity secrets helped them produce their best work.

2. WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT THE ECCENTRIC
ROUTINES OF THE MOST FAMOUS
WRITERS AND ARTISTS

3. FOR EXAMPLE, BEETHOVEN COUNTED
EACH ONE OF THE 60 COFFEE BEANS
FOR HIS MORNING COFFEE

4. BALZAC DRANK AS MANY AS 50 CUPS
OF BLACK COFFEE EVERY DAY

5. AND STRAVINSKY STOOD ON HIS HEAD
WHENEVER HE FELT UNINSPIRED

6. BUT MOST OF THEIR PRODUCTIVITY
SECRETS ARE COMMON SENSE…

7. … AND APPLICABLE IN YOUR EVERY
DAY LIFE

8. 1. BREAK DOWN YOUR TASKS LIKE
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
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9. Anthony Trollope wrote 3000
words every day from 5:30 am,
before heading to his day job
at the post office
He broke the 3000 words into
chunks of 250 words each 15
minutes.
He meticulously counted every
word as he wrote. He kept the
routine up for 33 years, and
wrote 47 novels.

10. “When I have commenced a new book, I have always prepared a diary,
divided into weeks, and carried it on for the period which I have allowed
myself for the completion of the work. In this I have entered, day by day,
the number of pages I have written, so that if at any time I have slipped
into idleness for a day or two, the record of that idleness has been there,
staring me in the face, and demanding of me increased labour, so that
the deficiency might be supplied.”
Anthony Trollope – An Autobiography

11. 2. DELVE IN MENIAL TASKS LIKE GEORGE
BALANCHINE AND WOODY ALLEN
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12. “When I’m ironing, that’s when I do
most of my work.”
George Balanchine

13. “In the shower, with the hot water
coming down, you’ve left the real
world behind, and very frequently
things open up for you.”
Woody Allen

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3. BE COMFORTABLE IN YOUR
ENVIRONMENT LIKE
GEORGE GERSHWIN

15. George Gershwin worked at his piano all day long in his pajamas,
bathrobe and slippers. He would start in late morning and went on until
midnight.
So much for that office dress code, hm?

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4. TAKE TIME TO REFLECT ON YOUR
DAY’S WORK LIKE JOAN DIDION

17. “I need an hour before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I’ve done
that day. I can’t do it late in the afternoon because I’m too close to it.
Also, the drink helps. It removes me from the pages. So I spend this
hour taking things out and putting other things in.”
Joan Didion

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5. STICK TO A RIGOROUS ROUTINE LIKE
HARUKI MURAKAMI

19. “When I’m in writing mode for
a novel, I get up at 4:00 am
and work for five to six hours.
In the afternoon, I run for 10
km or swim for 1500 m (or do
both), then I read a bit and
listen to some music. I go to
bed at 9:00 pm.
I keep to this routine every
day without variation. The
repetition itself becomes the
important thing; it’s a form of
mesmerism.
I mesmerize myself to reach
a deeper state of mind.”
Haruki Murakami

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6. ADMIT WHEN SOMETHING DOESN’T
WORK LIKE
MAYA ANGELOU AND ERNEST
HEMINGWAY

21. “And more often than not, if I’ve done nine
pages I may be able to save two and a half
or three. That’s the cruelest time, you know,
to really admit that it doesn’t work.”
Maya Angelou

22. “I write one page of masterpiece
to ninety-one pages of shit. I try
to put the shit in the
wastebasket.”
Ernest Hemingway

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7. BE ACCOUNTABLE TO OTHERS LIKE
ISAAC ASIMOV

24. “It is a point of pride with me
that though I have an alarm
clock, I never set it, but get up
at 6 am anyway. I am still
showing my father I am not a
folyack.”
Isaac Asimov
As a boy, Isaac Asimov used to
get up at 6 am to deliver
papers, then rushed to his dad’s
candy store after school to help
out. If he was even a few
minutes late, his father yelled at
him, calling him a folyack
(Yiddish for slacker).

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8. WORK LITTLE BY LITTLE LIKE
ALICE MUNRO AND GERTRUDE STEIN

26. Alice Munro learned to write little by
little, during her children’s nap
times, in between feedings, and
while dinner was cooking.
It took 20 years to put together her
first short story collection, but in
2013 Munro received the Nobel
prize for literature.

27. Gertrude Stein admitted she had
never been able to write for more than
half an hour a day.
”If you write a half-hour a day, it makes
a lot of writing year by year.”

28. www.sandglaz.com
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9. FIND SOME PRIVACY LIKE
IGOR STRAVINSKY

29. Igor Stravinsky was never able to compose unless he was sure nobody
could hear him.
At one point, he even went as far as to work on a piano kept in a lumber
storage/chicken coop, where he composed some of his most famous
works.

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10. STICK WITH IT, EVEN WHEN YOU
DON’T FEEL LIKE IT
LIKE TCHAIKOVSKY

31. “A few days ago I told you I was working every day
without any real inspiration. Had I given way to my
disinclination, undoubtedly I should have drifted into
a long period of idleness. But my patience and faith
did not fail me, and today I felt that inexplicable glow
of inspiration of which I told you.”
Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky

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The productivity secrets of
the world’s greatest minds