Originally published at TheFieryWell.com in October of 2022, The Pomodoro® Primer for Magic Makers article has been updated and broken up over a series of posts for The Coworking Coven. This is the third article of the series.
When I say ritual you may be picturing large, elaborate, ceremonial-level events. Robes. Candles. Religious archetypes and rules.
But ritual, I see, as small repeatable actions.
Rituals are opportunities to commit to yourself mind, body, and soul in tiny ways every day, throughout the day. Often, we build upon them and create systems and routines.
When I say ritual I mean:
- stirring my coffee clockwise with an intention every morning
- pulling out the Pomodoro sprint sheet, brainstorming, writing down the tasks as I do them, and putting the sheet in the binder when done
- dusting off my workspace before beginning any workings
Since the Coronovirus pandemic, many folks had the blessing and curse of working from home during lockdowns and quarantines. It was a struggle for many to separate work life from home life in a space that wasn’t always conducive to the blend. Not everyone has a dedicated office space, or even room at the kitchen table, for their work.
So how did so many people find a way to make it work? Grit? Determination? Yes.
And ritual.
Get into focus with pre-work rituals
Our brains need the signal “it’s time to work” and we can achieve that through small, repeatable, buildable rituals. Like lighting a candle, or taking a deep breath. Or it can be as detailed as a full-blown spell for focus!
It can also be the way we interact with the space around us! Working at a specific table at our favorite coffee shop, using your favorite coffee mug at the kitchen table, clearing your workspace, and setting out your favorite pen for note-taking or filling out sprint sheets.
Alert your brain that it’s time to “do the thing” by
- Clearing a specific spot off of the kitchen table
- opening the curtains
- playing particular music
- having a talk with the kids
- lighting a candle
These small gestures can be enough to help move our focus, and alert our brain, “It’s time to do the thing!”
Inside The Coworking Coven we have a communal ritual. We spend a few minutes discussing our plans for our Pomodoro’s before we begin working, we mute ourselves, give a thumbs up, and the clock starts counting down. What makes it ritual is the pattern. We do this every week. And every week that you show up, it becomes part of your ritual.
A ritual is yours and can always be discovered.
Rituals can be communal and they can be personal.
Slowly build a supportive one for yourself.
Release your brain with a post-work ritual
What’s more important than a pre-work ritual? The post-work ritual. It’s how you pull yourself away from the work once done!
The coworking sessions inside our coworking coven are often before lunchtime. The act of following up and reviewing our tasks and then breaking for lunch is a nourishing way to break away from work.
In addition, blowing out the candle, taking another deep breath, doing a tarot pull, journaling, and doing additional brain dumping can all aid in transitioning you from “work” mode to “free from work” mode.
How can you begin to separate yourself from your work, your workspace, your work brain, on command? Detachment from work is just as important as the work itself.
Next up, let’s cast some spells for productivity.