When Robert Freedman was CEO of ORC Worldwide, which was sold to and merged into Mercer, he drew a sketch on a napkin every day with his morning coffee. He now has over 300 sketches.
"My daily coffee napkin art two-minute creativity 'session' mostly just cleared my head for the start of the day. And, as so much of a CEO's time is spent in meetings, kicking off with an upbeat feeling provided a little extra can-do / can-solve mindset."
Rituals are effective especially in the morning because they allow us to save most of our decision making for more difficult tasks that come later in the day.
Freedman explained the significance of his doodles in a self-published coffee table book he compiled after he retired: "Morning Coffee: Drips and Drabs Musings from A Manager."
Here's what he did, straight from his self-published book:
I like to exercise my right-brain thinking. Even though I am left-handed, I drink coffee with my right hand. ... When I come into my office each morning, I buy a simple breakfast in the little coffee shop in my building. They always pack it the same way—a brown paper bag holding a cup of coffee with fat free milk, topped with one of those plastic cap covers sporting a pin prick hole (without which this story wouldn't be being told), next covered by two or three napkins and a bran muffin, which puts just enough pressure to cause a few droplets of coffee to travel upwards to the napkins. For three years, this has been my breakfast, satisfying my palate, until one morning I was musing and doodling on my coffee-stained napkin turned palette.
While sipping this first cup, I picked up my Uni-Ball Deluxe Micro Pen. I circled my coffee stain, and then I mused. I looked into the coffee stain and it drew me in. I saw the hint of a cartoon-like face of a dog. (I am, if nothing else an overzealous dog owner, dog person and lover of creatures.) And so it began. A few days later I repeated the process, instituting a rule that I first encircle the splotch, and then follow my instincts from there. And so on and so on. Soon I had a pile of eight or ten splotch-art-pieces in a pile on my desk. A co-worker noticed one and commented favorably. Soon two or three of my colleagues did the same. It made them smirk and smile. I brought a few home to show my wife and daughter. My "oeuvres" (now that I had entered the ranks of "artistes") brought moments of delight to their faces as well, although they did question what it is exactly a CEO does all day!
And some of his drawings from the book:
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