Let’s face it. Creative work can be ultra-fulfilling. But most of the time, it’s deeply frustrating.
You open a new document on your laptop, try to type a few words, delete them, get frustrated, close the document, open Twitter — oh, funny cat videos! — check email, close email, close Twitter, check notifications on your phone, remember your document, reopen the document, feel frustrated. Ugh, I just wanted to put some of my thoughts into words. Why is this so hard?!
Or maybe that’s just me.
But seriously, in one way or another, we all know this process. We just can’t seem to focus, no matter how hard we try. The modern world, crazy as it is, bombards us with sales offers, pinging messages, and sensational news. It seems like the stars align to prevent us from doing the work that matters most to us.
Here’s a solution: Build a bliss station.
What Is a Bliss Station
Legendary writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell came up with this concept. Here’s what Campbell says in The Power of Myth:
“You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.”
I think this is the essence of creative work: Letting go of any expectations, fears, beliefs, and all the other taradiddle to bring forth what’s truly in your mind. The fingerprint of creativity is to express what it’s like to be human.
Campbell puts it best:
“Our life has become so economic and practical in its orientation that, as you get older, the claims of the moment upon you are so great, you hardly know where the hell you are, or what it is you intended. You are always doing something that is required of you. Where is your bliss station? You have to try to find it.”
This makes it sound like your bliss station has to be a particular place you have to track down like a pirate treasure on a remote island.
But that’s not where this is aiming.
Austin Kleon picked up the idea in his book Keep Going and suggested something interesting. A bliss station could be a certain place or time. (Bonus points if you combine the two.)
And that made me think — if it’s not bound to space or time, what other factors might be involved? As it turns out, you can get completely creative and construct your bliss station, just like picking different bricks and colors to build a Lego house.
Let me clarify by telling you how I built my bliss station.
How I Built a Bliss Station for Deep Focus
I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop in the middle of the city. Sunbeams radiate through the window facade beside me and pierce a room that’s filled with the magical scent of roasted coffee and cinnamon. Around me, people are staring intensely at their laptops, slurping their cappuccinos while the soundwaves blend agitated conversations, clinking cups, and occasional hammerings of espresso portafilters. (“clack, clack, clack.”)
I’m completely zoned out, deeply focused on my writing.
That’s my bliss station.
It always takes me some time to get into this state. In the beginning, I’m usually doing exactly what I described in the introduction. But the longer I sit here, the looser my fingers get, the more I become detached from this crazy world, and the more my mind runs free.
So let’s break this down into the core components so you can build your very own bliss station.
6 Building Blocks For Your Bliss Station
When you build your bliss station, it’s all about involving your senses. The more elements you can combine, the better. Your brain loves certain triggers that signal it to let go and run free.
Here are my six favorite building blocks. Feel free to steal away.
Assign a sacred space
This is my most important trigger. When I sit at my desk at home, nothing seems to work. Too many distractions. Too much familiarity. Too close to my bed. Going to a coffee shop helps me create a “fake commute” that puts physical and mental distance between me and my work.
I can leave all my frustrations there and don’t get tempted to overwork myself at home.
Find a unique place that’s completely dedicated to your bliss. Try not to do anything else in that place — don’t check your phone, don’t have meals, don’t reply to emails. Have this one sacred space to let your creative spirit run free.
Guard a time frame
So many people swear by fixed routines throughout their day. And if that works for you — that’s great! But I found that letting clocks dictate your day just makes everything more complicated.
The most important aspect, I think, is to roughly estimate when your energy levels are the highest. I always thought it had to be in the morning because that’s what all the ‘successful’ people do, right? Get up at the crack of dawn, be there before anyone else, do a lot of work…
That never worked for me.
I found that my most focused time is somewhere in the late afternoon. That’s when my mind’s morning mist has cleared. That’s when I had the time to get food and exercise. That’s when I can completely focus on work.
My recommendation: Try all parts of the day, including nighttime.
My former roommate stays up until 3 am to do focused work because he can only concentrate from midnight onward. It may not be optimal for the world we live in. But if that’s how your mind works, by all means, double down on it.
Adjust sound levels
Have you ever heard of the coffee shop effect? It’s the scientific phenomenon that low-to-moderate ambient noise can boost your creativity. This is because you’re slightly distracted from your work which makes you see it less tensely, enhancing out-of-the-box thinking.
If you’re not in a coffee shop, music can help.
I already did a scientific breakdown of the relationship between music and writing in a different post, so here’s the TLDR:
- If you do focused work, aim for repetitive, relaxing music without lyrics.
- Find your personal taste and match the music to your creative energy. Suggestions: techno, classical music, natural music.
- If you want to take your mind off a problem, listen to your favorite (upbeat) music during breaks.
I also find that a “sleep timer” works great. I use the music to get into the flow, and when it stops, I’m so focused that I don’t even notice the silence. That way, I don’t risk that the music distracts me once I’m immersed.
Smell some scents
When I was still in college, my creative drawing professor suggested employing different scents for different brain modes. At first, I thought it was gibberish. But the next day, I found myself buying scented candles — salty sweets and vanilla to relax, fresh herbs to work.
It actually worked.
Now that I’m traveling around, I find the distinct smell of coffee shops achieves the same effect. It’s like a soft nudge for the brain: Oh hey, this is the scent of concentration. Let’s get to work.
Trigger your tastebuds
Depending on my mood and energy levels, I order one of two things: a big cup of hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream or a large black coffee. Not surprisingly, these two drinks boost brain functioning. (Some other examples: green tea, orange juice, blueberry juice, smoothies, kombucha.)
Plus, I don’t drink these two beverages during leisure. This helps me reward myself for showing up at my bliss station and provides yet another trigger.
And it doesn’t even have to be something to drink. Research has also shown that chewing gum can enhance work performance.
So get your taste buds involved to make your bliss station even more wholesome.
Deploy visual reminders
Lastly, you sprinkle visual reminders all over your bliss station.
This can include quotes, images, and lucky charms. Steven Pressfield, for example, has a “lucky cannon” on his thesaurus that he always points toward his chair so it can fire inspiration into him. Others prefer a clean, minimalistic setup. I’ve always found post-its, stickers, desktop wallpapers, and digital notes most helpful because they can follow me everywhere I go.
Think about the reminders you want to see when you take off to planet bliss. Make sure you see them every day.
Follow Your Bliss
According to Campbell, the whole purpose of your bliss station is to help you follow your bliss. And what’s that? The transcendence of your existence, far away from all of your problems where only you remain.
In the poignant words of Campbell:
“If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.”
So don’t let anyone ever tell you that you need a perfect morning routine, daily writing discipline, or eccentric workspace rituals. It’s all of these things — and none of these things.
To find your bliss, build your station.
What does it look like?