Your lucky shoes, your favourite pen, your morning routine. Most of us have little rituals that help ground us and set us up for what’s to come. But how can we consciously use rituals to bring us more creativity, ease and happiness in our working lives?

As freelancers, the pressure to be creative can be exhausting. Breathing could hold the answer. It’s something we do 26,000 times a day, but almost never think about. Deep, purposeful breathing helps regulate our mental and physical state, reducing stress and anxiety, improving concentration, boosting creativity, promoting sleep and supporting the immune system.

As humans, we’ve evolved to react faster, stronger and for longer when we have a bad experience compared to a good one. A client sends you first draft feedback. Even if there are two small criticisms in a sea of compliments, which ones do you dwell on? Luckily, there are things we can do to outrun this negativity bias. Here I share what worked for me.