At one time, I was a music major. While I was an accomplished player, before every practice, rehearsal and performance I ran through a series of scales. The purpose was to warm up my fingers, my embouchure and my instrument. But it was also a ritual. There was something calming and mindless about running through scales that was so automatic to me.
In business, rituals play a role as well. The famous business and life coach, Tim Ferris often talks about his five morning rituals: he makes his bed, meditates for 10 to 20 minutes, does at five to 10 reps of a light exercise followed by some strong tea and finally, he finishes his routine by journaling for five to 10 minutes.
Since we are creatures of habit, rituals can set the intention and tone of our day. Like running through scales, rituals can be mindless ways to clear our minds and allow us to listen to ourselves.
Michael Hyatt, CEO of Michael Hyatt & Company, a leadership development firm, says that there are five benefits to rituals, which we’ll explain in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.
First, Hyatt points out that the whole point of the ritual is as much mental as physical. He uses the game of golf as an example. He has a set of rituals, or steps, he goes through every time he approaches the tee box. He says, “I’m not just fine-tuning my stroke, I’m also conditioning my mind for the best possible shot. By dropping into the groove, I get out of my own way.”
Hyatt points out five benefits of optimized rituals:
- Help put you in a mental and physical groove for high performance, whatever you’re doing. You’re lined up for the workday with far fewer distractions.
- Allow you to perform at a predictably high level. The routine leaves less to chance, so you can focus on performing your best.
- Stop you from overthinking, so you’re not constantly engineering and reengineering your entire performance. This frees you up not to worry about whether you can perform but helps you focus on simply how best to do so.
- Allow you to upgrade your performance because you’ve broken apart the individual steps. Now, you can focus on tweaking them individually.
- Give you a sense of purpose and confidence. By working your ritual, you set your mind and body at ease and take control of what you can control.
That’s why even the most seasoned musicians run their scales before performing. So what are your rituals?
Source: Michael Hyatt is the founder and CEO of Michael Hyatt & Company, a leadership development firm specializing in transformative live events, workshops, and digital and physical planning tools. Formerly chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Hyatt is also a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of several books, including Living Forward and Platform.