A long time ago I had read the story about a junior hockey team that excelled better than other teams in their league, and they accounted their superior game playing partly to the fact that before each game, the entire team would listen to dance music, and dance up a storm before going on the ice. The story always stuck with me because that is an example of how powerful “success rituals” as I call them can be.
Success rituals are systems in place that are there to ensure a successful experience. Most companies have such systems, and they are usually called “quality control”. It’s like having a formula for a particular equation to get the desired answer. Day in and day out, you want that desired answer, so you keep applying that formula. The same applies to your own life. You need a system in place to guarantee your way to success.
If I were to take a look at my own life, I have such rituals in place too. For example, I like to listen to upbeat music as early as I get up, because I feed off of that energy and it pumps me up. Another thing I do is that I stretch and do some light exercises before I start my workday. Nothing too crazy, things like yoga exercises, sit ups, push ups, and adequate stretching (which is absolutely necessary if you want to avoid injury and be more awake throughout the day). You can check out my article 7 Ways To Wake Up Motivated! for more useful tips to do in the morning which can be good rituals for your own success system.
The way I talk to myself is another one of my rituals. I always give myself positive reinforcement, even through challenging situations. It helps to keep me going all day, and reminds me that I am capable of doing anything that I set my mind to. It’s important to have good internal dialog. You may want to read this other post I wrote How Do You Talk To Yourself? for more information on this.
Other things that I can attribute to my success rituals are taking some sun for about 20 min. a day. Even during a very busy day where I am locked in the office going through all kinds of work, I always find that time to just go outside and soak in some light. It’s good for my morale and it makes me feel better, which helps me work better.
Outside of work hours, I enjoy taking a ride on my bicycle in the evening. It has become a part of my daily personal activities. I get to unwind and get rid of all the stress of the day at work and breathe in fresh air. I associate this activity to my success rituals because I need that release, both physically and mentally at the end of the day to properly sleep and be ready to go the next morning. I wrote about 9 Great Reasons Why You Should Bike, which sheds more light on the advantages of cycling.
All in all, these little things that we do provide us with a certain comfort which in turn help us perform better. These rituals are necessary to do whatever we need to get done effectively. Some may be even on the side of superstitious, but whatever works for you and puts you in that frame of mind where you feel completely confident and unstoppable, then it is serving its purpose.
So what are some of your success rituals?
