We’ve heard it before. The effect daily rituals have on success is quite the topic among high achievers. The concert pianist who practices scales and muscle memory exercises mercilessly to help hone their craft. The athlete that visualizes winning a gold medal, scoring the winning goal or breaking a world record in efforts to maximize their performance. And the ultra-savvy entrepreneur or CEO that gets up early, works out regularly, takes risksand makes millions. More often than not, those that are most successful in their chosen field attribute their success to exercises, or rituals, such as the ones mentioned above. The difference between an exercise and a ritual might just be the fact that most rituals become long-standing habits. Aristotle said it best,
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
So what exactly do daily rituals mean for small business or entrepreneurial success? Everything. Today we’re breaking down the purpose of daily rituals and just how we can implement them to help propel our success in our chosen field or industry.
Benefits of Optimized Rituals
When most people hear the world ritual they associate it with religion. In this case, a ritual is merely something that is done consistently in efforts to produce the same results. Rituals, aren’t just consistent, they’re outlined steps that are followed with exactness so as to ensure a wanted outcome. So what type of benefits can you expect to see from a ritual? We’re glad you asked. Rituals can benefit anyone in the following ways:
- Put you in a high performance groove both mentally and physically – its a surefire way to get ready for big decision-making and calculating risks
- Allow you to predictably perform at a high level – meaning you can count on high performance every time rather than hit and miss chances at success
- Stop you from overthinking – when it comes to risks, thinking too much can actually cost you a win. Rituals push you through the process and help you get to the success faster so you don’t overthink or miss an opportunity
- Allow you to upgrade your performance because you can break things down in steps and tweak what’s need fixing – doing things repeatedly and in the same way allows you to pinpoint where the breakdowns might occur and correct them.
- Give a sense of purpose and confidence – creating a habit or a practiced sequence means you’ve seen success before. This consistency gives you confidence that you can recreate the same effective outcomes and that means you’re more and more ready to push through the challenges ahead.
How to Build Your Own Daily Ritual
Now that we’ve got you convinced about daily rituals and how they can propel you to success, lets talk about how to create some rituals of your own. It really is just a prescribed sequence that can help set you up for success – creating some ornate set of steps or adding additional tasks to your already busy schedule won’t do. Real rituals are the most effective when you fine tune your already existing routines to help ensure a successful outcome. To do this, we suggest the following steps:
- catalog what you already do – focus on a single area that you wish to improve. It may be your customer service, product launches, or even expanding your business in a certain area. List out the typical steps you take.
- take a look at your process – What steps are you missing? Are there things you might be able to add in, delete, or move around that would better ensure your success?
- reinvent the ritual and put it to practice – make the changes and then get to work. No matter what your ritual, you won’t see success unless you put in consistent effort.
We’d love to hear about the goals you’ve set and the rituals you’re creating to help you get there – drop us a line in the comments.
