Est Read Time: 7 Minutes
I don’t know about you, but when I try to sit down and get to work, I find it easiest to do when I go through my Starting Ritual.
For me, sitting down to work looks like me making hot tea and setting it to the left of my laptop. I sit down, open my bullet journal and review my ‘Big 3 Tasks’ [which are the tasks that are prioritized for the day]. Then I share my Big 3 with my team in our Google Space ‘Daily 3s’ so my team knows what to expect from me. Once I am clear on my tasks, I plug in my headphones, turn on motivational jams, and begin working.
Now I understand that my starting ritual seems simple and basic —that’s because it is!!
Let’s be real, the hardest part of working from home (or anything really) is getting started. 😅
And the more complicated your starting ritual is, the less likely you are to do it.
Plus, if you don’t have a starting ritual for work, you’ll find yourself getting caught up thinking about all the non-essential tasks you have to do sometime during the day too. Then, before you know it, your mind is racing a million miles a minute and you can’t find the motivation or focus to sit down and work.
Am I right?!
[If you are finding that you don’t have enough time in the day to complete everything then I’d recommend checking out The Importance of Outsourcing/Hiring and learn how to free up your time by buying it.]
I get the struggle of working from home –believe me. My work desk is in the living room and I have a very active toddler.
But once I learned to implement a starting ritual, I found I got into my work mode so much easier than just trying to sit down and put my head down.
Trust me, a starting ritual (or starting routine if you prefer) will relieve you of the torment of choosing to start work or to do ‘that thing’ in procrastination.
So how can I so confidently say that a starting ritual gets you into work mode?
Well, let’s think about the routines you already have, such as your morning and night routine. Or the routine you have before you reverse out of your driveway.
They are things you just do on autopilot. Your routines/rituals become habit and you don’t even have to think about doing them, it just happens!
Case in point, have you ever done your routine drive to work and before you realized it, you were there? The drive itself is a blur, but without even really thinking about it, you made it to work!
👆That’s the autopilot I’m talking about.
When you do things consistently, your mind and body just do the thing without you actually putting effort into thinking about it.
But let’s get right into the juicy stuff!
Here are Five Reasons Why You Need to Have a Starting Ritual:
- The hardest part of doing anything is getting started: I know I already said this, but it is the biggest reason you need to have a starting ritual. Having one makes it super easy to take the first step because…
- Rituals are things you do on Autopilot: When you create a starting ritual for yourself, your brain immediately knows, “This is what we do to get prepared to work.” It eliminates the fight you have with yourself before you go to sit down. When you go through your starting ritual, you’ll just find yourself rolling into work.
- Self-discipline will eventually always fail: You can’t rely on yourself to just do it all the time. If you create a ritual that sets your mind into work mode, you no longer have to tell yourself to sit down and work. I am going to be completely honest here and tell y’all that I am super guilty of talking myself either completely out of work or doing less than I had planned when I am thinking about sitting down to work. But the days that I just go through my ritual I find I sit down and just get into it and I actually complete the major items on my list!
- It puts you in ‘Go Mode’: When I begin my starting ritual for work, I feel my energy pick up a little more. I start to visualize what I plan to accomplish that day and get into the flow of my ritual. Then, before I know it, I’m deep into my work! And I guarantee, if you set yours up for success, then you will too.
- Successful people have Starting Rituals: Look at great Olympic swimmer, Michael Phelps. He has a pre-swim routine. AND IT’S 2.5 HOURS LONG. That’s right! Michael has a 2.5-hour routine leading right up to when he enters the water. (So I mean, I can’t be that wrong telling you to create one when there is living proof of why you need one, right?) But how crazy is that?! That discipline coupled with his routine has him winning. And you can too!
If you’ve been feeling like you can’t sit down to work, you need to implement a starting ritual.
If you find that you are usually choosing to do chores over working, (chores as terrible as folding laundry! 😒) you need to implement a starting ritual.
If you can’t seem to find inspiration for work, you need to implement a starting ritual.
Or better, don’t wait until you are having a hard time getting motivated —make one now!
Success mentor, Darren Hardy, said something I think is almost revolutionary, and very true to the 21st century.
“It is not time management, it’s attention and energy management you need.”
And what better way to get your focus and energy going into the same place than…
That’s right, a starting ritual!
Try one out, like really try to implement one, and see what happens. I’ll bet you see an increase in your productivity from that alone.
And hey! Since you read all the way to the bottom, I’ll give you a BONUS tip because I think it’s awesome you’re here 😁
**BONUS TIP**
Power Down From Work Mode and Power Up Play Mode
Don’t take your work baggage from your ‘office’ into the home.
If you still have a commute and are not working from home, usually you have the opportunity to wind down from the stresses of the workday. Whether it is listening to music on your drive home, your favourite crime podcast, walking the ten minutes in silence, and so on.
That time to wind down is so important.
But if you’re like me and you work from home, you don’t have a commute to help you wind down.
And maybe you’re bad like I am for taking your work stresses and immediately offloading them onto your partner? 😅
That’s why it’s important to take time to “power down” work mode.
For me, this looks like shutting my computer down completely and taking the dogs outside. To get my cardio in, I’ve started to run laps in my yard every time I take the dogs out and when I’m ‘powering down’, I’ll throw my headphones in and put on fun, upbeat music.
The combination of being outside, running, and listening to music takes my mind completely off of work. I am trying to remember to add intention-setting too. I want to envision who I want to be showing up to my family as so I am not coming back to them wound up tight, impatient, and grumpy.
I want to be fun, light, and energized when I’m with my family.
On the days that I don’t take the time to get out of work mode and into family mode, I definitely find that I am the opposite of fun, light, and energized… 😵💫
But you do whatever feels right for you! Learn what helps you out of work mode and puts you into a lighter, more fun mode.
Do you have a starting ritual?! I would love to hear about it!
Feel free to email me and tell me about your starting rituals. I’d love to hear how you get yourself into productive work mode. 😊
Until next week, I wish you nothing but success, prosperity, and happiness in your endeavours!
-Jordan
