Benefits of Incorporating Ritual into your Workday

As a child, I never questioned the rituals imposed on me. They were all part of a routine designed by somebody else that I just accepted, whether it was at school, or church, or home. Once I became conscious of these rituals, I wrote many of them off as a waste of time—worthless repetitions. But over time a healthy respect for rituals developed naturally again, this time with a true sense of ownership.

Peter Bregman, in his article The Value of Ritual in Your Workday, describes the power of ritual as “profound and under-appreciated,” with applications well beyond the scope of religion or spirituality. In fact, ritual can play a key role in your workday.

He writes, “Rituals are about paying attention. They're about stopping for a moment and noticing what you're about to do, what you've just done, or both. They're about making the most of a particular moment. And that's something we could use a lot more of in the business world.”

As you can see, rituals are not just repetitions. There’s a deliberate consciousness and respect for the task at hand.

Peter continues: “Each time we pause, notice, and offer respect for an activity, it reminds us to appreciate and focus on what we're about to do. And by elevating each activity, we'll take it more seriously. We'll get more pleasure from it. The people with whom we work will feel more respected. And we'll feel more self-respect. Which means we'll work better with each other. And produce better results.”

With such demand on a manager’s time, it might appear that workday rituals are a luxury managers cannot afford. In response to this notion, Bregman suggests that the “time-indulgent ritual thing” might very well be “the perfect antidote to a time-starved world. “

So when Bregman asks the question, “Who has the patience to pause and honor an activity before and after we do it?” the answer seems pretty apparent.

We all should.