If you know me, you may be aware that I am truly a lover of productivity - heck, I wrote a whole book about it.

Yet, I am not a big fan of routines. What I have built for myself over the years are specific rituals I can follow. Some of them even become habits.

Up to habits power 40% of our daily actions—the unconscious activities and routines we’ve developed over time.

For example, I wake up at 6 am on weekdays, have my coffee first, then meditate, do my journalling before the workday officially starts. Some people may call this a routine, but to me, it’s a series of powerful rituals.

The difference between a routine and a ritual is the attitude behind the action. While routines can be actions that need to be done—such as making your bed or taking a shower—rituals are viewed as more meaningful practices with a real sense of purpose.

In summary

• You can easily ritualise every day activities by giving them purpose
• Choose parts of your routine you are looking to improve or strengthen
• Associate objects or small acts to a ritual to reinforce its effect

From my Notion Dashboard

You can create yours here!

• I am a sucker for copywriting ideas and all of these tips draw straight from psychology, which is by far my favourite thing to explore. One of my favourite examples? The Rhyme-As-Reason Effect “The tendency for people to believe that a statement is true or has more credibility if it rhymes.”
• A group of 15 brilliant minds shared their most powerful questions, covering topics from the meaningful to the controversial. Get ready for some serious contemplation with this thought-provoking list.
• ​In this great piece, Jay Clouse shares a simple and powerful way to better speak to our audience using desired outcomes.

Rituals do not have to be spiritual or religious, yet they are simple acts that keep you focused. The power of rituals stems from the meaning we give to them. They are not part of a list of things to do. They are a task we elevate by ritualising it.

Rituals genuinely enable you to awareness of your tasks and can make you feel more successful at the end of the day.

Start changing your language and using the word ritual makes something more of a priority and gives something we know a new meaning.

For example, my morning walk becomes my way to do something just for myself before getting to work.

The action itself doesn’t matter as much as what it symbolises. It’s a way to shift my focus and prepare for what is coming next.

To build everyday rituals, we want to attach meaning to the little joys we experience every day and combine them with a successful outcome. Some examples include:

• Morning coffee + journalling
• Nature walk + meditation
• Dancing to a power song + preparing for a workshop

In one experiment, people received either a “lucky golf ball” or an ordinary golf ball and then performed a golf task. People with the lucky ball believed they had a better chance of succeeding in the task.

As Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton, behavioural scientists at Harvard Business School, write:

How to bundle rituals for effectiveness

Another benefit is that rituals allow you to take the time to do one thing and focus solely on it without extra distractions. Since rituals encourage focus, they are deeply rooted in the practice of single-tasking.

Single tasking lets you think small and create small achievements, as they’re imbued with deeper meaning beyond just a sequence of actions. Think of religious rituals or family traditions. These rituals signify a change or moment of importance that we should note.

To make rituals realistic, you need to make time for them, just like you would if you were to attach a deeper spiritual meaning.

I even add some of them to my calendar, especially my walks or even my movement schedule, to make sure it has priority over other things.

As Maria Popova, founder of founder of Marginalian, writes though very different in practice, routine and ritual seem to be two sides of the same coin:

“While routine aims to make the chaos of everyday life more containable and controllable, ritual aims to imbue the mundane with an element of the magical. The routine structure comforts us, and the specialness of ritual vitalises us.”

Rituals also remind us of the power of impermanence and anchoring our minds to the present. The time to have those experiences is now. There is no “later” for it.

Research in sport psychology demonstrates the performance benefits of pre-performance routines, from improving attention and execution to increasing emotional stability and confidence.

From our shop

Appreciation corner

Huge appreciation this week goes to fellow Notion queen Frances Odera Matthews, who is my go-to Notion expert for everything new and exciting from the platform.

If you are looking to learn about Notion she is my go-to.

the notion bar | your notion bae ✨slow replies✨ @thenotionbar are you resting? Throwback to an awesome podcast interview with @fabgiovanetti + @altmarkschool about standing out in your field😍 twitter.com/altmarkschool/… Alt Marketing School @altmarkschool Notion is a digital toolbox to design your dream digital tool, product or template. It’s one of Fab’s favourite tools, so you will not be surprised to hear she fan-girled here and there during the interview. altmarketingschool.com/ep096/ pic.twitter.com/YyL2t3t3B0 March 19th 2023 0 Retweets 2 Likes

Fab-ulous weekly highlights

1. New exciting updates coming for our course library! Not only we revamped our welcome flow, but we are dropping some super exciting new content (see my project flow above) - and I have eventually mapped out our deliverables all the way through Summer. Gosh, it feels good!
2. I eventually managed to make the time to get back to good ol' writing for our website, and it feels good. This piece about pricing psychology was inspired by our certification students' questions during office hours about pricing and beyond.

Even this newsletter, in a way, is a ritual (sips her coffee diligently)

The rituals you create may increase confidence in your abilities, motivate more significant effort – and improve subsequent performance.

Ritualising your tasks means you elevate them by adding a specific meaning that will allow them to build towards your feeling of accomplishment by the end of the day.

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P.S. if you are looking for more support, these are 3 ways I can help…

1. Learn how to market with purpose and access weekly tactics here.
2. Book a power hour session and get unstuck here.
3. Reclaim time to focus your energy where it matters here.

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