“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle
“The most Excellent habit is to deliberately identify empowering Habits and commit the time and relentless effort to make them into Rituals” - TOCD
We create HABITS when behaviour we have repeated regularly and consistently enough ‘train’ our brain to make them unintentional, automatic and unconscious. Habits are then initiated, i.e. ‘thoughtlessly’ triggered, by a particular, eventually invisible, cue.
Time and ‘oligodendrocytes make’ the connection between the trigger and the habit more ingrained and irresistible.Increase in stress triggers smoking a cigarette, waking up triggers drinking coffee, a trip to the grocery store triggers buying a sweet treat, starting a meeting at work triggers frustration and boredom, etc. etc...
In contrast, ROUTINES require a higher degree of intention, effort and deliberate practice. Drinking 500ml of clean water first thing after waking in the morning, going to the gym at 6am 3 days a week, sitting down for lunch with family every Sunday, meditating before going to sleep every night, these are all routines. Routines require noticeable effort to keep on consciously practising them. Routines are too counterintuitive and ‘unnatural’ to become habits! Your brain will not go into automatic mode and unconsciously drive you to Yoga class once a week on Thursday after a tough day at work. That’s why our ‘good intention’ routines eventually fail and disappear or require external intervention in order to maintain them [personal; trainer, therapist, coach, etc.].With enough time, up to 10,000 hours, and right actions, we notice and become physically and emotionally attached to the benefits/results of our routines and they become RITUALS.Rituals are, in the truest sense, a religious, solemn and unchanging series of actions or type of behaviour regularly and invariably followed by someone.Creating your own rituals is never an automatic, unconscious process. You need emotional resilience, serious desire and the perseverance to meet and work through the inevitable challenges, in order to establish your personal mystical ritual. once established you will manifest miracles of health, strength wealth and wellbeing every day in your life.
Do you think you don’t have any rituals in your life?
‘We are, at almost every point of our day, immersed in cultural diversity: faces, clothes, smells, attitudes, values, traditions, behaviours, beliefs, rituals.’ - Randa Abdel-FattahPS
Over 10,000 hours of deliberate practice and your Rituals happen in a state referred to as FLOW.
