Rise and shine. We’ve got a full day ahead of us to seize, and just the right guy to ask for advice on how to do so. Dr. Michael Norton is a trained psychologist who has spent years studying human behavior and happiness. He’s also a professor at Harvard Business School and a best-selling author. But more importantly, he’s an expert on the science of rituals – those seemingly small but powerful daily habits that can have a big impact on our overall well-being.
In this podcast, I sit down with Dr. Norton to discuss what rituals are and how they can be applied in our daily lives to improve creativity, productivity, and overall happiness.
An Introduction to Dr. Michael Norton
Dr. Michael Norton is a psychologist by training, but not the kind you’d visit for an appointment every Wednesday. His focus lies in research – specifically, research focused on what makes the brain tick. He is deeply fascinated by the role emotions play in our minds. Happiness and well-being are two prime areas of interest for their direct ties to our daily lives and overall sense of fulfillment.
In his role as a professor at Harvard Business School, Dr. Norton seeks to find answers on how to improve the human experience and make our lives more meaningful. In his studies, he has found a recurring theme: rituals.
“I study them in the domain of work and how, you know, we use them to separate work life from home life and how we use them in our teams,” he tells me.
Rituals vs. Habits: Unpacking the Differences
So what exactly does a ritual look like? Hearing the word, it’s easy to picture some sort of witchcraft-y ceremony with people in robes holding candles. That isn’t what Dr. Norton is referring to, though. In the context of psychology, rituals refer to actions that are imbued with meaning and emotion. They’re often small-scale yet are repeated either voluntarily or involuntarily on a regular basis.
Habits, on the other hand, are more mindless and routine. They are actions that we do without much thought or emotion attached to them. For example, brushing your teeth in the morning can be considered a habit because you do it every day without thinking much about it.
But let’s say that instead of just mindlessly brushing your teeth, you add in a few extra steps like using a specific brand of toothpaste or playing music while brushing. Suddenly, this becomes more than just a habit – it becomes a ritual. The addition of meaning and emotion elevates this mundane task into something more intentional and purposeful.
Dr. Norton is a big believer in using rituals as a way to improve mental health and personal success. According to him, there’s a direct connection between these regular practices and a rich, fulfilled life.
“I’m not anti habits to be very clear,” he says, noting that habits are still important structural elements in everyday living. “I just think rituals are a little different and kind of add a little bit more richness to life.”
Creating Meaning in Everyday Actions
The concept of rituals can feel a little hard to grasp for the everyday person, especially considering the fact that many of us engage in these activities without realizing it. What does ritualization actually look like in practice? And an equally important question – what tangible, positive effects can it have?
The main thing that rituals do is take seemingly mundane actions and turn them into something more significant. The twenty-first-century human’s day is packed full of ‘to-dos’ and mindless pastimes. Great as a temporary escape from the bustle, but a life’s worth of them is essentially meaningless. Rituals serve as mental pit stops throughout the day – a way to pause and find purpose and connection in what we do.
Take your morning coffee, for example. For many of us, it’s a necessary part of our daily routine. We wake up, brew our coffee, and drink it without much thought or intention. But what if we took the time to grind our own beans or use a special mug that brings us joy? We could also take a moment to savor the smell and taste of our coffee, fully immersing ourselves in the experience.
At first, this would technically be a habit. The repetition starts to collect meaning as new memories and positive associations are made over time.
“The more we do [rituals], the more rich they become for us. Whether it’s silly morning routines like we talked about, or things you do with your family, or things you do with your children or your significant other, all of these kinds of repeated behaviors that we engage in move us from just the behaviors.” Dr. Norton explains.
How Rituals Can Help Separate Work and Home Life
Rituals have the potential to bring more than just enrichment to our lives. For many, they serve as a necessary tool for maintaining balance. This is especially true when it comes to separating work and home life.
Most of us already approach the daily grind with a similar perspective – there’s the ‘work’ you, which is focused, productive and professional, and then there’s the ‘home’ you, which is relaxed, informal and personal. But when those two personas exist in the same physical space, it can be difficult to switch between them. This is where rituals provide immense value.
Dr. Norton has studied how individuals in high-stress jobs like nursing use little moments to flip a seemingly impossible switch from chaos to home life. One of his favorites, he says, is the simple act of showering while visualizing the stresses of work washing away. It’s a ritual that can help create a physical and mental separation between professional responsibilities and personal life.
The science behind this is fairly straightforward. Rituals serve as cues to our brain, signaling that it’s time for a certain behavior or mindset. By incorporating rituals into our daily routine, we can train our brains to shift from one mode to another more seamlessly.
Rituals of Famous Creators
Wondering how all of this might apply to your everyday life as a creative professional? Dr. Norton and I can cite plenty of notable examples from famous creators.
Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, for example, begins the music writing process by pouring out every ‘bad idea’ he can think of. It’s then easier to identify what’s good, and what’s not.
While this may seem like a simple ritual, it serves as an important cue for Tweedy’s brain to switch into creative mode and let go of any inhibitions or self-doubt.
“Just by quieting those thoughts a little bit, you can see how they could help you get in literally a better head space to do the thing that you’re really trying to do,” Dr. Norton says.
Whether used as a guiding light or a coping habit, rituals are an invaluable tool we can all take advantage of. Just like our body needs a daily routine to stay healthy, our mind also benefits from having structured practices that promote well-being and fulfillment. Dr. Michael Norton’s latest book, ‘The Ritual Effect’ dives deeper into the science behind rituals and offers practical advice on how to incorporate them into our lives.
Enjoy!
FOLLOW DR. MICHAL NORTON:
linkedin | website | book
Listen to the Podcast
Subscribe
