Chapter 17

Ritual

How to Get Important Work Done

by Tony Schwartz

Most of us feel pulled in more directions than ever, expected to work longer hours, and asked to get more done, often with fewer resources. But we also know people who get lots done, including the important stuff, and still manage to have lives.

What have they figured out that the rest of us haven’t?

The answer, surprisingly, isn’t that they have more will or discipline than we do. The counterintuitive secret to getting things done is to make them more automatic, so they require less energy.

How do we do that? By developing rituals—highly specific behaviors, done at precise times, so they eventually become automatic and no longer require conscious will or discipline. Decide what behavior you want to change, design the ritual you’ll undertake, and then get out of your own way.

Over the past decade, I’ve built a series of rituals into my daily schedule to make sure that I get to the most important things—and that I don’t get derailed by the endlessly alluring trivia of everyday life.

Here are four of the rituals that have made the biggest difference to me:

1. Going to bed at the same time every night. This ritual ensures that I get eight hours of sleep. Nothing is more critical to the way I feel every day. If I’m flying somewhere and know I’ll arrive too late to get my eight hours, I make it a priority to make up the hours I need on the plane.
2. Working out as soon as I wake up. Since exercise has a huge impact on how I feel all day long, this ritual ensures that I work out even when I don’t feel like it.
3. Launching my workday by focusing first on whatever I’ve decided the night before is my most important activity. Then I take a break after 90 minutes to refuel. Today—which happens to be a Sunday—this blog was my priority. My break was playing tennis for an hour. During the week it might be chatting with a colleague for a few minutes or getting a snack. (Working in 90-minute segments throughout your day can be another useful ritual to develop. See the next article, “Power Through Your Day in 90-Minute Cycles,” to learn more.)
4. Immediately writing down on a list any idea or task that occurs to me over the course of the day. Once it’s on paper, it means I don’t walk around feeling preoccupied by it—or risk forgetting it.

Obviously, I’m human and fallible, so I don’t perform every one of these rituals every day. But when I do miss one, I pay the price, and feel even more pulled to it the next day.

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Tony Schwartz is the president and CEO of The Energy Project and the author of Be Excellent at Anything. Become a fan of The Energy Project and connect with Tony on Twitter at @tonyschwartz and @energy_project.

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Adapted from content posted on hbr.org on May 24, 2011.