Why you need a habitual ritual
Your mindset is like the ocean’s tides—it ebbs and flows. I don’t care if you have mastered mental toughness or not, the reality is that everyone’s mindset, which is highly dependent on your emotional state, varies based on a whole host of factors far too complex for an engineer like myself to understand. But as you navigate your way through each day, your ever-shifting mindset influences how you make sense of everything you experience and determines how you respond in action and characterizes how others perceive you.
The external perception of you, as held by others, is absolutely critical to be aware of as it directly relates to your ability to influence (aka, lead) them. For example, if your perception of me includes any doubt of trust towards me, I’m not going to be very effective in leading or influencing you. While it may seem trivial to restate but it is vital - the perception that others have of you is cast from your daily behaviours and actions, the outward signs of your beliefs and attitudes (aka mindset), which ultimately defines you as a leader - at least in their minds.
Our actions vary like the tides, which are defined by a high water mark (our best leadership) and a low water mark (our worst leadership - and yes we all have our worst leadership days).
As you reflect on the last week, month or year, you’ll see your high water mark and your low water mark. The inconvenient truth is that when its comes to leadership, your low water mark effectively becomes the high water mark to those you lead. Said another way—those you lead will be at or below your mindset level.
As you can appreciate, your low water mark is how others determine to what degree you are able to influence them. I believe people will “forgive and forget” an uncharacteristically low water mark moment, and judge you according to your normal low water mark, which is determined by your mindset - which you get to choose.
Because of your mindset’s ebbing and flowing nature, strengthening your mindset requires intentional effort and continuous attention—and this is why you need a habitual ritual. One of the simplest paths (and to the best of my knowledge, it’s also one of the most effective ways) to building a thriving, growth mindset is to be grateful.
Being grateful is simple but unfortunately it is not always easy (life gets in the way, thus the need for the habitual ritual) so I encourage you to include these two simple daily practices as your habitual ritual to continually raise your low water mark:
Make a list of what you’re grateful for
Resist the temptation to just think of your gratitudes. Take the extra step to record them, either on paper or electronically. It’s harder to record them but the extra work will pay off for you.
Consume other people’s gratitudes
Listen to or read what others are grateful for. It provides a humbling perspective and is a powerful inspiration—especially on the days you need it most.
If you need support building your habitual ritual, join The Daily Gratitudes or take The Habit Course. You can find both here - https://one-billion-happier-people.gratitudeatwork.ca/plans/42081?bundle_token=bfaa04684896bebfdfc65b76a3283b1a&utm_source=manual
And if your habitual ritual includes other practices that are working for you, please let us know in the comments below.
