Guitar ritual

Before you do anything else, you have to do what you can to establish a habit of picking up your guitar. You have to do this if you want to get better. Without doing this, you’ll quit. Seems obvious. Without a habit of doing the activity, you stop doing the activity. Or you do it haphazardly, don’t get better, and then assume (wrongly) that you don’t have what it takes.

All it takes is the habit of doing it. You’ll get better. It’s just the way it works. This is really important, so I’ve dedicated the next 3 posts to the topic.

Consciousness

Research has shown that the majority of our activities are not consciously directed. As much as 95% of what we do occurs automatically or in response to external stimuli. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to create automatic behaviours that get us what we want instead of going through our days doing things without consciously establishing what those things are.

This where ritual comes in.  Defined as a detailed method of procedure faithfully or regularly followed, ritual allows for success. A ritual might seem too rigid for you, but think about it. You already have rituals in place for things that you think are important. Family dinners, an exercise program, personal hygiene, whatever. There are almost certainly actions in your work life that you have established that enable you to get work done as effectively as possible.

Think about the things you do every day. Which are the ones that you repeat? Where in your life are you most successful? Family? Work? Health? In most cases, where you find success, you’ll find ritual.

Next post: using a mind map to decide what to base your rituals on.