The Power of Habits, Rituals and Environments.

 

When you enter a bar, your body is screaming: PARTY!

When you enter your office, your body is yelling: WORK!

Your surroundings signal to your body what mode to use. What kind of rules to invoke. When running on autopilot, which program to take.

If you suffer from insomnia, one of the main suggestions is to use your bedroom just for sleeping. Not for watching TV. Not for reading. Just sleep. So when you enter your bedroom, your body will switch into "Yay! Sleep!" mode.

I have my writing room. It's the smallest room in the house. It holds all the books I own. And two racks of laundry. That is where I write. Even if no one is at home. I will still sit in that room with all the books. That's my comfort zone for writing.

"Go to the beach. You can write at that beautiful place."

I know. But I won't. I need my piles of books. When I enter the room, my body switches into "Mr Writer" mode.

This is one of the major difficulties with working at home. The body can get confused. Too much switching around between modes can get your routines all messed up.

Environments and habits can help you get into a certain mode.

In the book "Switch. How To Change Things When Change Is Hard" the authors Chip and Dan Heath tell a story about a school that used to have a lot of problems with students. There appeared to be no discipline. Classes were interrupted, kids would run and scream and enter the building almost never on time.

After some research the principal of the school noticed that this was mostly a succession of the situation they found themselves in before they entered the school, at home. They already arrived at the school premises yelling and in a hurry. No wonder they started classes in the same mode.

The school established some habits for the students at the beginning of each school day. Parents weren't allowed to enter the building anymore, so when the group assembly in the cafeteria would start they were shielded from outside interruptions. Each day would start with some group exercises to get them into "school mode", to help them make the switch.

Agile development teams will start the day with a daily stand up. A short effective get-together in which team members talk about their current affairs. It is habit that gets the group into "agile team mode".

It is like dancing. You know the sequence of steps. The first steps you have to think about, be conscious about how they flow. But once you get started, the rest follows automatically. You need the first step to get your body into "dance mode".

That is why habits are so important to establish for temporary tribes.

Not only do they establish a sense of culture, a sense of belonging, but they also help to get the team into the right "mode" as fast as possible.

When your team is dispersed and largely virtual it helps to get everyone synchronized. To get the same heartbeats. To get the same pulse. No matter what they did just before starting the work, no matter where they were located just before starting the collaboration, the right habit or ritual can harmonize the groups biorhythm.

Rituals!

Bas de Baar is a writer who draws about people in transition. He loves to make visual maps and travel guides for the collaborators of our brave new world.