How to Be Awesome at Your Job 1129: Unlocking Your Best Performance through Rituals with Michael Norton
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Feb 16, 2026 
Michael Norton, a Harvard Business School professor and author who studies happiness and rituals, explores how small rituals transform mundane moments. He discusses family and team rituals, how rituals differ from habits, and pre-performance routines that help people get into the zone. Expect concrete examples and simple ways to make meetings and daily work more intentional.
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Rituals Versus Habits
- Rituals differ from habits by carrying emotional stakes about order and meaning, not mere efficiency.
- Changing a ritual's order can provoke negative feelings even if the behavior's outcome is identical.
Knocking On Wood Divides People
- Norton recounts superstition like knocking on wood where people insist on two or three knocks and judge others.
- Mundane acts gain intense emotion and perceived protective power through ritual.
Rituals Help You Get In The Zone
- High performers like Rafael Nadal use elaborate pre-performance rituals to feel 'in the zone.'
- Rituals don't create skill but help performers access their existing capability by shifting internal state.
