Shane Parrish

If we're forced to make decisions when we're emotional, we need to take a breath.

We need to pause.

We need to center ourself.

We need to use a powerful method of doing that, which is ritual.

Well, so one thing I do is like after meetings, I have a ritual where I just sort of compress the meeting into what's happened, how am I feeling?

And it's that compression that dampens that emotion because it allows me to feel that emotion.

And I usually do that when I'm walking to my next meeting or when I'm logging on to the next meeting.

So it doesn't have to be this big 10 minute thing.

It just can be this, okay, I'm feeling this.

I should have said this.

I should have done that.

And I can just sort of compress that meeting into these sort of ideas.

Another one that I use that is really effective for me personally is just in the mornings, taking five, 10 minutes, whether I'm sitting in a hot tub or whether I'm going for a walk or whatever I'm doing.

And I'm just breathing and I'm focusing on my breath and I'm centering myself on the day.

I'm trying to forget about everything from yesterday.

I'm trying to just put myself in the here and now.

But I think rituals are very individualistic.

And I think it's important that we come up with our own rituals.

I've seen powerful rituals around people taking a breath before speaking.

And in that pause, that moment, they just sort of ask themselves, how am I feeling?