January 2002 -- Question: I am aware of how important
pre-serving rituals are for tennis players, but I have also heard that a businessperson such as myself, running an indoor center, could benefit from rituals like these. Would you please respond to this?
Answer: For years scientists have studied
pre-performance rituals in sport to understand the whys and hows of great athletes. In our sport, Dr. Jim Loehr was the first to really tie together the role of rituals in players’ pre-serving routines. While examining how the best tennis players responded to a point, win or lose, Loehr was able to dissect four distinctly separate but related phases between points – positive physical response, relaxation, preparation and rituals. The positive physical response in effect clears your mental computer of any clutter (e.g., thinking about an easy shot you just missed). The relaxation phase brings the heart rate down and gets breathing in control; in essence, to settle you down. The preparation phase is to plan ahead – what specifically are you going to do? And then comes the ritual phase; that time when, in only a few seconds, the body and mind get in total synchrony. There is an internal state of rhythm and readiness that says, “What I am preparing to do is important.” Now, to your specific question – Does this relate to a businessperson? This answer: Yes, it is critically important!
Has the following situation ever happened to you?
You’re on the phone dealing with an important matter but there is an equally important customer waiting in your lobby to have a serious meeting with you. You complete the call and immediately fly out of your office to greet and meet your client. On the surface, this seems harmless, but let me pose this question: If you took a few seconds and completed a short pre-performance ritual to get yourself in the right emotional and mental state, would you or would you not respond better to that client who is waiting for you? Of course, you would! Anything that could enable you to perform at a higher level would be an asset – and it only takes seconds to do.
So, what constitutes a pre-performance ritual in your office? Let’s go back to sport first. Research has uncovered that the greatest athletes have incredible rituals before they perform a self-paced activity like serving a tennis ball, shooting a free throw or putting a golf ball. And the better the athlete, often the more specific and structured the ritual. For example, let’s say we record Agassi or Hingis early in a match and then later in the match to investigate the consistency of their pre-serving rituals. From the time one of these great players toes the baseline to serve until the serve is completed, what do you think the difference is for this ritual early in the match vs. late in the match? The answer: Very little, if any. Let’s assume that one of these players bounces the ball twice before the first serve and once before the second serve, there will be absolutely no change in this ritual throughout the match. In fact, the timing of each bounce during a serve early in the match vs. late in the match is within hundredths of seconds relative to its spot in the ritual. It becomes extremely specific and very structured.
This relates to you as a businessperson in much the same way. In preparing for a big meeting, you can have rituals that stem from four basic areas – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. The following are just a few things that great businesspeople might momentarily do to prepare themselves for important office matters: Going over your game plan for the meeting, stretching, reflecting on what you want to achieve, and connecting what you are preparing to do with a strong personal mission. But, whatever you choose for your pre-performance ritual, it must become consistent and automatic so you naturally repeat it before every big event.
In summary, the state of internal rhythm and readiness that an athlete achieves through specific and structured rituals can also be realized by a business professional. You would never see a great tennis player step up to the baseline, get the balls from the ball person and serve the ball as soon as he/she touches it. This, like many other lessons from our great game, can be a true asset in our professional lives as well.
Send questions to jgroppel@LGEPerformance.com.
