Starting rituals, essentially, are all about creating new habits. To ease the transition into a new habit, you can create what is known as a 'ritual', to link your old routine to a new one.
This idea interested me and so I began researching ideas surrounding starting rituals. There wasn't much, however I found an article written by Eric Ravenscraft, going further into detail about how to use starting rituals, and why they work.
Ravenscraft explains that "we often use certain rituals as bridges between tasks"; for example: getting dressed and making a coffee transitions us from sleep to work. By establishing a favourable ritual, one you enjoy to partake in, means it is easier to start a task you are not yet in the habit of doing.
A starting ritual shouldn't be an unrealistic or difficult habit, but something personal like making a coffee, or having a shower or just whatever makes your mind thing "I am getting going". Ravenscraft describes this as a visceral signal.
Not initially knowing what this was, I researched the definition of visceral and discovered that visceral means "based on deep feeling and emotion reactions rather than on reason or thought". This means by creating a starting ritual that you want to take part in, your emotions; subconscious is more likely to want to do the task you aiming to achieve.
Ravenscraft even says "your starting ritual can be fun, as in doing some of the stuff you'd do when procrastinating, proving that there is a clear link between procrastination, and starting rituals.
The first step in trying to create a new habit is the hardest, however making a starting ritual, something you enjoy, makes it less likely to procrastinate. The reason it is important to use a starting ritual however is because "starting cold turkey is a bigger strain on your will power".
I decided to continue research into the use of rituals, as individuals implement them into their daily lives