The Power of a ‘Project Beard’ and Other Office Rituals

The Wall Street Journal:

Rituals are common among gamblers and sports figures, from wearing a lucky shirt to blowing on dice to counting dribbles before a free throw.

Now researchers are finding that rituals help on the job too. People who engage in ritualistic behavior before a difficult task are less anxious, get more involved and tend to perform better than people who didn’t have a ritual, according to research at Harvard Business School, the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and other universities.

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People tend to believe intuitively in the value of rituals—repetitive, symbolic behaviors that aren’t motivated by reason and lack a particular goal or outcome, studies show. Nearly half of 400 people surveyed online recently by Harvard researchers said they engage in ritualistic behavior before performing a task that makes them anxious, says Francesca Gino, an associate professor at Harvard Business School. One participant wrote that, before going to work or stepping into a meeting, he tries “to remove any negative energies” by pounding his feet on the ground several times and shaking his body.

Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal