TLDR: Routines are how you build habits. Rituals are where you find purpose.
Rituals v. Routines
Routines are the habit-forming bedrock of compound returns in life. I think of these as health, wealth, and happiness.
Health: sleep schedule, gym routine, grocery shopping, diet
Wealth: savings & spending systems, investing strategy, income streams, leveraging money to create free time
Happiness: mental health, learning routines, journaling, curiosity commitments, hobbies
Rituals, though similar, are both less frequent and more rooted in purpose. I’d categorize these as, internal, external, and existential.
Internal: personal time such as a regular reflection or annual trip
External: family time, religion, work summits
Existential: helping others, improving the world
Some examples from my own life…
Routines
Health: morning alarm & workout, calorie restricted and mainly ketogenic diet—I use Factor for meals and Tempo for a home gym
Wealth: Personal Capital, Excel spreadsheets, equity > salary as a principle, continuous optimization toward 10-20% allocation to non-linear opportunities like venture, web3, and other emerging trends
Happiness: weekly “critical me time” to think, daily Headspace meditation to stop thinking, Kindle to read, Chipper to journal gratitude, and this weekly MMM to write
Rituals
Internal: annual solo trip (more on this next week), regular updates to personal dreams & goals, revisiting Chipper & Notes apps for reflection
External: Sunday night call with parents, holidays, birthdays
Existential: volunteering, donating, participating in events
Next week I’ll be on my annual solo trip, so I’ll have to queue up our next MMM to go deeper on that one specifically. In the meantime, have a great week!
See you Monday.