How Simple Rituals Help You Overcome Nervousness and Anxiety to Perform At Your Best, Backed by Considerable Science. Just ask Rafa Nadal
It's easy to assume Rafael Nadal has at least a little OCD going on. He always makes sure his chair sits perfectly perpendicular to the court. He always puts two drink bottles in front of the chair to his left, one behind the other, aimed diagonally at the court.
Before he serves, he uses his right hand to touch the back and front of his shorts, then his left shoulder, then his right, then his nose, left ear, nose, right ear, and lastly his right thigh.
At changeovers, he always waits for the other player to cross the line, then he crosses with his right foot first. He folds a towel and puts it behind him, then folds a second towel and puts it on his lap. He takes one sip from the first bottle, then another sip from the second bottle, and puts them back in the same place with the labels facing the same direction.
Every single time.
OCD? Certainly seems like it.
Or maybe he's just superstitious?
Nope: As Nadal wrote in his autography, Rafa, "Some call it superstition, but it's not. If it were superstition, why would I keep doing the same thing over and over whether I win or lose?"
Nor does he consider his actions to be obsessive. Or compulsive. Instead, "(They are) a way of placing myself in a match," he wrote, "ordering my surroundings to match the order I seek in my head."
Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam titles, more than any other male player in history. Clearly creating and following a routine -- one that has absolutely nothing to do with actually playing tennis -- works for him.
But why?
The Power of Compensatory Control
The theory of compensatory control is just what it sounds like. When we're worried, anxious, or stressed, we compensate by seeking control in some other aspect of our life. Think of compensatory control as, "I can't do (this), but I can do (that.) And when I do (that), I feel less stressed or nervous."
For Nadal, ordering his surroundings, or doing the same things every time he serves, helps center him. Helps him focus. Helps him gain control over stress or anxiety.
All of which helps him perform better.
Sound far-fetched? Research shows the relationship between ritual and performance is not just correlated, but causal:
A study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes found that performing a ritual decreases anxiety and improves performance, especially when those actions are described as a "ritual."
A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that people who completed rituals after experiencing loss reported lower levels of grief and regained feelings of control.
And what if people aren't allowed to use rituals? A study published in Perceptual and Motor Skills found that those who were told not to follow their normal ritual performed much worse than when they did.
Even so, you still might see rituals as superstitions in disguise.
And that's okay. According to a study published in Psychological Science, "Superstitions are typically seen as inconsequential creations of irrational minds. (But) we hypothesize that the proposed performance benefits of superstition are produced by heightened levels of self-efficacy."
Or in non-researcher-speak, doing something that helps you feel more confident, more at ease, and more hopeful -- in short, doing anything that helps you believe in yourself -- makes you much more likely to perform at your best.
That's where a simple ritual -- one that can help you calm down, relax, and gain focus -- can be extremely powerful.
Maybe that's organizing the materials on your desk -- note pads, notes, pens, etc. -- in a certain way before every Zoom call.
Maybe, like Richard Branson, that's exercising before you start every work day. "Exercise puts me in a great mind frame to get down to business," Branson says.
Can rituals guarantee you will perform better? Of course not.
But if a ritual provides greater confidence and focus... then again, maybe it will.
What ritual helps you to relax, calm down or gain focus? Be purposeful about putting it into practice.
Jeff Haden INC Magazine October 2022
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