Latest / Career Coaching with Fexingo: Professional Coaches, Career Counselors, and Guidance for Workers / How a Career Ritual Can Reset Your Professional Energy
Transcript
- Lucas: There's this term I've been circling for a while that keeps showing up in conversations with people who are good at their jobs but quietly miserable. It's not burnout exactly, and it's not boredom. It's a lack of what I'm going to call a career ritual. Luna: I love that. Because 'ritual' sounds intentional, not just another habit or routine. What's the difference for you? Lucas: Right. A habit is something you do automatically — brushing your teeth, checking email first thing. A ritual has a purpose beyond the action itself. It's a practice you perform with a specific outcome in mind, often symbolic. In a career context, it's a deliberate act that signals a transition or resets your mental state. Luna: So you're saying the ritual itself is the point, not just the task? Lucas: Exactly. I came across a case study from a product manager at a midsize tech company. She was constantly bringing work stress home. She'd close her laptop and immediately start thinking about the next day's fire drills. So she invented a simple ritual: every day at five-thirty, she'd open a physical notebook, write down three things she accomplished that day, one thing she'd do tomorrow, and then close the notebook with a specific phrase — 'done for now.' That's it. She told me it cut her end-of-day stress by at least half. Luna: That's so simple. And the phrase matters — 'done for now' is honest. It's not pretending the work is over, just that you're done for now. Lucas: Exactly. And there's actually research backing this up. Adam Grant has written about what he calls 'completion cues' — small actions that tell your brain a task or a day is finished. Without them, your cognitive load just keeps running in the background. It's like having a dozen browser tabs open. Luna: I think a lot of us rely on accidental completion cues — closing the laptop, leaving the office — but those don't always work, especially if you work from home. Lucas: Right. If your office is also your living room, closing the laptop is just a physical gesture. Your brain doesn't get the signal. So you need an intentional ritual. And it doesn't have to be elaborate. Another example I heard: a consultant who travels a lot — he takes off his work watch and puts on a different watch when he's done for the day. That's his ritual. Luna: I love that. It's a physical switch. So how do listeners figure out what kind of career ritual they need? Is it about diagnosing what's missing? Lucas: I think you start by noticing the moments where you feel friction. Where's the transition that feels jagged? Maybe it's between meetings, or between work mode and home mode, or even between projects. That's where a ritual can smooth the edge. Luna: So if I'm feeling scattered between back to back Zoom calls, I could create a two-minute ritual — stand up, stretch, drink water, reset my to-do list. Lucas: Exactly. And the key is consistency. It doesn't matter if the ritual is short or long — what matters is that you do it every time. The brain learns to associate that sequence with a shift in state. Luna: What about longer-term rituals? Like weekly or monthly ones? Lucas: Those are huge. I know a senior marketer who does a 'Friday afternoon review' — she blocks thirty minutes, looks at her calendar for the week, deletes or reschedules anything that's no longer relevant, and then writes down one win and one learning. She says it stops her from carrying the whole week's baggage into the weekend. Luna: That's basically a mini-retrospective. We do those on our show sometimes, internally. It's amazing how just naming one win shifts your perspective. Lucas: And the learning part is important too — because it reframes failures or frustrations as information. That's a career skill in itself. Luna: I want to push back a little though. Some people might hear 'ritual' and think it's just another productivity hack. Or something that only works if you have a lot of control over your schedule. Lucas: Fair point. And I'd say two things. One: rituals can be really short. Two minutes is fine. Two: if you're in a high-control environment — like shift work or customer-facing roles — the ritual might look different. Maybe it's something you do in the car before you walk in, or a breathing exercise before you take the first call. Luna: That makes sense. So it's not about adding more to your plate, it's about creating intentional edges around what's already there. Lucas: Yes. And I think that's the real value. In a world where work bleeds into everything, rituals give you back a sense of agency. You decide when something starts and ends, not the Slack notification. Luna: Okay, let's talk about designing one. If someone's listening and thinking, 'I want to try this,' what's the first step? Lucas: Pick one transition point. Just one. It could be the end of your workday, or the start, or the moment after lunch when you tend to slump. Then choose a simple action that you can repeat — something that takes less than five minutes. And pair it with a mental cue: a phrase, a breath, a physical object. Do it for two weeks. Then check in with yourself. Luna: And if it doesn't stick? Or if it feels forced? Lucas: Then change it. The ritual is for you, not for anyone else. If closing your notebook doesn't feel right, maybe it's lighting a candle or stepping outside. The form doesn't matter. The function does. Luna: Speaking of function — this show itself is kind of a ritual for us. We sit down twice a week, talk through a career idea, and then we're done. It helps us stay focused. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's also a reminder that these conversations are supported by listeners who find them useful. I don't say that often, but it's true. If you've gotten something out of these episodes — maybe a new framework, or just a different way of thinking about your work — a couple of dollars a month genuinely makes a difference. It keeps the show ad-free and sustainable. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing that adds up. We appreciate it. Lucas: Okay, back to rituals. I want to talk about one more example that I think is really powerful, especially for people in career transitions. Luna: Let's hear it. Lucas: A friend of mine left a corporate job to start freelancing. She struggled with the loss of structure — no one telling her what to do, no calendar. So she created a 'morning anchor' ritual: she makes a cup of tea, sits in the same chair, and reviews her top three priorities for the day. She does it before she opens any email. Luna: That's a classic — and it works because it mimics the structure she lost, but on her own terms. Lucas: Exactly. She told me it took about three weeks to feel natural. Now if she skips it, the whole day feels off. That's the power of a ritual — it becomes a keystone. Luna: A keystone habit, yeah. So whether you're in a rut, a transition, or just feeling frayed, a career ritual might be a low-cost intervention. What's the one thing you'd want listeners to take away? Lucas: That you don't need a complete overhaul. Just one small, intentional practice at the edge of your day can change how you experience your work. And you get to decide what it is. Luna: That's a good place to land. I'll be thinking about my own transition points today. Lucas: Same. Let's see if we can design one for the end of recording sessions. Luna: Deal.